Box Score  l  Morning Call recap

KUTZTOWN – R-So. QB Matt Soltes threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, R-Fr. TB Robert Healy gained 192 yards from scrimmage including a receiving TD, and R-Jr. DL Bryan Thomson had 13 tackles and 3.5 sacks to lead East Stroudsburg University to a 43-26 win at Kutztown in PSAC East football on Saturday afternoon at University Field.

The Warriors (5-3, 2-3), coming off close losses to unbeaten West Chester and Bloomsburg, gained 511 yards and limited Kutztown's passing attack to 147 yards while posting eight sacks in winning their final road game of the season. They host Lock Haven on Homecoming, Millersville and Mercyhurst for three November home games at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

ESU led 13-10 late in the first half after a Kutztown field goal, then scored 27 straight points – the first of three field goals by Sr. K Taylor Groff to finish the first half, followed by a 17-point third quarter and another touchdown early in the fourth – to put the game out of reach.

ESU head coach Denny Douds, in his 40th season, moved into a tie for third on the NCAA Division II all-time wins list with his 242nd career victory. He matches the win total of Mel Tjeerdsma, the longtime coach at Northwest Missouri State who began his career at Austin, and coached from 1984-2010.

The Warriors also ended a three-game losing streak in the series and have won six of their last seven trips to Kutztown. They hold a 44-17-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Golden Bears.

Soltes was 23-for-36 for 305 yards, three TD and no interceptions and added 14 rushing yards for 319 total yards. He had his eighth 300-yard passing game and 11th game with 300 yards of total offense in 15 career starts, and had 542 total yards (476 passing) in a 52-38 loss to No. 6 Bloomsburg last week.

Healy had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season, gaining 146 yards on 21 carries and adding three catches for 46 yards, including a 22-yard TD in the second quarter. His 192 yards from scrimmage are his second-most of the season, and he has two of the top four games in that category by an ESU freshman, including a record 226 yards (189 rushing, 37 receiving) on Sept. 21 at Shippensburg.

Soltes completed passes to seven different receivers, with R-So. WR Jon Schnaars (6 catches, 99 yards, TD) and R-Sr. WR Robert Bleiler (6 catches, 75 yards) his top targets.

Thomson had a hand in five of the Warriors' eight sacks, with two solo and three assisted sacks, and also had a forced fumble that helped the Warriors extend their lead to 33-10 in the third quarter. Last year's PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year, Thomson set a career-high with 13 tackles and has 46 tackles and 5.0 sacks this season.

Jr. DE Sam Trunzo added a career-high nine tackles along with two fumble recoveries, and Jr. LB Cody Simcox had 11 tackles in the middle of the Warriors' defense.

Josh Luckenbaugh made his second career start at quarterback for Kutztown and was 17-for-31 for 147 yards and two TD. Kellen Williams had a pair of fourth-quarter TD receptions for the Golden Bears and Darrell Scott (9 carries, 117 yards) broke a 78-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

ESU scored on just one of its first six possessions before putting together seven consecutive scoring drives – five touchdowns and two field goals – to roll over the Golden Bears.

The Warriors put the first points on the board on a 19-yard TD pass from Soltes to R-Sr. FB Thomas Tippett with nine seconds left in the first quarter, before Kutztown answered on Scott's 78-yard TD run with 10:57 left in the second.

The score remained 7-7 until three scoring plays in the final 3:44 of the first half, which ended with ESU holding a 16-10 halftime lead.

Soltes drove the offense 94 yards in 11 plays, going 6-for-8 for 74 yards, capped by a 22-yard TD pass to Healy that put ESU ahead 13-7 with 3:44 left in the first half. Groff's extra point was blocked.

Kutztown drove 58 yards on its next possession but was held to a 36-yard field goal by Andrew Deutsch, which cut ESU's lead to 13-10. The Warriors put together a 59-yard drive of their own to finish the half and Groff's 28-yard field goal made it 16-10 at the break.

ESU received the second-half kickoff and took a two-possession lead with an efficient scoring drive. Soltes hit Bleiler for 21 and 16 yards around a seven-yard run by Healy, and Jr. TB Gerald Van De Cruz (10 carries, 69 yards, 2 TD) scored the first of his two TD's with a two-yard run to make it 23-10.

Groff capped the Warriors' next drive with a 38-yard field goal, then Thomson forced a fumble on third-and-one from the 29 on Kutztown's next possession. Trunzo recovered at the KU 27 and Van De Cruz plunged in from one-yard out to complete a quick four-play scoring drive that made it 33-10 with 3:49 left in the third quarter.

After Kutztown moved deep into ESU territory, the Warriors gained another takeaway as Trunzo picked up a fumble by Luckenbaugh and rumbled 24 yards to the ESU 42.

