Bloomsburg Athletics

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – Bloomsburg football ended the 2023 season with a 31-0 loss to IUP, Saturday afternoon. The Huskies wrap up the season 3-8 while the Crimson Hawks finish the year 6-5.
 
Junior Kaleb Monaco (Pocono Pines, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) rushed for 56 yards on the day to bring his season total to 952 yards on 187 carries, a career high in carries, yards, and average yards per game. He rushed for six touchdowns this season, a career high as well. For his career, Monaco has 2,172 yards which puts him 13^th all-time at Bloomsburg with another season to play.
 
Sophomore Jerry Griffen-Batchler (Norristown, Pa./Germantown Academy) caught three passes for 71 yards and Monaco had another three catches for 20 yards. Monaco also returned four kickoffs for 93 yards, including a long of 31. He had 169 all-purpose yards in the game.
 
Defensively, senior Quentin Gaskill (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) led the Huskies with nine total tackles, including six solo and three assisted stops. Gaskill finishes his career with 279 total tackles, 183 solo and 28 assisted stops. He has six interceptions, 28 broken up passes, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and three blocks. Ryan D'Ambra (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood) had eight total tackles including four solo and assisted stops. The eight tackles bring D'Ambra's season total to 90. Kenny Yurkonis (Minersville, Pa./Minersville Area) finished the day with a pair of quarterback hurries to go with his six tackles.
 
IUP opened the scoring with a touchdown on the Crimson Hawks' first drive of the game. They needed seven plays to go 41 yards which was capped with a three-yard pass from Quinn Zinobile to Karst Hunter for the score. The Crimson Hawks needed one play to open the second quarter to get into the endzone for their second score as Adam Houser took the ball one yard to cap a 65-yard, eight-play drive for the 14-0 lead. IUP scored once more to take a 21-0 lead going into halftime.

The Huskies got into the redzone on their second drive of the first quarter as Griffen-Batchler and Ben Ries (Bloomsbury, N.J./Phillipsburg) connect on two big plays to get past midfield. On 3^rd-and-9 from the Bloomsburg 40-yard line, Ries hit Griffen-Batchler for a 10-yard pass to get to midfield. After a two-yard run from Monaco, Ries found Griffen-Batchler again for 19-yard catch to get to the IUP 29-yard line. On 3^rd-and-13 from the IUP 32, Ries connected with Griffen-Batchler for a 14-yard pass that moved the chains down to the IUP 18-yard line. The Huskies' offense couldn't get closer and a bad snap on the field goal attempt turned the ball over on downs and kept Bloomsburg off the board.
 
After both teams failed to score in the third, the Crimson Hawks put up a field goal and another touchdown in the fourth to seal the 31-0 win.
 
Dayjure Stewart led all players with 186 rushing yards in 23 attempts while Hunter threw for 130 yards and went 13-for-19 with two interceptions.
 
Blake Charlton (West Chester, Pa./Unionville), Nelly Fain (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy), Jordan Fernandez (East Stroudsburg, Pa./East Stroudsburg South), Cobe Frycklund (Lehighton, Pa./Jim Thorpe), Quentin Gaskill (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro), Auggie George, Tom Goetz (Wenonah, N.J./Gateway Regional), Brendan Gregory (Millville, Pa./Central Columbia), Harry Jennings (Largo, Md./Fairmont Heights), Joseph Kahn (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove), Ben Kave (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown), Ron Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), Ben Ries (Bloomsbury, N.J./Phillipsburg), Ky Seesholtz (Mifflinville, Pa./Central Columbia), Colton Sidler (Danville, Pa./Danville Area), Marlon Westcott (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), and Kenny Yurkonis (Minersville, Pa./Minersville Area) suit up for the Huskies for one last time today. The 17 seniors were honored in a pregame ceremony for their potential final game with Bloomsburg.