Kutztown - 2011 PSAC Football Champions (Photo by Cesar Laure)
Kutztown Wins First PSAC Football Championship
Box Score
Kutztown, Pa. - Backup quarterback and championship game MVP Marshall Vogel guided Kutztown on a 67-yard scoring drive that resulted in the eventual game-winning touchdown with under three minutes to go in the game and the Golden Bears then held on for a 21-14 win over Slippery Rock to claim their first ever PSAC football championship.
Kutztown, which was making just its second appearance in the PSAC championship game, with the first coming back in 1980, lost starting quarterback and reigning PSAC East Offensive Player of the Year Kevin Morton to an injury late in the first quarter. Vogel entered in his place and finished with 300 passing yards and two touchdowns while completing 25-of-39 passes. The Golden Bears, which entered the game with the second-best rushing offense in the PSAC, had just 67 rushing yards on the day but got all three of their touchdowns via the pass. Erik Frazier caught six passes for 97 yards and two TDs to lead the way and eight different Golden Bears caught at least one pass.
Despite being outrushed by Slippery Rock, Kutztown held a slight advantage in time of possession, which included holding the ball for 11-and-a-half minutes in the third quarter. The Golden Bears converted on 8-of-17 third downs while their defense held The Rock to just 4-of-14 on third downs - a key in the game.
Slippery Rock drew first blood in the game as it scored on the first drive of the game on an eight-yard run by Akeem Satterfield, who returned to the Rock lineup after missing the last four games. He ran for 103 yards in addition to his score. The Golden Bears evened things up late in the first quarter as Frazier caught his first TD of the day, this one from Morton from 41 yards out. However, on the play, Morton injured his knee and did not return to the game.
It remained 7-7 through halftime before The Rock scored on its first possession of the second half when Cody Endres hit Devin Goda for a 28-yard score midway through the third quarter. Kutztown would even things up again with just six seconds left in the third when Vogel hit Josh Mastromatto for a 16-yard TD. Slippery Rock would miss a field goal on the ensuing drive and the teams the exchanged punts before Kutztown took over at its own 33-yard line with 5:30 remaining. From there, Vogel hooked up with Colby Tuell on a 46-yard gain on the first palce from scrimmage to get it down to the Rock 21 and five plays later, hit Frazier in the end zone from 14 yards out to give Kutztown its first lead of the game.
From there, Endres led Rock on a 14-play drive that got down to the Kutztown 32 but after four straight incomplete passes, Rock turned it over on downs with under a minute to play.