Hamburg freshman QB Isaac McFadden sparks comeback vs. Kutztown
2025 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Hamburg freshman quarterback Isaac McFadden was trusted right from the start of his high school career to lead the Hawks offense.
Friday night he was trusted to lead a rally with the Hawks down two scores to Kutztown in the second half, and he delivered.
| Final | |
| Hamburg | 21 |
| Kutztown | 20 |
McFadden threw a pair of second-half touchdowns to lift Hamburg to a 21-20 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 victory at Kutztown.
“You’ve got to put the ball in your playmakers hands,” said Hamburg coach Tyler Hartranft. “In that moment that was the best play call and I had complete confidence that he was going to execute. He came up clutch when we needed him and that is big time stuff.”
McFadden delivered the defining play of the game with 7:29 left when he found Owen Bentz for a 6- yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal to cap a 16-play 58-yard drive.
“I knew in my head I was going to get it done for my team,” McFadden said. “I wanted to set it up for our defense to give them a shot and close the game out.”
The Hawks turned the Cougars over on downs and forced a fumble in the final minute to preserve the win.
McFadden went 11-of-22 passing for 162 yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes while running for another. He helped lead Hamburg back from a pair of two-score deficits to help Hartranft earn his first Lancaster-Lebanon League win.
“We have taken some time to establish the culture, and this was a big step in the right direction,” Hartranft said. “The way they showed up Monday and attacked the weight room, I knew we had a football team.
“Sometimes you have to get punched in the mouth like (we did) last week against Annville-Cleona to build a team. Each week you have to be the tougher team and I felt like we wore Kutztown down in the second half.”
After Hamburg (1-1, 2-3) was turned over on downs on its opening possession of the game the Cougars (0-2, 1-4) went straight to their patented rushing attack and went up 6-0 on a 34-yard touchdown run from Mason Sherry at the 5:54-mark of the first quarter.
The Cougars extended their lead on their next possession with another long touchdown run, this time from Ryan Walters, from 66 yards out to go up 12-0 11 seconds into the second quarter.
The Hawks got some momentum midway through the second quarter when Bryce Schmeck intercepted Wyatt Stoess at the Cougars 30-yard line. Hamburg cashed in five plays later when McFadden scrambled for a 5-yard touchdown with 4:47 left in the first half.
Hamburg was unable to take advantage of a Cougars fumble on the second play of the third quarter as it turned it over on downs for the third time in Kutztown territory.
Walters struck again with a 43-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-7 to make it 20-7 with 6:04 left in the third quarter following a successful two-point conversion.
McFadden got the Hawks rally started quickly by lofting a 51-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Metzler that cut the deficit to 20-14 with 4:37 left in the third quarter.
Hamburg’s defense forced Kutztown to punt for the first time in the game at the 2:35-mark of the third quarter and got great field position after the punt went just nine yards.
McFadden went to work and converted a pair of third downs before delivering his go-ahead touchdown pass to Bentz on fourth-and-goal.
“Isaac did his one-eleventh on that play,” Hartranft said. “Every week we talk about doing your one-eleventh because if I do my one-eleventh my teammate will do it and so on and so forth. The teams that can stack more of those win the most games. He did not need to make the perfect play every time and I am proud of his fight.”
Bentz caught seven of McFadden’s passes for 86 yards and one touchdown. Walters recorded a game-high 150 rushing yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns for Kutztown; Sherry ran for 101 yards on 11 carries and one score.
Hamburg will host Lancaster Catholic next Friday night; Kutztown heads to Annville-Cleona.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Hamburg | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| Kutztown | 6 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 20 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Kutztown | Sherry, 34 run (Kick Failed) | 5:54 |
| 2 | Kutztown | Walters, 66 run (Run Failed) | 11:49 |
| 2 | Hamburg | McFadden, 5 Run (Moser Kick) | 4:47 |
| 3 | Kutztown | Walters, 43 run (Stoess Run) | 6:04 |
| 3 | Hamburg | Metzler 51 pass from McFadden (Moser Kick) | 4:37 |
| 4 | Hamburg | Bentz, 6 pass from McFadden (Moser Kick) | 7:29 |
Team statistics
| HAMBURG | KUTZTOWN | |
| First downs | 19 | 16 |
| Rushes-yards | 41-93 | 37-275 |
| Passing yards | 162 | 46 |
| Total yards | 255 | 321 |
| Passes | 11-23-1 | 2-6-2 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 3-2 |
| Punts-average | 1-32.0 | 1-9.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 11-97 | 13-100 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Hamburg: Johnson 12-47, Schmeck 13-34, McFadden 15-12. TEAM 1-0.
Kutztown: Walters 13-150, Sherry 11-101, Bahr 12-21, Stoess 1-3.
PASSING
Hamburg: McFadden 11-22-0–162, Metzler 0-1-1–0.
Kutztown: Stoess 4-15-2–46.
RECEIVING
Hamburg: Bentz 7-86, Metzler 1-51, Valentino 1-15, Horvath 1-7, Soto 1-3.
Kutztown: Martin 2-23, Walters 1-23, Wicke 1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS
Hamburg: Schmeck, Horvath.
Kutztown: Renninger.
