’22 Season Preview: Kutztown Cougars
Classification: Class 3A
League: Lancaster-Lebanon Section 5
Schedule: Click here
Last season: 0-6 Berks 2, 2-8 overall
Last District 3 playoff appearance: None
Head coach: Larry Chester, ninth season, 23-54
Key losses: RB/LB Lennon Neiman, FB/LB Isaac Schneider, all-league second-team OT Gunnar Wetzel, G Dylan Cortez.
| LL5 | Projected finish |
| 1 | Hamburg |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic |
| 3 | Columbia |
| 4 | Annville-Cleona |
| 5 | Schuylkill Valley |
| 6 | Northern Lebanon |
| 7 | Kutztown |
| 8 | Pequea Valley |
Top offensive players: QB Jake Lafferty, RB Dakota Thomas, RB Jayden Swoyer, FB Brenden Ackley, FB Jayce Gruber, WR Ethan Lafferty, TE James Undercuffler, C Ryan Cardinale, G Alex Reyes, T Tyler Hallock.
Top defensive players: E Alex Reyes, T Ryan Cardinale, T Tyler Hallock, LB Dakota Thomas, LB Jayden Swoyer, LB Brenden Ackley, SS Jacob Lafferty, FS Ethan Lafferty, CB Jayce Gruber.
Did you know? The Cougars exited the Berks Football League with a 67-game league losing streak.
For the record: Lennon Neiman set program records last year for points in a season (133), rushing touchdowns in a season (21) and TDs in a career (30). He matched the records for TDs in a game (6), TDs in a season (21), points in a game (36). He also set a record for longest fumble return (81 yards).
On schedule: The Cougars open the season against Fleetwood, which they have traditionally played in the season finale. Now that they’re in different sections they can’t meet in the final regular season game under the current format. The series, which began in 2001, is tied 10-10. In 2013 they began playing for the Hall of Fame Trophy.
Quotable: “When you have a focal point like Lennon (Nieman), you have to feed him the ball. The mindset now is three are stronger than one. We’re looking for more of a team concept. It’s harder (for the defense) when you have more than one guy (to gameplan for). And all of (our backs) are now bigger, faster and stronger than they were a year ago.” — Cougars coach Larry Chester, on replacing tailback Lennon Neiman, who rushed for over 1,300 yards last season.
Outlook: No one can be happier about Berks’ move to the Lancaster-Lebanon League than the Cougars. They had no chance going against powerhouse programs such as Wyomissing and Berks Catholic when they played in Section 2 of the Berks League; they were lightyears away from those programs.
Now that they’re in Section 5 they’re on more even footing; none of the programs, save for Lancaster Catholic, have produced many top teams and most have struggled to stay near .500.
“We’re definitely looking forward to playing more teams (of) like size, like caliber,” said head coach Larry Chester.
The Cougars will still find themselves at the bottom looking up at most of the other seven teams in the section but for a change they aren’t miles away. There is a chance that if they continue to build and become competitive they can some day challenge the leaders.
That day is not now, but they are closing the gap. They went winless six times in seven years before Chester returned in 2020. He and the Cougars celebrated the end of that 2020 season with a win over Shenandoah Valley, snapping a 35-game losing streak.
Last year they won twice, again beating Sheandoah before delivering a 76-37 win over Pequea Valley, their new Section 5 rival.
The keys in the Cougars’ rebuild are getting more players into the program and getting those who sign on to get bigger, stronger and faster. Chester seems well-equipped on both fronts. He’s personable and energic and knows how to challenge his players. Plus, he’s a strength coach and a track coach, so it’s a natural fit.
Even if it doesn’t show up in the win-loss column his players are gaining on the competition. Several have come back this season 20 or more pounds heavier, plus faster at the same time. Twenty-eight players attended a team camp at Millersville earlier in the summer.
“We’re pretty excited about that,” Chester said. “It’s all about showing up that first day.”
The joint sponsorship agreement with Brandywine Heights has been a program-saver; without it there would be no football in Kutztown. Nearly half the 36 players on the roster attend Brandywine.
Other than record-setting RB Lennon Neiman, graduation wasn’t too tough on the Cougars. Fourteen players with starting experience return, most importantly QB Jacob Lafferty, linemen Tyler Hallock and Ryan Cardinale and Dakota Thomas, a RB who could follow in Neiman’s footsteps.
At the wire: Chance to move northward in the standings.
Lancaster-Lebanon League
| Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 |
| Cedar Crest | Conestoga Valley | Daniel Boone | Berks Catholic | Annville-Cleona |
| Hempfield | Exeter | Elizabethtown | Cocalico | Columbia |
| Manheim Twp. | Gov. Mifflin | Ephrata | Conrad Weiser | Hamburg |
| McCaskey | Lebanon | Fleetwood | Donegal | Kutztown |
| Penn Manor | Manheim Central | Garden Spot | Elco | Lancaster Catholic |
| Reading High | Muhlenberg | Solanco | Lampeter-Strasburg | Northern Lebanon |
| Wilson | Warwick | Twin Valley | Octorara | Pequea Valley |
| | | | Wyomissing | Schuylkill Valley |
