Riffle-to-Musitano connection carries Fleetwood to big win over Kutztown

(This story will be updated shortly with additional details and postgame reaction.)

By Chris Deantonio — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

First-year Fleetwood football coach Steve Pangburn wasn’t surprised by the chemistry between quarterback Jack Riffle and receiver Mason Musitano. It’s probably because the duo has been practicing for games like this since they were 5 years old.

Fleetwood, led by its junior quarterback-receiver combination, opened its season with a 58-12 non-league win over Kutztown Friday night in the Hall of Fame game at Kutztown.

Riffle and Musitano were on the same page all night, connecting on three touchdown passes in the first half.

“We’ve been like that since we were growing up, living one house down from each other,” said Riffle. “We’re ‘boys from the ditch,’ my Mom likes to say.”

The connection that worked in the ditch translated to success on the field as Riffle completed 9-of-12 passes for 167 yards and four touchdowns. He also added 63 yards rushing, including a 48-yard score in the first half.

Musitano, a third-year starter, hauled in five receptions for 91 yards and three touchdowns, including a 33-yard deep ball down the left sideline.

“He knows where I’m throwing; I know where he’s running,” said Riffle.

Running back Ty Wamsher caught the longest pass of the night — a 65-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Wamsher, who received most of Fleetwood’s first-half carries, also scored Fleetwood’s first touchdown of the season on a 5-yard run.

Fleetwood worked with a short field most of the night as the special teams unit blocked three punts.

Kutztown scored in the second quarter to cut into Fleetwood’s 16-point lead. Quarterback Jacob Lafferty found Ethan Lafferty for a 13-yard score to make it 16-6, but the Tigers pulled away with touchdowns on their next four possessions.

Fleetwood scored twice in the second half. Jason Petion took the second-half kickoff to the end zone on a 67-yard return. Fleetwood’s Tristan McFarland took over at quarterback in the second half and scored on a 23-yard run.

Kutztown’s Brenden Ackley scored the Cougars other touchdown on a 1-yard run in the third quarter. He finished with a game-high 90 yards on 13 rushing attempts.

The Tigers kicked off Pangburn’s tenure with a win — something they hadn’t done in recent season-openers.

“You take every win you can get,” said Pangburn. “We started out the last two years with losses, so it’s nice to get ahead in the game.”

Lafftery completed 7-of-13 pass attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Fleetwood	16	28	14	0	58
Kutztown	0	6	6	0	12

Scoring summary

1	Fleetwood	Wamsher, 5-yard run(Wamsher run)	5:30
1	Fleetwood	Musitano, 7-yard pass from Riffle (Ramsey run)	2:21
2	Kutztown	E. Lafferty, 13-yard pass from J. Lafferty (kick failed)	7:27
2	Fleetwood	Wamsher, 65-yard pass from Riffle (Tomes pass from Riffle)	7:09
2	Fleetwood	Musitano, 33-yard pass from Riffle (pass failed)	5:38
2	Fleetwood	Riffle, 48-yard run (Pennypacker kick)	2:59
2	Fleetwood	Musitano, 15-yard pass from Riffle (Pennypacker kick)	0:11
3	Fleetwood	Petion, 67-yard kickoff return (Pennypacker kick)	11:47
3	Kutztown	Ackley, 1-yard run (pass failed)	6:48
3	Fleetwood	McFarland, 23-yard run (kick good)	5:51

Team statistics

	Fleetwood	Kutztown
First downs	14	14
Rushes-yards	26 – 184	40 – 111
Passing yards	167	97
Total yards	351	208
Passes	9 – 12 – 0 – 167	7 – 13 – 0 – 97
Fumbles-lost	1 – 0	2 – 0
Punts-average	1 – 33	1 – 32
Penalties-yards	7 – 77	2 – 20

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Fleetwood: Riffle 3 – 63 – 1, Wamsher 6 – 13 – 1, Ramsey 6 – 20, Brickle 6 – 33, McFarland 3 – 46 – 1, Killian 2 – 9

Kutztown: Ackley 13 – 90 – 1, Gruber 4 – 14, Swoyer 3 – 8, Lafferty 13 – (-18), Thomas 2 – (-1), Sherry 3 – 6, Bates 2 – 12

PASSING

Fleetwood: Riffle 9 – 12 – 0 – 167 – 4

Kutztown: Lafferty 7 – 13 – 0 –  97 – 1

RECEIVING

Fleetwood: Wamsher 1 – 65 – 1, Tomes 2 – 7, Musitano 5 – 91 – 3, Billings 1 – 4Kutztown: Swoyer 2 – 34, Thomas 2 – 34, 2 – 25 – 1, 1 – 4