In the deep and talented Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the road to the top will still run through Kutztown University in 2025.<\/p>\n
The Golden Bears are coming off back-to-back PSAC titles and consecutive NCAA Division II playoff appearances.<\/p>\n
And it all starts at the top with head coach Jim Clements.<\/p>\n
The five-time PSAC Coach of the Year is entering his 11th season at the helm.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally fortunate to be in that position to lead a bunch of really great guys,\u201d Clements said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had really good players who buy into our culture, and I\u2019ve been really fortunate to have really good coaches. Surround yourself with good players and good coaches, you know, good things are gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
And good things have happened year after year in Kutztown as the Golden Bears return another talented, experienced roster, one carrying high expectations. Kutztown enters the season ranked No. 1 in the PSAC preseason poll.<\/p>\n
Clements has made it clear to his team that rankings mean nothing; what truly matters is how they perform on Saturdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the preseason accolades and all that stuff really doesn\u2019t phase us or matter to us,\u201d Clements said. \u201cWe\u2019ve won the conference when we were picked third or fourth in the league as well. So for us, it really doesn\u2019t matter what we did last year. We flush it, and we move on. It\u2019s a new season, a new team, but the same expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
It all starts on the defensive side of the ball for the Golden Bears, who have fielded the PSAC\u2019s top-ranked defense each of the past three seasons. Kutztown allowed just 122 points over 12 games last year, an average of 10.2 points per game, while holding opponents to just 234 yards of total offense per game.<\/p>\n
Leading the charge once again in 2025 is Freddie Retter, the reigning PSAC Eastern Division Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
The redshirt junior defensive lineman is a true game-wrecker in the trenches. Retter led the entire PSAC in solo tackles for loss with 12, while also recording 7.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. He totaled 42 tackles, broke up two passes, notched nine quarterback hurries, and blocked two kicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great leader. By example, and when he talks, people listen. He\u2019s the ultimate teammate,\u201d Clements saidr. \u201cHe works extremely hard in practice, and that shows on Saturdays and Thursday nights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now entering his fourth year in the system, Retter is expected to take on an even larger role in 2025. Both the coaching staff and his teammates are anticipating another huge season from the Quakertown native.<\/p>\n
On offense, former Manheim Central standout Judd Novak returns under center for his fourth season as a redshirt junior. In his second full year as the starter, Novak threw for 2,004 yards and 20 touchdowns, with just five interceptions and a 63% completion rate.<\/p>\n
He was named to the PSAC Second Team, also rushing for 433 yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Much like Retter on defense, Novak serves as a key leader for the offense. He\u2019ll also take on more responsibilities in the playbook and scheme-wise.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does everything the right way. He takes care of himself. We\u2019ve got to keep him healthy, for sure. He does a really good job in that regard,\u201d Clements said of Novak. \u201cBut he\u2019s another guy leading by example. He\u2019s in his third or fourth year in the system, so he\u2019s a lot more comfortable. We can expand on a lot of other things quicker, because his library of information for the playbook is a lot broader than it was in the past few seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Golden Bears suffered a heartbreaking 25-24 overtime loss to No. 11 Slippery Rock in the second round of last season\u2019s NCAA playoffs.<\/p>\n
Though it was a sour way to end an otherwise fantastic season, that sting will fuel them in 2025 to go even further.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great every time we get an opportunity to play in a championship game, and we came away with a big W on the road (21-14 against IUP in PSAC championship). That was huge,\u201d Clements said of last season. \u201cIt was a disappointing ending in the season for sure. Losing in overtime was brutal, so kind of chewing on that over the last X amount of months and just getting ready to go this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kutztown kicks off the 2025 season with a Thursday night home game against Assumption. Kutztown won last year\u2019s meeting, 24-6.<\/p>\n
Coach:<\/strong> Jim Clements, 11th season, 90-29. PSAC East Coach of the Year. AFCA Division II Region 1 Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n Last season:<\/strong> 7-0 PSAC, 11-1. PSAC Champions. NCAA Division II second round.<\/p>\n Key players:<\/strong> Offense \u2013 Judd Novak, Jaedyn Stewart, Steven Burkhardt, Noah Kracyla, Luke Maxwell, Ryan Schernecke, Billy Everitt. Defense \u2013 Freddie Retter, Braydon, Pohlman, Brandon Strausser, Eden Johnson, Lee Coleman, Will Smith, Nate Millard.<\/p>\n Berks County natives:<\/strong> Nate Milliard (Daniel Boone), Eden Johnson (Gov. Mifflin), Kabine Toure (Gov. Mifflin), Brandon Strausser (Gov. Mifflin), Evan Myers (Twin Valley), Jack Dendall (Wilson).<\/p>\n Schedule:<\/strong> Sept. 4, Assumption; Sept. 13, at Edinboro; Sept. 20, Gannon; Sept. 27, at Shepherd; Oct. 4, Shippensburg; Oct. 11, at Lock Haven; Oct. 18, Millersville; Oct. 25, at West Chester; Nov. 1, East Stroudsburg; Nov. 8, at Bloomsburg; Nov. 15, IUP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the deep and talented Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the road to the top will still run through…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":197469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1369,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,3101,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-197468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115141745262256411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}