Black Bears struggle but top Kutztown

ORONO – For the designated “breather” on the schedule, Division II Kutztown University made the University of Maine football team breathe a lot harder than either the Black Bears or the 6,729 fans at Alumni Field Saturday expected they would.

But after 60 minutes, highlighted by the Maine defense chasing (and catching) Kutztown All-American quarterback Andy Breault and his receivers through 48 mostly ineffective pass attempts, the I-AA Black Bears came through their interdivisional aerobic checkup with a 10-0 victory.

Next up for 2-0 Maine: I-AA Northeastern (0-1) Saturday in Orono.

“I don’t think there’s any question we had the talent to beat them,” said Maine junior defensive end Fred Harner, who was at the front of the Bears’ defensive pack with two sacks among his six tackles. “You have to give them credit. We’ve been put in their position a couple of times. We played (I-A’s) Rutgers and Hawaii the last couple of years. We played those guys tough. They came up here ready to play. I’m not disappointed with the score at all.”

Harner’s assessment pretty much typified the reaction of everyone involved in a listless contest that featured 21 penalties between the two teams and a plain vanilla offensive performance by Maine that kept melting whenever the Bears got in scoring range.

Maine’s best moments offensively may have come when senior tight end Mark Shaw booted a 33-yard field goal and a perfect PAT after a 1-yard Ben Sirmans touchdown dive.

“It feels good to make them, believe me,” said Shaw, who had missed two PATs in last week’s game vs. New Hampshire, but retained his job with Saturday’s effort, according to UM head coach Kirk Ferentz.

With the team 2-0 for the first time since the ’89 Yankee Conference title season (no Maine team has ever had a losing season after starting 2-0), Ferentz couldn’t kick too much about the closeness of the score.

“I asked the team in the locker room two questions. No. 1, is anybody happy with our performance today? I didn’t see any hands go up. And No. 2, when was the last time we felt bad after a win around this place?… That puts it all in perspective,” said Ferentz.

A different perspective was offered by Kutztown head coach Barry Fetterman. After watching his team miss a 29-yard field goal, fumble on Maine’s 8-yard line, and have a 47-yard touchdown pass called back on an illegal-receiver-down-field penalty, Fetterman felt his team missed a golden opportunity for an upset.

“We may not have won it, but we might have tied,” Fetterman said. “The one TD called back might have given us some momentum. They (Maine) were just going through the motions at that point.”

Most of Maine’s motions involved stuffing Kutztown’s running game (minus-20 yards on 18 attempts) and shuffling as many as six defensive backs into the game to defend against Breault. The dime package worked, producing interceptions by Maine’s Billy Curry and Jemal Murph, which helped snap Breault’s string of consecutive games with a TD pass at 21.

“We tried attacking them with some three-receiver sets, but it didn’t work out,” said Breault, whose longest completion in between sacks covered 22 yards.

Meanwhile, Maine’s offense succeeded at chewing up the clock, if not lighting up the scoreboard. Senior tailback Ben Sirmans ground out 114 yards on 32 carries. Freshman fullback Ray Baur rumbled for 88 more. Sophomore quarterback Emilio Colon (13-for-25, 124 yards) kept the aggressive Golden Bear defense honest by working the short routes.

Maine, which held the ball a full quarter longer than Kutztown, simply couldn’t score. Six possessions inside the K-30 produced 10 points.

“We’re a little concerned and not pleased with some of the things we did in terms of making mistakes, penalties, and turnovers. The bottom line is we’re sitting 2-0,” Ferentz summed up.

UM Bears 10, Golden Bears 0

Kutztown State 0 0 0 0 -0

Maine 3 0 0 7 -10

M – Shaw 33 FG

M – Sirmans 1 run (Shaw kick)

Maine Kutztown First downs 22 20 Rushing: att. – yards 61-245 18-(-20) Passing: att. – comp. 25-13 48-26 Yards passing 124 281 Total yards 369 261 Intercepted by 2 0 Punts – average 4-25.8 6-31.8 Fumbles – lost 1-1 1-1 Penalties – yards 11-98 10-81

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Maine: Sirmans 32-114-1, Baur 18-88, Colon 10-38, Knudsen 1-5; Kutztown: Blubaugh 3-6, McMaster 1-5, Donnelly 5-2, Herbinko 2-1, Breault 7-(-34)

PASSING – Maine: Colon 13-25-124-0; Kutztown: Breault 26-48-281-0-2

RECEIVING – Maine: Cates 6-56, Baur 2-23, Squires 1-14, Shaw 1-11, Gaine 1-11, Szydlowski 1-6, Davis 1-3; Kutztown: Donnelly 5-51, Blubaugh 4-41, Bordlemay 3-47, James 3-26, Thaxton 3-33, McLaughlin 3-17, Rebar 2-35, Mele 1-21, McMaster 1-9, Herbinko 1-1