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EAST STROUDSBURG—Despite a career-high 234 yards rushing from Lawrence Elliott Jr. (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor) the Bloomsburg University football team fell to East Stroudsburg, 35-34, on Saturday in a PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Eastern Division showdown.
 
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Huskies over the Warriors dating back to a 2005 NCAA second round playoff game.
 
Bloomsburg (5-4, 4-2 PSAC East) led by as many as 18 points in the first half. In the first quarter, following an interception of ESU (5-4, 4-2 PSAC) quarterback Matt Soltes by Bloomsburg's Mark Collins, the Huskies drove 37 yards in seven plays with Elliott going the final 14 yards for a touchdown.
 
On the next series, a long East Stroudsburg drive ended with the Warriors turning the ball over on downs. Bloomsburg then needed 10 plays to go 76 yards with Tim Kelly (Camp Hill/Cedar Cliff) scoring from a yard out for a 14-0 lead after one period. The big plays on the drive were a 25-yard run by Elliott and a 17-yard pass from Kelly to Connor Gades (West Chester/Unionville).
 
East Stroudsburg cut the lead to 14-3 in the second quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Nicolas Ruiz.  The Huskies came back though on the ensuing drive and extended the lead to 18 points when Elliott scored his second touchdown of the game, this time from a yard out. On the drive Elliott rushed for 26 yards on one play with Kelly connecting to Nate Hoenl (Whitehall/Whitehall) for 25 yards on another.
 
The Warriors answered the Huskies score with a touchdown from Gerald Van De Cruz from a yard out to make it 21-10. Bloomsburg tacked on a 44-yard field goal from Tyler Smith (Gettysburg/Gettysburg) just before halftime to go to the locker room with a 24-10 lead.
 
In the third period the Warriors used a 64-yard punt return by Teron Dobbs to cut the deficit to 24-17 after the Huskies punted on their first series of the half. On the second series for the Huskies, on second down, Elliott broke the line of scrimmage, shed a few would be tacklers, and raced 61 yards for a score to make it 31-17.
 
After the teams traded field goals the Huskies headed to the fourth period leading 34-20.
 
The Warriors cut the lead to just seven points following a Huskies turnover deep in Bloomsburg territory. Soltes needed just four plays to go 30 yards with the senior quarterback going the final seven yards for a touchdown with 10:32 to play.
 
The Warriors and Huskies then traded punts giving East Stroudsburg the ball on the Bloomsburg 36 yard line with 3:00 to go. Using a mix of the run and pass the Warriors got the ball to the Huskies three-yard line where Van De Cruz scored on the ground to make it 34-33. East Stroudsburg then elected to for the win with Soltes hitting Jon Schnaars with a conversion pass to put the Warriors on top.
 
With one last chance, the Huskies threw four incomplete passes turning the ball over on downs. East Stroudsburg then ran out the clock to earn the win.
 
Elliott finished with 28 carries for 234 yards and three scores surpassing his previous career-high of 209 yards set three weeks ago against Kutztown. He also went over 1,000 yards for the season and now has 1,137 yards for the year. It's the 14^th time in the last 16 years that Bloomsburg has had a 1,000-yard rusher.
 
Defensively Gary Postell (Philadelphia/Bishop McDevitt) had 10 tackles, while Jerrin Toomey (York/West York) had nine for the game.
 
Bloomsburg is back home on Nov. 7 hosting Lock Haven at 2 p.m.