The Warriors were in the end zone again seven plays later – picking up a third-and-16 with a 32-yard pass to Schnaars, a third-and-one with a nine-yard pass to So. WR Gerard Wendowski, and hitting paydirt on a 14-yard pass from Soltes to Schnaars which made it 40-10 with 14:02 left.

Kutztown scored 16 of the final 19 points on two TD passes from Luckenbaugh to Williams, covering 19 and 17 yards, and a safety on an ESU snap into the end zone.

Groff scored the Warriors' final points with 2:52 left with a 24-yard field goal to complete a 12-play, 73-yard drive that erased almost six minutes off the fourth quarter clock.

Kutztown entered the game ranked fifth in the PSAC in passing with 286.3 yards per game but had just 147 yards through the air. The Golden Bears ran for a season-high 256 yards for 403 yards of total offense.

ESU's balanced attack rolled up 305 yards through the air and 206 rushing yards on 43 carries, including a loss of 25 yards on the safety.


GAME NOTES
* ESU finishes its road schedule on the 2nd-earliest date since 1993. The Warriors are home vs. Lock Haven (Homecoming), Millersville and Mercyhurst the next 3 weeks.

* Douds coached his 415th career game and faced his 103rd different head coach in Drew Folmar, Millersville's QB from 1997-00. Douds is 68-35 against first-time opponents and will face Millersville's Greg Breitbach for the first time on November 9.

* Douds ties Mel Tjeerdsma (Austin, NW Missouri State) for 3rd on the DII wins list, and Tjeerdsma and Jerry Moore (North Texas, Texas Tech, Appalachian State) for 23rd on the all-time college football wins list, with his 242nd victory.
* Douds is 242-170-3 in 40 seasons as head coach at ESU.

* ESU went over 500 yards of total offense (511) for the 6th time in 7 games. The Warriors are averaging 513.9 yards per game - the school record of 509.1 ypg was set in 1996.
* ESU was 11th in DII in total offense (514.3 ypg) entering the game, and 13th in passing (322.9 ypg). The Warriors are now averaging 320.6 ypg passing.

* In 15 career starts, Soltes has 8 games with 300+ passing yards, and 11 games with 300+ yards of total offense.
* He passed current Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin on ESU's passing and total offense lists. Soltes ranks 6th in total offense (5,871 yards), passing Franklin's total of 5,764 yards. Soltes is 8th in passing yards (4,986 yards), passing Franklin's 4,687 yards.
* Soltes also tied Bill Dukett (1967-69) for 6th on the career TD pass list with 45, and passed Andy Baranek (1982-84) for 7th on the career TD accounted for list with 49.

* Soltes has 24 TD passes and 3 interceptions this season. He is 163-for-269 (60.6%) for 2,364 yards, and has 75 carries for 349 yards and 2 TD.
* Soltes was 10th in DII in total offense per game (342.0 ypg) entering the day. He is averaging 339.1 ypg after posting 319 yards Saturday.

* Bleiler moved into 8th at ESU in career receptions (134), and into 7th in receiving yards (2,219). He has 16 career TD receptions, 2 away from the top 10.
* Bleiler has 52 catches, 804 yards and 8 TD through 8 games this year. He is on pace for the 8th 1,000-yard receiving season in school history, and the 9th season with 60+ catches.

* Healy had his 4th 100-yard rushing game, and his 146 yards were the 2nd-most of his freshman season.
* He also ran for 111 yards at Seton Hill, 189 at Shippensburg and 132 vs. Clarion.
* Healy is 2nd in ESU's freshman rushing book with 816 yards on 129 carries (6.3 avg.) and has 4 rushing TD.
* He has 9 catches for 156 yards and 2 TD after compiling 6 catches for 99 yards in the last 2 weeks.
* Healy has 972 total yards this year, rushing and receiving.

* ESU's 8 sacks are its most since recording 8 in the season finale at Mercyhurst last year.
* Thomson's 3.5 sacks are ESU's most since Brian Holkovic had 4.0 in a 19-10 win at Kutztown in 2001.
* Trunzo (1.0), R-Jr. DE Brandon Gattelli (1.0), R-Jr. DL Jon Noble (1.0), R-So. OLB Kaje Cowans (1.0) and Simcox (0.5) also had sacks.

* Sr. K Taylor Groff is 4th in PSAC history in both career field goals made (48) and points (285).
* He is 2 field goals from the school record of 50 held by Ed Detwiler (1989-92), and 2 points from the record of 287 held by Mark Brubaker (2002-05). Both records were also PSAC records prior to the 2013 season and have been surpassed by Bloomsburg's Danny Fisher.

* Darrell Scott's 78-yard TD run in the 2nd quarter for Kutztown was the longest against an ESU defense since Toby Murray (Glenville State) had a 93-yard run in 2002.