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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - Senior running back Lawrence Elliott Jr. (Utica, N.Y./Thomas R. Proctor) rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns while the defense provided eight sacks and two interceptions as the Bloomsburg University football team earned a hard-fought, 29-15, victory over visiting Millersville University on Saturday afternoon at Redman Stadium. With the win, the Huskies improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division standings. The Marauders dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.

Bloomsburg has now won its first two PSAC East contests for the ninth consecutive season and extended its winning streak against Millersville to 17 straight. The Huskies have not lost to Millersville since a 31-21 setback in Bloomsburg during the 1999 campaign.

Elliott Jr. had his fourth 100-yard effort on the ground this season with a season-high 130 yards on 23 carries. His two rushing touchdowns now give him 12 on the season - tops in the PSAC. He entered Saturday's contest one rushing touchdown behind Humboldt State's Ja'Quan Gardner for the national lead - Gardner did not play on Saturday due to an injury.

Millersville jumped in front 7-0 with the only touchdown of the opening quarter as quarterback J.J. Paige connected with Tyler Zilen on a six-yard scoring strike with 2:06 left in the first stanza. Evan Stahl added the point after try.

The Huskies were fortunate, though, to be trailing by only seven after the first quarter as Millersville made some costly mistakes on its drive prior to the only score of the quarter. After redshirt junior Chris Palubinsky (Ringtown, Pa./Shenandoah Valley) was picked off by Millersville's Kendall Marks - who returned the pick 24 yards to the Bloomsburg 20 yard line - Paige hit Kevin Wiggins on a 14-yard pass to set up a first-and-goal from the Huskies' six. The Marauders would actually get into the endzone twice on the drive - however, both were erased on penalties. Then, after redshirt sophomore Chris Gary (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) brought down Paige for his first of two sacks on the afternoon, the Marauders were actually taken out of field goal range and had to punt the ball away.

On Bloomsburg's ensuing possession after Millersville took the lead, the Huskies drove 47 yards on ten plays but had to settle for a 39-yard field goal from freshman Kyle Butts (Clarksville, Md./Archbishop Spalding) with 13:13 left in the second quarter to cut the Marauders' advantage to 7-3.

After the Huskies' defense forced a Millersville punt, Bloomsburg was finally able to get into the endzone on its next drive to take a 10-7 lead. The big play of the drive was a 62-yard strike from Palubinsky to redshirt freshman Michael Allen (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) that set up first-and-ten from the Millersville 13 yard line. Two plays later, Palubinsky found redshirt senior Chad Hoffman (Drums, Pa./Hazleton) in the corner of the endzone from 12 yards out to give the Huskies their first lead of the game. It was Palubinsky's second touchdown pass of the season and Hoffman's first scoring reception of the year. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Abbott (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James School) added the point after.

Bloomsburg's next possession resulted in three more points as the Huskies grabbed a 13-7 lead with 3:40 left in the opening half. Freshman Ethan Price (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) had the big play of the drive when he was on the receiving end of a 29-yard pass from Palubinsky to get into Millersville territory. The drive stalled, however, at the Marauders' 21 and Butts came on to attempt a 40-yard field goal. Another Millersville penalty proved costly as the Maraduers were offsides as Butts missed from 40 yards out. The freshman, however, drilled it from 35 yards away, after the penalty, to extend the Huskies' lead.

The turning point of the game, however, was arguably on Millersville's next drive.

With time winding down in the first half, the Marauders were able to convert a fourth-and-three from midfield to keep their drive alive. Three plays later, however, redshirt sophomore Dexter Jordan (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) picked off Paige at the Bloomsburg 35 yard line and returned it 50 yards to the Millersville 15 to give the Huskies excellent field position. Bloomsburg's offense took advantage of Jordan's third career pick as Palubinsky hooked up with Hoffman on a 12-yard pass and then Elliott Jr. tiptoed into the corner of the endzone from three yards out to give the Huskies a 19-7 lead with 43 seconds left in the half.

Bloomsburg rattled off ten more points in the third quarter, extending the streak to 29 unanswered points, to take a 29-7 advantage.

On the first possession of the second half, Elliott Jr. burst through a hole in the middle of the line and sprinted his way to a 43-yard touchdown run to cap off a five-play, 66-yard drive. Abbott added the point after as the Huskies ballooned their lead to 26-7.

Then, after redshirt sophomore Marquis Seamon (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) picked off his second pass of the season to end another Millersville drive, the Huskies were able to turn that into three more points as their lead increased to 29-7. Back-to-back passing plays of 35 yards and 21 yards from Palubinsky to Elliott Jr. set the Huskies up for a first-and-goal from the four. However, the Millersville defense stiffened and Abbott had to come on to boot a 21-yard field goal with 6:43 left in the third.

Millersville scored, what proved to be, the final points of the game on its ensuing possession. Paige connected with Wiggins on a seven-yard touchdown to end a 10-play, 66-yard drive. The Marauders went for two and Paige scampered around left end and into the corner of the endzone for the conversion to cut the Huskies' lead to 29-15 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.

Bloomsburg's player of the game in the fourth quarter may have been senior punter Will Wagner (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser). Wagner single-handedly won the field position battle as he had back-to-back punts downed at the Millersville two and the one, respectively. Then, a third punt traveled 50 yards in the air and, after a great special teams' tackle from redshirt sophomore Josh Salak (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), the Marauders had to start at their 14. On that drive, the Marauders drove all the way to the Bloomsburg 11 yard line but the second sack of the game by Gary set up fourth-and-14 and Paige could not hook up with Wiggins as Millersville turned it over on downs.

The Huskies played keep-away on their next drive which started with 5:24 left. Despite not adding any more points, the Huskies turned the ball over on downs with only 28 seconds remaining to secure the win. Millersville's last drive resulted in back-to-back sacks by redshirt junior Tony Le (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) and redshirt senior Joe Wetty (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) to end the contest.

Bloomsburg earned the edge in the total yardage battle, 421-351. The Huskies racked up 185 yards on the ground and held the Marauders to just 53 yards rushing on the afternoon. Bloomsburg also did a great job of getting its defense off the field as Millersville was just 3-of-16 on third-down opportunities and only 2-of-4 when it reached the red zone. Penalties also cost Millersville as it was penalized 12 times for 100 yards on the day.

Elliott Jr. led the ground attack with 130 yards while redshirt senior Joe Parsnik (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) added 33 yards on nine carries. Palubinsky finished 13-of-25 for 236 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Hoffman hauled in a team-high four passes while Allen had three catches for 82 yards. For Millersville, Doug Overton had 15 carries for 75 yards while Paige was 25-of-44 for 298 yards. Zilen had seven catches for 58 yards while Wiggins caught six passes for 99 yards.

Defensively, the Huskies entered the contest with six sacks through the first four games but had eight on Saturday - two each by Gary and redshirt junior Scott Beltz (Pen Argyl, Pa./Pen Argyl). Gary now has seven sacks in five games this season. Redshirt senior Andrew Harris (Bethlehem, Pa./Whitehall) led the team with seven total tackles. Sean Dugan had a game-high 12 tackles for Millersville.

Bloomsburg will be back on the road next Saturday, October 8, when it travels to Kutztown University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.