The Bloomsburg University football team heads to the northwest corner of the state to battle the Fighting Scots of Edinboro University in the Huskies' first road test of the 2019 campaign. Both teams enter looking for their first victories of the season - Bloomsburg dropped a 33-14 decision against Stonehill last Saturday while Edinboro traveled to #12 Grand Valley State and suffered a 35-10 loss.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Edinboro leads the all-time series against Bloomsburg, 7-4.
LAST MEETING
Last season, the Fighting Scots earned a 21-16 victory over the Huskies at Danny Hale Field at Redman Stadium. Bloomsburg fell behind 21-7 early in the second quarter but could not quite complete the comeback bid as Edinboro hung on for the five-point win. The Huskies had a chance to win the game but had to drive 85 yards over the final 47 seconds of regulation following a key 48-yard punt from Edinboro's Levi Becker that was downed at the Bloomsburg 15.
Erik Benjamin (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) drove the Huskies to the Edinboro 36-yard line after finding
Jay Popson (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) on a 17-yard pass play on which Popson got out-of-bounds with two seconds left on the clock. Benjamin had one final chance for a pass into the endzone but he was unable to get the throw off as Ryan Bischof came through the line and sacked Benjamin ending the contest.
Hakeem Sillman (Philadelphia, Pa./Frankford) led the Huskies with 20 carries for 104 yards on the ground with the rest of the team combining for 50 yards on 30 carries. Benjamin completed 18-of-36 for 173 yards but was picked off three times.
Michael Allen (Oley, Pa./Fleetwood) caught a team-high six passes for 55 yards while Popson hauled in five catches for 49 yards. Walter Fletcher led Edinboro with 33 carries for 147 yards and a score. Andrew Tomko was just 5-of-18 for 101 yards, one touchdown, and two picks while backup Jarrod Kellar went 2-for-5 for 17 yards and an interception. James Clark led the Fighting Scots with three catches for 64 yards. Bloomsburg managed 327 yards of total offense while limiting Edinboro to just 258 yards of offense.
Defensively,
Nate Monroe (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) led the Huskies with 10 total tackles while
Alex Annan (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) had eight stops, two tackles for a loss, and one-and-a-half sacks.
Dexter Jordan (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) had two interceptions on the day to go along with six tackles while
Marquis Seamon (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) also registered a pick. Edinboro's Trey Hall had 10 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and two interceptions.
PRESEASON POLL
Bloomsburg was chosen to finish fifth in the PSAC Eastern Division according to the annual preseason coaches' poll released last month. Edinboro, meanwhile, was picked to finish fifth out in the Western Division standings.
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THROUGH THE ARCHIVES with BLOOMSBURG ARCHIVIST BOB DUNKELBERGER
- Bloomsburg has now lost the season opener to Stonehill three times in the past five years - by 17, 16, and now 19 points. In 2015 and 2017, the Huskies bounced back to win seven of their final ten games. The 19-point loss on Saturday was the worst in a season opener since losing by 19 at IUP, 37-18, in 2002. That season, Bloomsburg went on to win eight of nine. The last season-opening loss by more than 19 points was in 1994 - a 38-6 defeat against New Haven. That year, the Huskies won eight of their final ten games.
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- The 33-14 loss to Stonehill was the first contest with that score in the 1,084 games played in school history. The game with the closest score was a 34-14 loss to Lock Haven in 1962. The Huskies' record in games surrendering 33 points is now 1-11 with the only win being a 42-33 victory over Kutztown in 1999.
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- Saturday's game was
Paul Darragh's 70th as head coach of the Huskies, making him just the fourth in school history to reach that milestone. His 47 wins tie for the most through the first 70 games with his predecessor, Danny Hale. Hale was 47-22-1 after 70 games (1993-99) and Darragh is 47-23 since 2013. The record of the two other coaches after 70 contests: Albert Aldinger, 46-21-3 (1894-1904); and Pete Adrian, 35-34-1 (1986-92).Â
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- Bloomsburg will be opening play against the PSAC West this week. Although all three games against western teams were lost last year, the Huskies are 51-21 over the last 20 seasons against teams from the Western Division. Bloomsburg is 28-7 at home against the west and 23-14 on the road.
