Kutztown comes up short against Long, Annville-Cleona

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

By Andrew Clauser— MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Annville-Cleona got the big plays it needed to hold off Kutztown en route to a 42-28 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 victory Friday night at Kutztown.

The first 30 seconds were quite eventful as both teams traded punches right away.

Annville-Cleona (2-1, 4-2) started with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Alex Long. Kutztown responded on its first offensive play with a 70-yard run by Brendan Ackley.

On the next play the Cougars’ Jacob Lafferty intercepted a Gavin Keller pass. That all happened in the first minute.

It was a defining night for Long. Along with the opening kickoff return he caught a perfect pass from quarterback Gavin Keller and took it to the house for a 75-yard score to give Annville-Cleona the lead for good in the third quarter.

Keller completed only two passes but both were for touchdowns, the other a 21-yard pass to Jonathon Shay in the first quarter. 

Kutztown (0-3, 1-5) was able to keep A-C running back Phoenix Music, the league’s top rusher, in check for most of the night. Music finished with 75 yards on 20 carries but did surpass 1,000 yards for the season. 

Ackley carried the Cougars in the first half, rushing for 138 yards on seven carries. He finished the night with 213 yards on 18 carries to go along with two scores. The Cougars finished with 382 yards on the ground but big plays hurt them.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Annville-Cleona	7	14	14	7	42
Kutztown	14	7	0	7	28

Scoring summary

1	Annville-Cleona	Long, 80 kickoff return (Verhagen kick)	11:48
1	Kutztown	Ackley, 70 run(Stump kick)	11:34
1	Kutztown	Thomas, 3 run(Stump kick)	1:38
2	Annville-Cleona	Cael, 15 run(Verhagen kick)	9:58
2	Annville-Cleona	Shay, 21 pass (Verhagen kick)	5:04
2	Kutztown	Lafferty, 3 run(Stump kick)	0:11.3
3	Annville-Cleona	Long, 75 pass(Verhagen kick)	1:33
3	Annville-Cleona	Harter, Fumble rec(Verhagen kick)	1:23
4	Annville-Cleona	Funk, 7 run(Verhagen kick)	6:32
4	Kutztown	Ackley, 1 run(Stump kick)	2:51

Team statistics

	Annville-Cleona	Kutztown
First downs	11	16
Rushes-yards	39-189	57-382
Passing yards	96	49
Total yards	285	431
Passes	2-3-1	2-5
Fumbles-lost	0	1
Punts-average	1-43	1-30
Penalties-yards	6-41	8-45

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Annville-Cleona: Music 20-75, Harter 4-43, Keller 9-36, Funk 3-22, Shay 2-13, Long 1-0.

Kutztown: Ackley 18-213, Thomas 15-86, Lafferty 17-51, Gruber 3-29, Swoyer 4-3.

PASSING

Annville-Cleona: Keller 2-3-1-96.

Kutztown: Lafferty 2-5-0-49.

RECEIVING

Annville-Cleona: Long 1-75, Shay 1-21.

Kutztown: Thomas 1-32, E. Lafferty 1-17.

INTERCEPTIONSKutztown: Lafferty.