Each of Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s previous trips to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game ended in the same fashion.
The Crimson Hawks won the PSAC West Division in 2022, 2017 and 2012 before winning the conference championship game.
“We want to win the PSAC,” said Paul Tortorella, now in his ninth season as IUP’s coach. “We have goals, and our goals start off with winning the West. When you win the West, the next goal is to win the PSAC.”
But there’s also another reality of the Crimson Hawks’ recent success in the PSAC championship game.
“All of those teams did well in the playoffs after they won the PSAC,” Tortorella said. “That kind of is the start of it, the playoffs.”
In 2022, Tortorella won the PSAC and led his program to the NCAA Division II Super Region One championship game. Just six years earlier, in Tortorella’s first season as head coach, IUP followed its PSAC title with a trip to the NCAA Division II semifinals after advancing to the national quarterfinals in 2012.
The Crimson Hawks will have their work cut out for them if they are to repeat such feats.
IUP (7-2, 5-1) will face Kutztown (10-0, 7-0), the nation’s third-ranked team, in the PSAC championship game at noon Saturday at the Golden Bears’ Andre Reed Stadium.
Kutztown won the PSAC East Division title for the third straight season. Coach Jim Clements’ program is attempting to become the first to win three consecutive conference titles since Slippery Rock won championships in 1972, ’73 and ’74.
“I think this is the best team we’ve played since I’ve been the head coach,” said Tortorella of the Golden Bears. “They have everything: a great defense, offense, run, pass, special teams, well-coached. They’ve really only played one game where the game was in doubt at all. They’ve handled all comers. It’ll be a big, big, big test for us.”
The top-ranked team in the most recent Super Region One rankings, Kutztown boasts one of the best defenses in the country in almost every statistical category. The Golden Bears have allowed just 3.97 yards per play and 9.2 points per game, which are good for second lowest in the nation, while their 248.3 yards per game allowed is fourth least nationally.
“We’ve played some No. 1-ranked offenses in my time here,” Tortorella said. “This is probably the first time we’ve played the No. 1 defense in the country.”
Redshirt senior Brandon Strausser leads the Golden Bears’ standout group of linebackers. He has recorded a team-high 42 tackles, while Brandon Hiles has 41, Eden Johnson has 40 and Ty Kephart has 38.
The Kutztown front seven only gets more fearsome along its defensive line. Redshirt sophomore Lawron Short has racked up 3½ sacks, while Kyree Butler has accumulated 28 tackles and three sacks. Defensive linemen Khalil Williams and Brayden Pohlman have added 2½ sacks each.
“If you’re only giving up nine points a game and you haven’t been scored on in the first quarter, you’re a really good defense,” Tortorella said.
Clements said his team is entering the PSAC championship game with plenty of confidence behind its defense.
Kutztown’s offense has been strong as well. Dual-threat redshirt junior quarterback Judd Novak, who will start his third PSAC championship game, has thrown for 2,108 yards, 17 touchdowns and no interceptions, while running backs Steven Burkhardt and Jaedyn Stewart provide plenty of playmaking abilities behind the Golden Bears’ offensive line.
Burkhardt has rushed for 815 yards and eight touchdowns, while Stewart has racked up 456 yards and nine scores.
“They hold each other accountable in practice,” said Clements, whose team is riding the nation’s longest active regular-season winning streak at 30 games. “They hold each other accountable in meetings and film. They want to be great. They take coaching very well. They aren’t a bunch of ‘palm’s up’ guys. They take responsibility and truly know what it takes to get better every day.”
As dominant as Kutztown has been this season, though, Clements said his team is entering Saturday’s game with a healthy dose of respect for the PSAC West Division champions.
“I knew it would be either one of the ‘Big Three,’ right, either Cal, Slippery Rock or IUP,” he said. “I just thought, on film so far this season, that IUP was the strongest team.”
The Crimson Hawks will be looking to lean upon its veteran leaders in the postseason.
Graduate student quarterback Matthew Rueve — a transfer who played at Division II Findlay and Division I FBS Boston College — leads an IUP offense which is capable of scoring in a variety of ways.
Rueve has thrown for a PSAC-leading 2,812 yards, 28 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. His top targets have been wide receivers Maurice Massey and Devin Whitlock, who are third and fourth, respectively, in receiving yardage in the conference in 2025.
Massey has caught 41 passes for 736 yards and eight touchdowns, while Whitlock — a Belle Vernon native and Pitt transfer — has 64 catches for 726 yards and five scores.
Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Coleman has also accounted for 407 yards and six touchdowns as a big-play option for Rueve, while tight end Connor Shamany has 375 receiving yards and four scores to his credit.
Running backs Leon Parson and Tavion Banks also provide an added wrinkle in the ground game. Parson has rushed for 272 yards and five touchdowns, while Banks has 197 yards and three scores.
“This team could very easily be 9-0,” Tortorella said. “A play here and a play there, but at the end of the day, if you look at we come into preseason camp and you say, ‘Hey, no matter what happens we’re going to go play Kutztown for the PSAC Championship?’ Would you take that? Absolutely.”
Other Division II playoff scenarios
While Kutztown may sit atop the latest Super Region One rankings, the PSAC West Division boasts three teams among the top eight that will qualify for the NCAA playoffs.
The Division II postseason field, which will be unveiled by the NCAA at 6 p.m. Sunday, will consist of 32 teams with 16 programs receiving automatic bids.
IUP was ranked fourth in the latest Super Region One rankings, while California University of Pennsylvania is ranked in fifth place.
The Vulcans (7-3, 5-1) will round out its regular season with a game against Shippensburg (3-7, 3-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium in Shippensburg.
If the standings remain the same, IUP would host California in the first round of the NCAA playoffs next Saturday.
Slippery Rock (6-3, 3-3), meanwhile, can still hang on to some hope in regards to earning its seventh consecutive NCAA postseason berth, which is the second-longest streak in the nation.
The Rock was slated in ninth place this week in the Super Region One rankings behind Fayetteville State (6-4, 6-1).
Coach Shawn Lutz’s Slippery Rock team will close out its regular-season schedule with a game against Bloomsburg (2-8, 1-6) at noon Saturday at Redman Stadium in Bloomsburg.
Fayetteville State finished its regular-season slate last week with a 31-21 victory over Winston-Salem State. The Broncos finished in third place in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association standings.
Division III playoff scenarios
The NCAA Division III playoff bracket will be unveiled at 5 p.m. Sunday with a 40-team field, which includes 27 teams receiving automatic bids and 13 earning at-large postseason berths.
Washington & Jefferson (7-2, 7-0) wrapped up its 28th Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship and second straight automatic bid to the NCAA postseason with a 49-7 victory over Geneva last Saturday.
The Presidents will close out their regular season with a 1 p.m. game against Thiel (1-8, 1-6) at Cameron Stadium in Washington. With a victory, W&J will claim its first undefeated conference championship since 2017.
Grove City, Westminster and Geneva are each still very much alive to receive at-large berths from the PAC, which earned three NCAA playoff selections a season ago.
The PAC’s second-place team, Grove City (7-2, 6-1) will wrap its regular season with a 1 p.m. game Saturday at Hiram (3-6, 2-5).
The Wolverines are looking to make their third straight trip to the NCAA playoffs.
Westminster (6-3, 5-2), meanwhile, will close out its regular season with a 1 p.m. game at Saint Vincent (2-7, 1-6).
Geneva (5-4, 5-2) will play its regular-season finale at 1 p.m. Saturday against Case Western (4-4-1, 4-3) in Cleveland.
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.