KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Shepherd University defensive end Kyle Smith finally had the last word.

Smith hurried Kutztown University of Pennsylvania quarterback David Blaine into an intentional grounding penalty on the next-to-last play in the Rams’ 42-35 conference win over homestanding Kutztown. And then on the final play of the game, Smith sacked Blaine, causing him to fumble. And Shepherd could claim a pulsating win that maintained its unbeaten record at 4-0 and sends it just up Interstate 81 to Shippensburg University this weekend.

There weren’t many defensive highlights in the sunny afternoon’s offensive dominance by both PSAC teams.

Even in losing, Kutztown flavored its statistics with 493 yards of total offense and continually kept Shepherd scrambling because it had a monopolizing 35:42 time of possession to Shepherd’s 24:18 of time. Disregarding the puny time with its ball possession, Shepherd’s robust offense showed the Golden Bear defense some 467 yards of total offense, including 456 passing yards and three scoring throws from Tyson Bagent. Kutztown had 76 offensive plays as compared with Shepherd’s 59 plays.

Not all of Shepherd’s badly needed scoring came from its offense because when it trailed 21-7, Ronnie Brown returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score. And earlier when it trailed 7-0, Klayton Batten returned his pass interception 27 yards for another score.

Kutztown, losing to the Rams for the second straight game, methodically moved to touchdowns throughout — showing clock chewing TD drives of 78, 75, 85 and 75 yards, as well as a flashy 50-yard scoring throw that gave it a one-play score.

Shepherd could change its nickname to “Resilient Rams,” as it managed to overcome Kutztown’s leads of 7-0, 21-7 and 28-21 in keeping its nationally recognized record unblemished at 4-0. After losing its season opener to Assumption, the Golden Bears had beaten California (Pa.) and Mercyhurst.

Rams’ quarterback Bagent completed 30-of-41 passes and had scoring passes to Marlon Cook, Ryan Beach and Michael McCook. Bagent also ran for one TD as he scrambled away from a Golden Bear rush when the hard-pressed Rams were behind 28-21.

In all, there were a combined five touchdowns and 35 points by the teams in the fourth quarter alone.

With Shepherd ahead, 35-28, Kutztown plowed downfield on a 75-yard scoring drive to draw even at 35-35. Only 2:38 remained on the busy scoreboard.

In the blink of an eye, Shepherd retaliated with a 70-yard pass/run game-breaker from Bagent to Cook as a Kutztown defender mistimed his leap in front of the Ram receiver and was then helpless when the rangy wide receiver fled about 45 yards untouched to a 42-35 Shepherd lead.

Back came the Golden Bears, steadily hoarding offensive yardage as they had all day as they desperately tried to draw even again.

Only 1:35 remained in the offensive bonanza of a game.

Moving from its own 26 to the Rams’ 25 had the Golden Bears seemingly poised to puncture the Shepherd defense again.

With only 53 seconds left, Smith was suddenly in Blaine’s face. The quarterback didn’t go down, but he threw the ball away and was penalized for it.

On the yardage-soaked afternoon’s final play, there was Smith again after Blaine. And that time he got his man.

Shepherd had beaten one of its most challenging opponents from its East Division of the conference, in the same sort of down-to-the-last play fashion it had achieved in last season’s NCAA quarterfinal playoff game win at Kutztown, when Bagent and end Alex Wetzel combined a game-ending TD pass that sent the Rams into the national semifinals.

Of Shepherd’s 30 completed passes, Cook had nine receptions and 212 yards. In just four games this season, Cook had amassed 643 receiving yards. Tight end Brian Walker had seven receptions for 89 yards and oft-used receiver Beach caught five Bagent throws for 57 yards and one score.

Dwayne Grantham had 16 tackles for the Ram defense.

The highly ranked Rams see Shippensburg (2-2) Saturday at 1 p.m., again putting on display an offense that has been its show stopper for this 2022 season.