Every time Matthew Rueve is told that he has set or tied an IUP passing record, he usually shrugs and says things like that aren’t important right now. He says wins and losses mean more than touchdown passes or completions.
But whenever the IUP football season ends, the Crimson Hawks’ senior may have put together the best season any quarterback has ever had.
Going into this weekend’s first-round NCAA Division II playoff game against Assumption (Mass.), Rueve needs 23 passing yards to set the school single-season record, passing the mark of 3,129 that Quinton Maxwell set in 2019.
Rueve, a native of Cincinnati who transferred to IUP in January after one season at Findlay (Ohio) and three at Boston College, has thrown for 3,107 yards in 10 games.
In Saturday’s 28-23 loss to Kutztown in the PSAC championship game, Rueve completed 29 of 37 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. The 29 completions gave him 239 on the season, which set an IUP single-season record, breaking the mark of 237 that Andrew Krewatch set in 2007.
On the year, Rueve has completed 239 of 335 attempts (71.3%) for 3,107 yards and 31 touchdowns. He needs 57 attempts to break Krewatch’s record of 391, also set in 2007, and six touchdown passes to break Brian Eyerman’s 23-year-old record of 36, set in 2002.
Rueve’s current completion percentage would be a record if he doesn’t throw another pass, bettering the mark of 68.4% set by Lenny Williams in 2016.
So, by the time the season ends, Rueve could set every meaningful single-season passing record in IUP history, not that he focuses much on those things. Instead, he’s focusing on extending the season as long as possible.
“We have a veteran team with guys who don’t have many playing days left,” he said Saturday after the Kutztown loss. “If we get that chance, we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”
Rueve isn’t the only IUP player close to setting a school record.
Wide receiver Devin Whitlock, who has 71 catches for 775 yards and six touchdowns, needs six receptions to break Allen Wright’s record of 76, set in 2017.
BREAKDOWN OF A BREAKDOWN: Needing to get a first down to keep their final drive alive Saturday at Kutztown, the IUP offense got stopped on downs with less than two minutes to play, sealing the win for the Golden Bears. On the fourth-and-1 play, Kutztown defensive end Brayden Pohlman broke through the IUP offensive line and dropped running back Tavian Banks for a 3-yard loss.
“They pinched the front before the snap, and we didn’t block out,” said IUP head coach Paul Tortorella. “Our (left tackle) was hurt, so the backup missed his assignment. Their front is good—they’re good pass rushers and play the run well.”
By that point in the game, the IUP offensive line was far different than the one that started it. Left tackle Kellen McDonough, who was starting in place of Anthony Shovlin (knee injury), left the game in the second half with an undisclosed injury, forcing left guard Chance Battle to move to left tackle, right guard Tanner Fuchs to move to left guard, and Pierce Cannon to come off the bench to replace Fuchs at right tackle. That left only Matt Nelson (center) and Wyatt Koval (right tackle) playing at their normal position.
“We had a play called, but there were two or three mental errors,” said Nelson. “Some guys just got in and stopped us. That comes down to mental mistakes. We have to clean that up, especially in a moment like that when the game’s on the line.”
ON THE LINE: Another mental error, this one earlier in the game, also cost the Crimson Hawks. After Kutztown had been called for running into the kicker on a punt, Tortorella called for a fake punt that the team had practiced all year but never used.
Punter Aiden Spitler was on the field but split to the left. Fullback Parker Gregg, who is typically an upman on punts, was lined up as the punter. The ball was snapped to Gregg, and he tossed a pass that wide receiver Charlie Mill hauled in for an 18-yard gain to the Golden Bears’ 25-yard line.
But as soon as the ball had been snapped, an official threw their flag, and IUP was penalized for an illegal formation. It turns out all of the players on the left side of the field were on the line of scrimmage.
“We practice that every day,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure why they weren’t lined up correctly. Maybe they thought the line of scrimmage was a yard back—I don’t know. Honestly, that’s the least of our concerns because it has nothing to do with the play itself. We were set to have first and 10 on their 25-yard line, and we executed the play perfectly. The players involved didn’t cause the issue; they just needed to line up properly. That hurt us.”
“Everyone said we were underdogs,” he said. “We know what our team is capable of, and it’s capable of more than this. We were very capable of winning that game. Things didn’t go our way, but we’ve got next week to show what we can really do.”
Rueve agreed.
“We expected to beat that team,” he said. “We don’t care that they’re No. 3 in the country—we wanted to win. In terms of positives, we’re just hoping for a playoff spot and a chance to play them again.”
