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INDIANA, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University football team allowed 21 unanswered points in the third quarter and dropped a 42-13 decision at 11th-ranked Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon at George P. Miller Stadium. The Huskies concluded the regular season with a 6-5 overall record while the Crimson Hawks improved to 9-1 overall and will await their fate for an NCAA Division II postseason berth on Sunday evening.
With the loss, Bloomsburg's string of consecutive seasons with at least seven victories, which began with a 7-4 record during the 1999 campaign, ended at 17. The streak, entering Saturday's contest, was the seventh longest in all of college football - only Division I's Florida State (32), Virginia Tech (24), Oklahoma (18), and Boise State (18); Division II's Northwest Missouri State (20); and Division III's Mount Union (28) had longer strings. The Huskies did, however, extend their streak of consecutive winning seasons to 18 with last Saturday's 22-19 victory over visiting Shippensburg University.
Senior running back
Lawrence Elliott Jr. (Utica, N.Y./Thomas R. Proctor) capped off a brilliant four-year career by finishing the contest with 18 carries for 167 yards, adding 35 yards in returns, to finish with 202 all-purpose yards. On the first play from scrimmage, his 11-yard run made him the fourth player in program history to record 5,000 all-purpose yards for his career. He joined three of the biggest names in school history to accomplish the feat - Franklyn Quiteh (7,964 from 2010-13), Jamar Brittingham (6,867 from 2004-07), and Irv Sigler (5,264 from 1994-97). With his 202 all-purpose yards on Saturday, Elliott Jr. finished his career with 5,201 all-purpose yards.
Elliott Jr. entered the contest needing 153 yards against a vaunted IUP defense on Saturday to keep Bloomsburg's streak of consecutive seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher intact. The senior finished with 167 to give him 1,014 for the season as the Huskies have now had a 1,000-yard rusher in seven straight seasons, 13 of the last 14, and in 15 of the last 17 years. He closed out his career with 2,613 rushing yards - becoming the tenth player in school history to eclipse 2,500 career rushing yards and finishing tenth on the school's all-time list, just behind Arrestene Henry who finished with 2,665 from 1998-01.
Saturday's setback snapped Bloomsburg's five-game winning streak against the Crimson Hawks in the all-time series. IUP, which hadn't beaten the Huskies since the 2003 season, improved to 19-10 lifetime against Bloomsburg.
IUP started the scoring when Chris Temple scored his first of three rushing touchdowns on the afternoon - an 11-yard burst up the middle with 6:50 left in the opening quarter. Ryan Stewart added the extra point as the Crimson Hawks took a 7-0 lead. On the 16-play, 71-yard scoring drive, Temple carried the ball 11 times for 69 yards.
The Huskies responded on their ensuing possession. Bloomsburg got into IUP territory for the first time in the quarter when redshirt sophomore
Duffy Gilhool (Upper Chichester, Pa./Chichester) hit freshman wide receiver
Ethan Price (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) for a 23-yard gain to the Crimson Hawk 45. On the next play, Elliott Jr. rumbled 39 yards to set up a first-and-goal from the IUP six-yard line. However, the Huskies could not get into the endzone and had to settle for redshirt sophomore
Ryan Abbott (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James School)'s 22-yard field goal to cap off an eight-play, 66-yard drive with 3:45 left in the opening stanza.
After forcing an IUP punt, the Huskies were back in business on their next possession after a 36-yard scamper by Elliott Jr. to the IUP 44. But, the Crimson Hawk defense, which had picked off 21 passes (third in the country) entering the contest, got an interception from Jay Watkins at the IUP 33 to thwart a Bloomsburg scoring opportunity. The hosts were able to turn the pick into points when Temple found paydirt from 20-yards out, culminating a 10-play, 50-yard drive. Stewart added the extra point as IUP extended its lead to 14-3 with 12:23 left in the first half.
Another big run from Elliott Jr., this time a 44-yarder to the IUP 20 had the Huskies threatening again on their next drive. Again, however, the drive stalled and Bloomsburg had to send out Abbott for a 33-yard field goal try that he connected on to cut the Crimson Hawk advantage to 14-6 with 10:22 remaining in the opening half.
