November 1st, 2025 6:15pm
The Kutztown Golden Bears, ranked No. 3 in the D2Football.com Top 25 poll, secured a third straight PSAC East division championship on Saturday with a one game still remaining in divisional play. The east division will host all week 11 contests this year, meaning the PSAC Championship game will be help at Kutztown on November 15. The full game report from Kutztown sports information follows.
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Fourth-ranked Kutztown University football maintained its perch atop the PSAC East by securing its third straight divisional title and fifth in the last six seasons with a convincing 49-6 victory over rival East Stroudsburg at Andre Reed Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears moved to 9-0 on the season and 6-0 in the PSAC East with one week of divisional play remaining. Kutztown already owns a win over second-place Shepherd (5-1) and sent the Warriors (4-2), its only remaining challenger for the title, to their second conference loss of the season.
Noah Kracyla (Townsend, Del./Middletown) and Jaedyn Stewart (Newfield, N.J./Delsea Regional) made immediate impacts upon their return to the lineup. Kracyla caught six passes for 141 yards and a touchdown and Stewart rushed for 73 yards and two scores.
Steven Burkhardt (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester City) registered his third 100+ yard rushing game of the season with 114 yards and a TD, Judd Novak (Manheim, Pa./Manheim Central) threw for 255 yards and a TD and Jhaisir Harden (Glassboro, N.J./Glassboro) added a 44-yard pick six as the Maroon and Gold topped 40 points for the third week in a row and seventh time in nine games, while holding their opponent under 10 points for the sixth time this season.
The first three possessions yielded no points but KU got its wheels turning midway through the first quarter. Kracyla hauled in a 56-yard pass from Novak down to the ESU 10-yard line and a few plays the Bears went to their bag of tricks to open the scoring with a 5-yard TD pass from wide receiver Rich Paczewski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) to Lenniek Preston (Wilmington, Del./Conrad).
Kutztown, which entered the game ranked second in NCAA Division II in scoring defense (7.4 ppg) and total defense (222.5 ypg), forced punts by ESU (6-3, 4-2 PSAC East) on six of its first seven drives.
A 28-point second quarter broke the game open in KU's favor.
Stewart carved his way through an opening set up by his offensive line and outraced multiple Warrior defenders to the end zone for a 14-0 lead at 10:15 of the second.
Two plays later, the Bears were back on the board. Harden made a leaping catch near midfield to intercept ESU quarterback Harrison Susi and raced back 44 yards for a TD. It marked Harden's second straight game with a pick and Kutztown's second pick six of the season following Michael LeMay's (Medford, N.J./Lenape) against Shippensburg on Oct. 4.
The Warriors punted on their next two possessions and the Golden Bears countered with touchdowns each time to go up 35-0.
Novak's 28-yard pass to Luke Maxwell (Estell Manor, N.J./Delsea Regional) put the Bears in ESU territory at the 46 and Burkhardt patiently waited for the seas to part before taking it the rest of the way on the next play for his team-leading eighth TD run of the year. Stewart added his second TD of the afternoon from a yard out with one minute left in the half.
East Stroudsburg put its only points of the half on the board as time expired with a 45-yard Ty Quintois field goal to make it 35-3.
Kracyla added a 24-yard TD catch from Novak in the third and Ben Martin III (Middletown, Del./Middletown) had a 1-yard TD run in the fourth to account for KU's second half scoring.
Kutztown won its 11th straight game over the Warriors dating back to 2014 but won this one going away after the last four meetings had each been decided by one score.
The Golden Bears totaled a season-high 534 yards of offense, rushing for 242 and throwing for 292. Novak completed 13-of-17 passes for 255 yards and a TD. The redshirt junior from Manheim, Pa., has a 16:0 touchdown-to-interception ratio this season and hasn't thrown a pick in 13 consecutive games and 246 attempts since Oct. 26, 2024.
Kyree Butler (Ambler, Pa./Upper Dublin) had a game-high five tackles for the Golden Bear defense. Ty Kephart (Grantville, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) had four solo stops including a sack, while Brandon Hile (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove) had four tackles, a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries. Freddie Retter (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) added a sack and Zach Perta (Swoyersville, Pa./Holy Redeemer) a pass breakup.
Saturday's win was the 99th of head coach Jim Clements' KU career. Clements improved to 99-29 in his 11th season with the Bears. He's 165-53 in 19 seasons overall between Delaware Valley and Kutztown.
The Golden Bears will look to wrap up their third straight unbeaten run through the PSAC East next Saturday on the road at Bloomsburg (2 p.m.). They'll host the PSAC Championship Game on Saturday, Nov. 15.