Army-Kutztown Battle for Position as Bowl Series Approaches

It was beginning to look like a classic Kutztown comeback as the Golden Bears pounded out 11 unanswered points late in Saturday’s game against Army. The Black Knights had utilized their formidable defense to hold the powerful Kutztown forwards to less than 20 points before the late surge, which left Kutztown up with 4 minutes to play.

It was then that West Point flanker and team captain Collum Magee struck the near-fatal blow to the Bears’ hopes for a REC championship. Grabbing a perfect pass from John Banarhall, Magee blasted through two flanking defenders and slammed the ball down just over the line to give the Knights the 33-30 lead (followed by a conversion from vice-captain Logan Pierce) and the game.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Army coach Mike Mahan said. “Kutztown is the class of our league and to put that all together … [represents] great leadership from our few senior players that we have, and the younger guys all stepped up.”

It was exactly the sort of match expected between these two top-ranked teams, but as the dust settles, questions turn to where the teams stand heading into the end of the season and the ACRC Bowl Series in Charlotte. Army, at 5-0, is the likely Rugby East Conference Champion; Kutztown (which earned 2 bonus points) as good as locked down at least a second place finish in the REC.

Kutztown finishes out their season with games against St. Bonaventure and American International College, while Army plays Air Force on Halloween and finishes their season the following week at Wheeling Jesuit.

With their win last weekend, Army earns the right to play Life University in the ACRC Bowl Series, while Kutztown will likely play Michigan if they can hold off Wisconsin and Ohio State for the Big 10 title (unbeaten Indiana is ineligible for postseason play this year).

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