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- The Huskies' all-time record in 11 games against Edinboro is 4-7, with a record of 2-4 at home and 2-3 on the road. The first game ever with the Fighting Scots came in 1981 with Edinboro being the last of the former Pennsylvania state normal schools to begin a rivalry with Bloomsburg. The first five in the series were losses until the Huskies beat the Fighting Scots 65-16 at Redman Stadium in 1999.
SCOUTING BLOOMSBURG
The Huskies could not generate much in the way of offense last Saturday as they dropped a 33-14 decision to visiting Stonehill in front of nearly 2,600 fans at Danny Hale Field at Redman Stadium.
Qmac Quiteh (Tobyhanna, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) scored Bloomsburg's lone offensive touchdown - a six-yard burst into the endzone late in the first quarter which, at the time, knotted the game at 7-7. However, the Skyhawks went on to score the next 26 points - 17 in the second quarter - to blow the game open.
Aaron Trumino (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Valley) capped off the scoring with his first collegiate touchdown as he picked off Stonehill quarterback Anton Stoneking and returned it 13 yards for a score early in the fourth quarter. Stonehill played keep away for a majority of the afternoon as it ran 78 offensive plays and held the ball for more than 36 minutes. The Huskies, meanwhile, ran just 44 plays on offense and held the ball for less than 16 minutes over the final three quarters after an even opening stanza. The Skyhawks finished with 466 yards of total offense (290 passing, 176 rushing) while Bloomsburg mustered just 168 (116 rushing, 52 passing) on the afternoon.
Logan Leiby (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) completed 12-of-20 for 52 yards as the Stonehill defense blanketed the Huskies' wide receivers all afternoon. In fact, Leiby's longest completion of the day went for nine yards to
Michael Allen (Oley, Pa./Fleetwood) midway through the first quarter. The young quarterback did, however, show a tremendous ability to scramble as he finished as the Huskies' leading rusher with 47 yards on nine carries.
Alex Gooden (Parkesburg, Pa./Octorara) toted the ball six times for 40 yards while Quiteh added 29 yards on nine carries. Allen caught four passes for 23 yards. Defensively, the Huskies had tremendous games from Trumino and junior
Alex Findura (Stockbridge, Ga./Woodland). Findura posted a career-high 12 total tackles (seven solo), two tackles for a loss, and a pass breakup from his defensive end position. Meanwhile, Trumino made his first collegiate start and had a career-high 10 tackles, one tackle for a loss, and the pick-six.
Tyshaun Pollard (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) added nine stops for the Huskies.
SCOUTING EDINBORO
The Fighting Scots opened the 2019 season at one of Division II's perennial powerhouses, and left with a 35-10 loss in front of 14,552 fans. The Lakers amassed 572 total yards to Edinboro's 120. The defensive unit was done in by big plays but came up with three takeaways and accounted for Edinboro's only touchdown on a 46-yard interception return by DeAndre' Dowdell. That closed the gap to 21-10 early in the third quarter, but Grand Valley State would score a touchdown in each of the final two quarters to pull away. Edinboro's other three points came on a 38-yard field goal by Vicente Arrigada. Andrew Tomko began his second year as the starting quarterback by completing 13-of-32 passes for 107 yards. Ta'Nauz Gregory caught four passes for 54 yards while Jon Long had four catches for 44 yards. Edinboro could never establish a ground game, finishing with 13 yards on 20 rushes. Defensively, Joshua Boyd and Ryan Bischof finished with 11 tackles apiece.
UP NEXT
The Huskies will return to Danny Hale Field at Redman Stadium next Saturday, September 21, to battle the Lakers of Mercyhurst University. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
