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KUTZTOWN – Redshirt senior quarterback Ray Wagner threw for 522 yards, fourth-most in school history and sixth-most in PSAC history, in East Stroudsburg University's 49-32 loss at No. 23 Kutztown on Saturday afternoon.

Wagner was 30-for-50 with two touchdowns and three interceptions and ran for a 13-yard touchdown, but the Warriors (1-5, 0-3), playing their third ranked opponent in four weeks, suffered their fifth straight loss as the 2011 schedule has played out in the same fashion as last fall's slate.

The Warriors had three 100-yard receivers for just the third time in school history in sophomore Dusty Reed (eight catches, 118 yards), redshirt sophomore Robert Bleiler (seven catches, 153 yards) and redshirt junior Wade Williams (four catches, career-high 140 yards, TD).

Kutztown (5-1, 2-1) led from start to finish in rebounding from a 49-7 loss at Shippensburg last Saturday. The Golden Bears got a 100-yard kick return from Josh Mastromatto in the second quarter and a 60-yard interception return for a TD from John Kreuer in the third to keep the Warriors at arms length.

The two schools combined for 1,221 yards of total offense – 600 for ESU and 621 for Kutztown – including 827 yards passing. The Golden Bears threw for 305 yards, with Kevin Morton going 27-for-30 with two touchdowns, and ran for 316 yards led by Robbie Frey's 158 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Mastromatto ran for 96 yards on six carries, including a 50-yard TD for the game's final score, and Morton ran 10 times for 56 yards.

Wagner's 2,164 passing yards through the first six games are the most in school history. He entered the week ranked fifth in Division II with 328.4 passing yards per game and threw for 330 yards in the first half.

Sophomore kicker Taylor Groff hit a 37-yard field goal to bring the Warriors within 28-16 at the end of the half, and drilled a career-long 52-yarder - the second-longest in school history - to make it 35-26 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Kutztown built its 28-16 halftime lead with a 21-point second quarter, which featured four scoring plays – two by each team – in the final 3:00 of the half.

Morton hit Daniel Gay for a 27-yard TD to give Kutztown a 21-6 lead with 2:56 left in the half, but Wagner took the Warriors 60 yards in five plays – including a 31-yard pass to Reed on the first snap and a one-handed, 26-yard catch by Bleiler on third-and-10 – to set up a three-yard TD run by junior tailback Eric Deery (18 carries, 54 yards) to make it 21-13.

Mastromatto returned the ensuing kickoff from his goal line and set Kutztown's school record with a 100-yard return to give the Golden Bears another two score lead. The Warriors cut the halftime margin to 12 with Groff's field goal after Wagner worked out of a second-and-25 hole with a 23-yard pass to Williams and an 11-yarder to Bleiler on fourth-and-two.

Kutztown went 80 yards in five plays, all on the ground, to start the second half and Frey made it 35-16 with a 15-yard run just 1:41 into the period.

Once again ESU came back, taking just two plays to move 64 yards. Wagner took advantage of a free play to hit Williams for a 59-yard touchdown, the longest play of Williams' career, to make the score 35-23 just over two minutes into the half.

ESU's defense forced punts on Kutztown's next three possessions, yielding just three yards on 10 snaps, to give the Warriors a chance to get back in it. The first stop was short-lived as Wagner's first pass was batted at the line of scrimmage and intercepted, but another stop, a poor punt and a 37-yard completion to redshirt junior Jordan Hallman (three catches, 58 yards) put Groff in position for his 52-yard field goal that made the score 35-26 at the 5:32 mark of the third quarter.

The Warriors produced another three-and-out on Kutztown's ensuing drive, but a third-and-13 pass after a delay of game was picked off by Kreuer in the middle of the field and returned 60 yards down the sideline to put Kutztown ahead 42-26 late in the quarter.

Wagner shook off the pick and third-down conversions to Reed for 21 yards and redshirt sophomore fullback Thomas Tippett for seven yards helped the Warriors pull within 42-32 with just over 12 minutes left. ESU drove inside the 10-yard line and Wagner hit redshirt freshman Steven Jones for a two-yard TD on fourth-and-goal to get the deficit to 10 after the two-point conversion was no good.

Mastromatto pushed it to 49-32 just four plays later, going 50 yards for the score with the clock at 10:09 in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors' final offensive possession, which saw Wagner go 4-for-4 for 45 yards to go over the 500-yard mark, ended when Wagner scrambled, was hit and fumbled inside the 20-yard line. Kutztown's offense did the rest, rolling off an 11-play, 86-yard drive to kill the final 7:14 to improve to 5-1.

