HTML BOX SCOREBLOOMSBURG-With first place in the PSAC Eastern Division on the line, the Bloomsburg University football team rallied for a 27-21 win in overtime over the Kutztown Golden Bears on Homecoming in front of over 5,400 fans at Danny Hale Field at Redman Stadium. The win gives the Huskies (5-2, 4-0 PSAC East) sole possession of first place in the PSAC East at 4-0 with three teams bottle-necked at 3-1, tied for second.
With the Huskies trailing 21-14 in the fourth quarter, Bloomsburg put together an 11-play, 87-yard drive to tie the score.
Tim Kelly (Camp Hill/Cedar Cliff) completed four of six passes on the drive for 57 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to
Chad Hoffman (Drums/Hazleton) with 5:47 left in the fourth period.
Tyler Smith (Gettysburg/Gettysburg)'s PAT was good to knot the score at 21-all.
After Kutztown (3-4, 2-2 PSAC East) got the ball back, the Huskies defense forced a three and out giving Bloomsburg the ball back at its own 20-yard line with 4:07 to play. After a 29-yard pass to
Eric McCracken (Bloomsburg/Central Columbia) gave the Huskies the ball at the Kutztown 45, the Golden Bears defense stiffened and forced Bloomsburg to punt.
Kutztown moved the ball to the Huskies 43-yard line, but a third down was intercepted by
Donovan Morris (Philadelphia/George Washington) with five seconds left to force overtime.
Bloomsburg had the ball first in overtime. After a run by
Lawrence Elliott Jr. (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor) for three yards and a run for no gain, the Huskies faced third and seven. After an incomplete pass,
Joe Parsnik (Wilkes-Barre/Coughlin) ripped off a 22-yard run up the middle for a touchdown. However, Smith's extra point hit the upright and was no good giving the Golden Bears a chance to win it with a score and a good PAT.
Kutztown missfired on its first pass on first down before getting five yards from James Wah to set up third and five. On third down Chad Barton threw to Anthony Kelly in the end zone, but Kelly was ruled out of bounds. A fourth down pass to end zone was also off the mark and the Huskies held on for the win.
After a scoreless first period in which the Huskies missed a 40-yard field goal try, the Golden Bears took the lead putting together an 11-play, 48-yard drive with Terry Williams scoring from three-yards out with 9:26 left in the second period.
Bloomsburg answered on its next possession getting a 10-yard run from
Tim Kelly (Camp Hill/Cedar Cliff) who dove into the endzone to tie the score at 7-7. A big play on the 75-yard drive was a 57-yard run from Elliott giving the Huskies a first and goal at the nine-yard line.
Kutztown regained the lead before halftime with Barton completing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Williams to cap a 63-yard drive.
Bloomsburg tied the score in the third period. After taking over on downs at its own 19-yard line, the Huskies ground out an 81-yard yard with all but one of the eight plays being a running play. Elliott scored the game tying points on a 20-yard run to make it 14-14 going to the fourth period.
Kutztown took its third lead of the game in the fourth period with Barton throwing his second touchdown of the game, a 27-yard strike in the corner of the end zone to Anthony Kelly setting up the exciting final nine and a half minutes.
Elliott finished with a career-high 209 yards rushing on 29 carries and one score, while Kelly was 15-28 for 189 yards with one TD and one interception. His 189 yards passing moves him to third all-time at Bloomsburg in career passing yards ahead of Glen McNamee with 6,953 yards.
Chad Hoffman (Drums/Hazleton) caught seven passes for 95 yards and a score to lead the receivers.
Garrett Pope (Northumberland/Shikellamy),
Joe Wetty (Downingtown/Downingtown East) and
Marquis Seamon (Philadelphia/Father Judge) had six tackles each to lead the defense.
Kutztown was led by Chad Barton who was 20-42 for 281 yards and two scores and one interception.
The Huskies visit West Chester next Saturday starting at 2 p.m.
