KUTZTOWN, Pa. – A lot can happen in 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
For Shepherd University, that’s all it took to start the beginning of the end of an undefeated football season.
Kutztown University, ranked fourth in the latest D2Football.com poll, used those 135 seconds to change the course of the game, scoring twice early in the second quarter on the way to a 28-18 victory over the previously unbeaten Rams in their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East opener.
Shepherd, who entered the game at No. 23 in the poll, lost in its first road game of the season. The Rams had come back to win their first three games after allowing the opponents to score first.
It was a little different on Saturday.
The two teams played for field position for nearly the entire first quarter before Kutztown made its move.
The Golden Bears (4-0, 1-0) took the ball at their own 20 and started to march at the end of the first quarter. On the third play of the second quarter, running back Craig Miller broke through the middle of the line and went 46 yards for a touchdown.
Peter Fiorello added the extra point to give Kutztown a 7-0 lead with 14:13 remaining in the half.
Shepherd attempted to answer, but took a 32-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 play starting at their 36 to turn the ball over on downs.
Kutztown took over at the Rams’ 4 and scored again at the 11:58 mark on the first play, a 4-yard TD run by Dakota Campbell to make it 14-0.
Shepherd (3-1, 0-1) played catch-up the rest of the game.
The Rams posted a touchdown on a 17-yard run by quarterback Michael Hardyway with 2:31 remaining, but Shepherd missed the extra point to trail 14-6 at the half.
Kutztown kept its distance from Shepherd in the second half, first with a scoreless third quarter.
The Golden Bears got the first score in the second half with a 15-yard touchdown catch by Brady Collins on a pass from Judd Novak for a 21-6 lead with 14:55.
Shepherd struck back late in the game with a 23-yard scoring pass from Hardyway to Daryl Harper with 3:39 remaining to tighten the score to 21-12.
Kutztown extended the lead quickly with a 40-yard run by Miller for his second touchdown of the game to move to 28-12 with 2:33 remaining.
The Rams finished the scoring with 50 seconds left when Hardyway found Harper for an 11-yard TD.
Miller led Kutztown with 139 yards on 11 carries and the two touchdowns.
Shepherd had 210 yards of total offense while Kutztown totaled 391 yards, including 249 on the ground.
Jabril Daniels, a Fort Hill graduate, led the Rams with 53 yards on 16 tries.
Hardyway completed 17-of-24 passes for 112 yards. Novak connected on 13-of-20 passes for 142 yards for the Golden Bears. Harper added six catches for 57 yards to lead the Shepherd receivers.
The Shepherd defense was led by defensive back Tyrin Chinn-Thompson with seven assisted tackles.