The Golden Bears won the turnover margin, 4-1, to combat Wagner's aerial assault on the ESU record books. Saturday's game marked just the third time in school history that both teams went over 600-yard mark, and the 1,221 combined yards are also the third-most in a game involving the Warriors.  ESU's 55-33 win over Southern Connecticut State in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Playoffs set a then-Division II record with 1,353 combined yards (712 ESU, 641 SCSU), and ESU and Bloomsburg combined for 1,244 yards (636 ESU, 608 BU) in the Huskies' 58-42 win in 1996.

GAME NOTES
* ESU head coach Denny Douds will tie the Division II record with his 393rd game next Saturday when the Warriors host C.W. Post at 1:05 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium. Douds will equal the mark set by Jim Malosky of Minnesota-Duluth from 1958-97.
* ESU holds a 43-16-1 lead in the all-time series. Kutztown has won two straight, following last year's 38-31 win at ESU.
* The Warriors have lost five straight games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1986-87. The five opponents  - IUP, California, West Chester, Bloomsburg and Kutztown – combined for a 17-7 record entering Saturday and went 5-0 today.
* Three of ESU's last four opponents have been nationally ranked. The Warriors led No. 21 California 19-14 entering the fourth quarter in a 22-19 loss on Sept. 17, and led No. 5 Bloomsburg 20-19 entering the fourth in a 32-20 loss last week. Kutztown led 42-26 entering the fourth quarter Saturday.
* ESU had won 19 straight games when gaining 500 yards of total offense, suffering its first loss since 2005 (31-24 OT vs. Bloomsburg). The Warriors lost for just the third time when gaining at least 600 yards - 59-56 at New Haven in 1996 (school-record 736 yards), and 58-42 at Bloomsburg in 1996 (636 yards).
* ESU lost for just the 19th under Douds when scoring at least 30 points, falling to 125-19. The Warriors scored 30+ points in two losses last season.

* Wagner's 522 passing yards are 6th in PSAC history and 544 yards of total offense are 7th.
* His 522 passing yards rank 4th at ESU behind Damian Poalucci (616 at Mansfield, 1996), Jimmy Terwilliger (546 at C.W. Post, 2005) and Poalucci (527 at New Haven, 1996) – the only four 500-yard games in school history have all come on the road.
* His 544 yards of total offense (22 yards on five carries) are also 4th at ESU behind Poalucci (597 at Mansfield, 1996), Terwilliger (552 at C.W. Post, 2005) and Poalucci (545 vs. Cheyney, 1996). Poalucci had four games with 500 yards of total offense in 1996.

* The Division II single-game high for passing yards entering this week was 504 (Tyler Vanderzee, East Central vs. Northeastern St., Sept. 17).
* Wagner entered the game as one of three DII QB's with 250+ yards in every game and one of two with two games with 375+ yards. He surpassed his season average of 328.4 (5th in DII) with 330 in the first half.

* Wagner is the third ESU quarterback to go over 2,000 yards in the first six games of a season. His total of 2,164 surpassed the mark of 2,140 compiled by Jimmy Terwilliger in 2005 and the total of 2,078 yards compiled by Damian Poalucci in 1996.
* Poalucci holds the mark for most yards in any six-game stretch with 2,348 in the last six games in 1996. Wagner's total of 2,164 is second.
* Wagner became the first ESU quarterback with 250+ yards in six straight games within a single season, reaching the mark in the second quarter.
* His total of 330 yards in the first half is just his second-most in a half this season. He threw for 375 yards and six touchdowns in the first half, both school records, in his first career start vs. Pace on Sept. 1.
* Wagner nearly threw for 200 yards in both halves for the first time this season. He has hit the 200-yard mark in at least one half in five of the Warriors' first six games.
* He is the first ESU quarterback to attempt 50 passes in a game three times in a season and in a career. Poalucci had 50 attempts twice in 1996.
* He was already the first ESU QB to attempt 40+ passes in four straight games and has now done it five straight.

* Nine ESU quarterbacks have combined for 17 400-yard passing games. Wagner had his previous career-high of 397 yards vs. Bloomsburg last week.
* His 30 completions are tied for 7th-most in ESU history with Matt Marshall (2010 vs. West Chester) and Poalucci (1996 at Bloomsburg).
* Wagner was sacked once for a loss of five yards, and has been sacked just three times for a loss of nine yards in 260 pass attempts this season. He also ran for his first career touchdown.
* Wagner's game-by-game performances this season are as follows: Pace 13-20, 375 yards, 6 TD; at IUP 26-52, 323 yards, 0 TD; California 24-44, 263 yards, 1 TD; at West Chester 21-43, 284 yards, 2 TD; Bloomsburg 27-52, 397 yards, 2 TD; at Kutztown 30-50, 522 yards, 2 TD.

