IUP football coach Paul Tortorella
Paul Tortorella has been coaching at IUP since 1995. This season, his 31st on the coaching staff, he’s witnessing things that he has never seen before.
His team is in first place, which is not all that unusual, but the one team it has lost to in PSAC West play, Slippery Rock, lost a few weeks ago to Gannon, which is 1-6 and sitting in last place.
This week’s opponent, California, has a win under its belt over Slippery Rock, but it also has a loss to Seton Hill on its résumé. IUP (4-2 overall, 2-1 PSAC West) beat Seton Hill by 27 points in September.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this, ever,” Tortorella said.
Halfway through the six-game PSAC West schedule, nothing is close to being decided. All seven teams are still in the race for the division crown and a spot in the PSAC championship game, and the difference between first place and last place is one bad Saturday afternoon of football.
“When the league is like it is now, with these standings, it’s even more (unpredictable),” Tortorella said, before offering his best advice for any of the teams: “Worry about playing Saturday. Don’t try to figure it out. Just win your game.”
That’s the Crimson Hawks’ plan for Saturday, when they host the Vulcans (5-2, 1-2), in the annual rivalry game dubbed in 2009 the Coal Bowl. A win likely means IUP’s biggest nemesis in the past two decades is probably out of the division and playoff races, and that would be a great prize for the Crimson Hawks to claim.
But it won’t be easy.
For one, since Hall-of-Fame coach Frank Cignetti Sr. retired in 2005, the Crimson Hawks have gone just 6-14 against California. That’s a 180-degree turn from the time when Cignetti was coaching. He won the first 19 meetings he had with California until the Vulcans beat him in his final game before retiring in 2005.
That game was a symbolic passing of the torch in the PSAC West.
The Vulcans have had IUP’s number since then, and at one point, they had beaten IUP six straight times, from 2007 to 2012. The Crimson Hawks have not beaten California in back-to-back seasons since Cignetti was the head coach.
The other thing is that the Vulcans are flying high right now, thanks to their last-second, improbable win over Clarion last weekend. The visiting Golden Eagles led by four points with under 30 seconds to play, and California found a way to block a field goal, recover the ball, and then win the game on a 56-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
So, being aware that the Vulcans will visit Miller Stadium amped up, knowing a win keeps them in the chase for the division title, with the confidence from its win over Clarion, is key for the Crimson Hawks.
Yet the 2025 Vulcans are an enigma of sorts. How could they beat Slippery Rock on the road one week and then lose at home the next week to lowly Seton Hill?
The best answer is that California has perhaps the youngest roster in the PSAC. There are 108 players on the team, but only five are seniors, and only one of the five is a starter.
“They’re just really young,” Tortorella said. “They lost a lot of guys, but they’ve got some young guys in their program that are now redshirt freshmen. Seems like there’s a sophomore and junior class with a lot of guys. So, they’ve done a good job (of) retaining and developing across the board on both sides of the ball.”
The series has seen a lot of heartbreak for IUP recently:
- 2010: The Crimson Hawks led 15-0 in the second half and lost 18-15 in overtime.
- 2012: IUP led 24-16 with about two minutes to play and lost 26-24.
- 2021: IUP led 34-24 with four minutes to play and lost 38-34.
- 2024: The Crimson Hawks led 10-7 with less than a minute to play and lost 16-13 in overtime.
So, the task for IUP seems to be to not let the game come down to the closing minutes. But that’s a skill in itself.
So is holding on to a win when your opponent is bent on taking it.
“The first thing is don’t get into one-score games,” Tortorella said. “Don’t lose the game before you win it. When you start losing the game before you win it, that’s the recipe for a one-score game. If you come out and play well and stay consistent throughout the game, there’s a chance it won’t be a one-score game. But if it is, you’ve got to make plays in crunch time.”
