Box Score (HTML)

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – For the second consecutive year the Bloomsburg University football team faced off with Slippery Rock in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship Game – and for the second consecutive year the squads delivered an instant classic.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, this year's edition saw a late rally by Bloomsburg fall just short in a 28-26 defeat under sunny skies at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

This time around, the Bloomsburg defense forced three second half turnovers – five in all – but could not overcome a 14-point fourth quarter hole while suffering its first loss of the year. Now 10-1 overall, the fifth-ranked Huskies will await their NCAA Playoff fate with the Selection Show scheduled for Sunday evening at 5 p.m. Slippery Rock (9-2) hopes its win will be enough to vault into the national playoff bracket after entering the day ranked eighth in Super Region One.

The Huskies started by doing what they've done nearly all season – force the opponent into a turnover. On the second play of the game, Gary Postell (Philadelphia/Bishop McDevitt) stripped the ball from Rock running back Shamar Greene and the ball was picked up by Dylan Spanlger to give the Huskies the ball near midfield.

Bloomsburg gave the ball right back seven plays later when, inside Rock territory, Kelly was intercepted by Derrick Fulmore to end the threat.

The Rock responded by driving 55 yards in eight plays and breaking into the scoring on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jared Buck to LeRoy McClain.

Bloomsburg counter-punched with a 68-yard drive for a touchdown of their own. Three third down conversions kept the scoring drive alive – a pair of receptions from Lawrence Elliott Jr. (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor) and a Kelly quarterback keeper kept the chains moving to allow Joe Parsnik (Wilkes-Barre/Coughlin) to run for a five-yard touchdown and the 7-7 tie.

Entering the day, the Huskies had not surrendered more than 13 points over their past six games – the longest such streak since 1972-73 – but that streak was emphatically snapped with the longest play allowed by Bloomsburg all season. The Rock brought the home crowd to life on a 74-yard pass from Buck to Melvin German as German made a nifty leaping catch over his defender and turned up the sidelines and scampered home untouched.

The heavyweight title bout continued with Bloomsburg answering once more – back-to-back runs from Elliott (15 yards) and Parsnik (17 yards) – set up a touchdown plunge from one yard out by Kelly to tie the game once more.

Rock seized control of the game on its next two drives. A breakdown in coverage allowed Buck to find a wide open Drew Scales for a 54-yard pass to set up a one-yard scoring run from Teddy Blakeman for the 21-14 lead.

The next Huskies drive stalled and The Rock continued to roll offensively, driving 64 yards in 11 plays with Buck finding running room around the outside for a 19-yard touchdown to stretch the hosts' lead to 14.

Bloomsburg found some positive momentum to take into halftime, working 83 yards in 2:20 of game time to cash in on a 25-yard field goal from Braden Drexler (Bethlehem/Nazareth) just seven seconds before the halftime buzzer to take the teams into intermission with The Rock up, 28-17.

Defense owned the third quarter as the Huskies appeared to have multiple chances, but could not deliver. Elliott returned the opening kickoff of the half inside The Rock 25, but a holding penalty negated the run. Later, Bloomsburg started at The Rock 23 after a return of 21 yards by Elliott, but a personal foul wrecked the drive with no points.

Two more tremendous plays from the ball-hawking Huskies defense kept BU in the game – first, The Rock appeared ready to take the knockout punch by driving into the Huskies red zone leading by 11. Ezra Ranco (Collegeville/Perkiomen Valley) forced Greene to fumble at the Huskies 12, allowing Cabrera to recover and end the threat.

Bloomsburg's ensuing drive stalled near midfield, allowing The Rock to take over once more. Again Slippery Rock looked primed to score, but a Buck pass was picked off by Cabrera on the near sideline at the Huskies 12. Cabrera raced across the field to the far sideline, ultimately running 73 yards to The Rock 19.

Three plays later, Kelly found tight end Aaron Allison (Philadelphia/Frankford) in the corner of the end zone for a 15-yard score – the two-point conversion try failed, leaving the Huskies deficit at five, 28-23 with 11:28 remaining.

The Huskies defense found the ball once more on the next drive – this time it was senior linebacker Dylan Spangler (Waynesboro/Waynesboro) forced a Rock fumble and recovered at the SRU 49.

The next Huskies drive stalled, but Drexler came through with a career-long 44-yard field goal to bring the score to 28-26 with still 8:52 to play.

With Buck sitting out due to an injury suffered on the previous fumble, The Rock offense struggled to find traction and went three-and-out.

The Rock punt went out of bounds at the Huskies 45, allowing Bloomsburg strong field position. The first play of the next drive went for 29 yards on a pass to Elliott, but a 3-yard run by Eddie Mateo (Bethlehem/Freedom), limited by injury to just six carries for 17 yards - all of which came after halftime, and two incompletions resulted in a 40-yard try from Drexler which missed wide left to allow Rock to hold its slim lead.

Bloomsburg's defense held one more time, stopping Blakeman on a 4th-and-2 run inches short of the marker, allowing the Huskies to take over at their own 41.

A pass to Elliott for 24 yards put the Huskies in Rock territory at the 36-yard line, but Bloomsburg could get no further. On 4th-and-10, a pass to Allison was deflected away by Isaiah Coleman, leaving The Rock to just need one first down – a 17-yard scamper by Greene on 3rd-and-17 – allowed Slippery Rock to go into victory formation.

Kelly finished with career highs in completions (21), attempts (42) and passing yards (293) while Elliott did likewise in both receptions (five) and receiving yards (102). Chad Hoffman (Drums/Hazleton) also had a career-best six grabs for 84 yards while D.J. McFadden (Willow Grove/Abington) caught three passes for 52 yards.

Buck was named Championship Game Most Valuable Player, finishing 17 of 27 for 256 yards and two scores with two interceptions. German caught five passes for 94 yards while Greene became just the second player to rush for over 100 yards against the Huskies this season – 21 carries for 116 yards.

Defensively, Justin Shirk (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) had a season-high 14 tackles while Gary Postell (Philadelphia/Bishop McDevitt) tallied a personal-best 10 stops. Spangler and Andrew Harris (Bethlehem/Whitehall) each had eight tackles. Cabrera made six stops with a fumble recovery and interception.