* Reed (8 catches, 118 yards) is the first ESU receiver with 7+ catches in four straight games and 8+ catches in three straight games. His 31 catches the last four weeks are 4th-most in a four-game stretch in school history. Evan Prall had 37 in 2006, Scott Benoit had 34 in 1983 and Doug Leonzi had 33 in 1991.
* Reed's 40 catches in the first six games are tied for 3rd-most in school history, behind Prall (46) in 2006 and Benoit (41) in 1983, and tied with Ken Kopetchny (40) in 1990.
* He was 10th in Division II with 105.8 yards per game entering Saturday and had his fourth 100-yard game in the first six. He is the only receiver in DII with at least 80 yards in every game.
* Reed tied Tim Strenfel's school record as the fastest receiver to 1,000 career yards, hitting the mark in his 17th career game. He was already the fastest to 50 catches and 10 TDs, reaching those milestones in his 15th game. He has 71 catches for 1,024 yards and 11 TD in his career, and 40 for 647 yards and 5 TD this season.

* Bleiler (7 catches, 153 yards) tied his career-high with 7 catches (at IUP) and had his second 100-yard receiving game of the season. He had 172 yards on 3 catches vs. Pace in the season opener.

* Williams (4 catches, 140 yards, TD) had his first career 100-yard receiving game – giving the Warriors five receivers with a 100-yard game this year.
* He also had the two longest receptions of his career, a 47-yarder in the first quarter and the 59-yard TD in the third quarter.

* ESU had three 100-yard receivers for the third time in school history – 2005 at C.W. Post (Evan Prall 207, Tim Strenfel 149 and Anthony Carfagno 115) and 1996 at Bloomsburg (Jason Killian 140, Brett Witmer 125 and Joe Pawloski 119).
* The Warriors have had five different 100-yard receivers in the last two games. They nearly achieved the feat last week when R-Jr. Jordan Hallman 128 yards, Fr. Ray Dominguez had 111 yards and Reed had 96 yards as Wagner threw for 397.

* R-Sr. C Dan Caffrey made his 40th career start and is the fifth Warrior – and third offensive lineman – with at least 40 career starts since 2003. He has started every game of his career to date and joins QB Jimmy Terwilliger (48), WR Evan Prall (48), OL Mike Habel (46) and OL Morgan Thomas (42) as recent Warriors with 40+ starts.
* ESU's offensive line has combined for 135 career starts in Caffrey, R-Sr. LT Zach Sarginger (28), R-Jr. RT Wrenton Wright II (28), R-Jr. RG Seve Rivers (26) and R-So. LG Greg Blue (13).

* Groff's 52-yard field goal is tied with seven other kickers in the PSAC record book. The conference record is 55 yards and three kickers, including ESU's Greg Knauss (2007 vs. IUP), made 53-yard field goals
* Groff, Knauss and Edinboro's Sean McNicholas (2000, 53 yards) are the only PSAC kickers to make a field goal of at least 52 yards since 2000.
* Groff is 22-for-28 on all field goals and 16-for-17 under 40 yards in his career. His previous career-long was 48 yards, which he hit vs. Kutztown in 2010 and at West Chester in his season debut this year. He missed the first three games due to injury after setting ESU's record with 16 field goals as a freshman.

* Fr. P Jordan Bair knocked both of his punts inside the 20-yard line and put five of his last six punts inside the 20. He is averaging 38.6 yards on 21 punts this season with seven inside the 20.

* Defensively, R-Fr. DT Bryan Thomson made his first career start. He is the 15th Warrior to make his first career start this season, and the 10th on the defensive side of the ball.
* Thomson replaced R-Sr. DT Rudy Cerami in the lineup, who was limited in practice this week due to injury still tied his career-high with 7 tackles and had 1.5 TFL. Cerami had made 27 career starts and 18 consecutive, second-most on the defense.
* R-Sr. OLB Bryan Billger had a career-high 10 tackles, 1.5 TFL and one of the Warriors' four sacks. R-Fr. DE Brandon Gattelli had 6 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble that was recovered by R-Sr. DE Jon Weber.