Redshirt senior linebacker
Vaughn Jones (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) picked off the first pass of his collegiate career on IUP's ensuing possession to give the Huskies excellent field position at the IUP 44. But, a holding penalty and a bad snap resulted in the Huskies having to punt and not turning the opportunity into points. IUP took advantage of the Huskies' misfortunes on its next drive. Going for it on fourth-and-one from the Bloomsburg 46, Temple not only got the first down, but also put six more points on the board with his 46-yard touchdown run to extend the lead, after Stewart's extra point, to 21-6 with 5:37 left in the first half.
Bloomsburg had a promising drive, that started at its own 18, end with no points as Abbott was wide left on a 36-yard field goal attempt with 1:22 left in the first half and the teams headed to their respective locker rooms with the Crimson Hawks ahead 21-6 at halftime.
Big plays killed the Huskies in the third quarter as IUP tacked on three touchdowns to take a 42-6 lead into the fourth quarter. Starting quarterback Mike Pietropola got the ball rolling for the Crimson Hawks when he called his own number and scored on a 58-yard run with 13:56 left to extend the lead to 28-6. Then, after a Huskies' punt, Pietropola hooked up with Walt Pegues on a 60-yard pitch-and-catch for six more points and, all of a sudden, the lead had ballooned to 35-6 with 11:06 still remaining in the third. IUP missed a 24-yard field goal on its third possession but, after the Huskies couldn't convert on a third-down play, the Crimson Hawks' Anthony Davis blocked a punt from senior
Will Wagner (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown with 1:08 left in the third to extend the lead to 42-6.
Bloomsburg was able to get into the endzone with just seven seconds remaining in regulation when redshirt junior
Chris Palubinsky (Ringtown, Pa./Shenandoah Valley) found redshirt senior wide receiver
Chad Hoffman (Drums, Pa./Hazleton) from six yards out to cap off a 12-play, 80-yard drive. Abbott added the extra point on the final play of scrimmage in the contest. The touchdown extended Bloomsburg's consecutive games streak of scoring at least one touchdown to 117 straight games.
IUP outgained Bloomsburg, 434-401, in the contest with the Crimson Hawks rushing for 354 yards against a battered Huskies' defense. Bloomsburg managed 264 rushing yards against IUP - just shy of its season-high of 283 it had in a 35-14 win over East Stroudsburg.
Elliott Jr. finished with a season-high 167 yards on 18 carries, averaging 9.3 yards per attempt. Redshirt freshman
Qmac Quiteh (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West), who played most of the fourth quarter, finished with 61 yards on nine carries. Redshirt senior
Joe Parsnik (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) closed out his collegiate career with 32 yards rushing on nine carries. He finished his collegiate career with 1,888 rushing yards. Gilhool was 8-of-18 passing for 89 yards while Palubinsky, who led the Huskies on their touchdown-scoring drive, was 5-for-6 for 48 yards and the touchdown. Hoffman finished with six catches for 55 yards and the score. He closed out his career with 99 career receptions. Parsnik added three catches for 13 yards.
Temple finished with 167 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Pietropola added 69 yards rushing on three carries while Samir Bullock had 13 attempts for 57 yards. Pietropola attempted only nine passes and was 4-of-9 for 80 yards and one touchdown. All four completions were hauled in by Pegues.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore
Dexter Jordan (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) led the Huskies with nine total tackles while senior
Jarell Boyd-Ross (Pittsburgh, Pa./Dickinson (N.J.)) added eight. Redshirt senior
Andrew Harris (Bethlehem, Pa./Whitehall) finished with six stops to give him 104 on the season - the first Huskies' player with more than 100 tackles in a season since Justin Shirk had 123 in 2014. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore
Chris Gary (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) did not record a sack and he finished the season one shy of tying Larry Webster's school-record of 13.5 he set during the 2012 season.
Kevin Clarke led IUP with 14 tackles and a fumble recovery.
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