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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – For the second straight week, a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division team lost its bid for a perfect season. This time around, the feeling was quite a bit better for the 16th-ranked Bloomsburg football team as the Huskies played the role of spoiler by handing No. 8 West Chester its first loss of the year, 31-28, while punching a ticket to the PSAC Championship Game in the process.

The Huskies' triumph in front of 7,849 fans at John A. Farrell Stadium forced a three-way tie atop the PSAC East standings along with Shippensburg – a tie that goes to Bloomsburg thanks to conference tiebreaker rules, allowing the Huskies to capture the Eastern Division title and a spot in next week's PSAC Championship Game. The Huskies will host the PSAC title contest at Redman Stadium next Saturday vs. Western Division champ Slippery Rock (9-1) at 12:30 p.m.

Bloomsburg advances to 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the PSAC East while eighth-ranked West Chester falls to 9-1, 6-1.

It was another record-setting day for Franklyn Quiteh (Tobyhanna/Pocono Mountain West) as the senior running back eclipsed the PSAC record for overall touchdowns (86) with a first half scoring run while also becoming just the third player in NCAA Division II history to reach 7,000 yards rushing. He finished the afternoon with 154 yards rushing and a score to reach 7,084 for his career, good for second place all-time. Quiteh also set a new career points record for the PSAC with 518. Both the overall touchdown and points marks previously were owned by former Husky Jamar Brittingham.

Senior place-kicker Danny Fisher (Liverpool/Central Dauphin) also broke the record for point after attempts made, reaching 181 for his career with four on Saturday.

Nine days after seeing their own hopes for a perfect season go by the boards on their home field in a loss to Shippensburg; the Huskies served the same treatment to West Chester. Bloomsburg clicked on all cylinders on Saturday, getting back to what the Huskies have long done best – setting the tone of the contest through the running game. Bloomsburg rushed for 310 yards on the day while holding West Chester to 70 yards on the ground. As such, BU was able to dominate time of possession by holding the ball for 37:46 of game time. In all, the Huskies accumulated 572 yards of total offense and posted twice the amount of first downs (28-14).

Jonathan Patrick (Somerset, NJ/Franklin) delivered perhaps the biggest blow to West Chester's hopes for an undefeated season. The senior safety made the defensive play of the day late, picking off a Sean McCartney pass attempt and racing back 45 yards for a touchdown and a 31-14 lead with 7:59 to play.

The Golden Rams would not let their perfect season go easily, however. Just 21 seconds after Patrick's pick-six, West Chester made things interesting on a 71-yard strike from McCartney to Tim Keyser.

Bloomsburg's ability to convert on third downs and pin the Rams in the shadow of their own end zone when forced to punt proved the difference down the stretch as WCU attempted a furious comeback attempt. Following the Keyser touchdown, BU avoided turning the ball immediately back to the hosts by moving the chains on back-to-back third downs. First, a Kelly connection to Aaron Allison (Philadelphia/Frankford) moved the sticks on third-and-four and then a quarterback draw by Kelly picked up another new set of downs on third-and-five.

When forced to punt, freshman Will Wagner (Wernersville/Conrad Weiser) and the special teams unit did their jobs to perfection. Wagner placed the ball inside the Rams' 1-yard line on three consecutive punts late in the second half to help preserve the advantage.

Despite the Huskies' success on third down and on special teams, West Chester refused to go quietly. An eight-play, 80-yard drive over a minute and 35 seconds capped on another pass from McCartney, this time to Eddie Elliott, drew the Rams within three with 1:45 left to play.

With no other choice, West Chester attempted an on-side kick. Donovan Morris (Philadelphia/George Washington) made a leaping grab of the bouncing ball, handing the ball back to Bloomsburg and effectively ending the Rams' chances.

Bloomsburg moved the ball effectively from the outset, but had only a 28-yard field goal from Fisher to show for its efforts through the first quarter. Though the powerful West Chester offense was held silent through the opening period, the Golden Rams burst onto the scoreboard early in the second on a 51-yard catch and run by Eddie Elliott from Sean McCartney.

Quiteh put Bloomsburg in the end zone for the first time on a four-yard touchdown run for the 10-7 lead.  

Some unexpected faces played major roles in the first half scoring of the Huskies. A career-long 50-yard reception by redshirt sophomore Trent Daniels (Harrisburg/Susquehanna Township) helped set up the initial touchdown drive. Later in the half, Joe Parsnik (Wilkes-Barre/Coughlin) broke off a career-best 62-yard sprint down the sidelines that would lead to a 6-yard touchdown run up the middle from fullback Matt Wenrich (Selinsgrove/Selinsgrove) and a 17-7 edge one play later.

West Chester closed to within three at halftime (17-14) following a 33-yard McCartney pass to Erick Brundidge.

Bloomsburg set the tone for the second half on the opening drive following intermission. The Huskies orchestrated a 10-play, 79-yard drive capped on a big play from their quarterback. Kelly faked a draw to Quiteh and found completely open field around the end for a 32-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to double digits. The score would remain 24-14 until Patrick's interception and run back.

Kelly put together an outstanding day, narrowly missing a career-high in passing yards by completing 16 of his 27 attempts for 262 yards. Glenn Hutton Jr. (Sicklerville, NJ/Paul VI) caught five passes for 100 yards and Tony Peregrin (Mayfield/Lakeland) also hauled in five catches for 52 yards.

Defensively, Justin Shirk (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) made a career-high 16 tackles from his middle linebacker position, including seven solo stops. Chris Kennedy (Phoenixville/Archbishop Carroll), David McFadden (Allentown/Allentown Central Catholic) and Dylan Stair (Alpha, NJ/Phillipsburg) all had sacks with the Huskies' three nearly matching the five sacks West Chester had allowed in its previous nine games of the year.

Bloomsburg held West Chester's do-it-all tailback Rondell White to a modest day by his standards as White rushed for 88 yards on 21 carries and caught five balls for 44 yards. McCartney threw for 305 yards and four scores.

GAME NOTES: Because of playing in the PSAC Championship Game, next week's kickoff will be moved up to a 12:30 p.m. start rather than the originally scheduled 1 p.m. start time. It will be aired state-wide on PCN TV … Next week's PSAC Championship Game will be the first hosted by the Huskies at Redman Stadium since 1985, a game won by Bloomsburg over IUP … Quiteh joins Danny Woodhead of Chadron State (7,962) and Xavier Omon of Northwest Missouri State (7,073) with 7,000 yards rushing and moves into second all-time in Division II history … Bloomsburg surpassed 3,000 yards rushing as a team for the fifth time in school history and it now has 3,134 on the ground this season. The school record of 3,789 was set last year … Fisher moved into a tie for fifth all-time in D-II history with 56 career field goals … West Chester had entered the game ranked atop the last Super Region One standings while Bloomsburg was sixth … Slippery Rock sealed its spot in the "State Game" with a 55-21 win at Seton Hill Saturday … The Huskies won at Slippery Rock, 49-41, last season … Bloomsburg has won back-to-back games at West Chester for just the second time in school history … Saturday's game will be re-aired on Blue Ridge Cable on Sunday at 3 p.m.; Wednesday at 9 p.m. on ROOT Sports and Thursday at 7 p.m. on Comcast.