FAIRMONT, W. Va. – The Bloomsburg football team rallied from two scores down in the fourth quarter, but the comeback fell just short as Fairmont State hung on for a 34-30 win over the Huskies to open the season Thursday evening.
 
The Falcons pushed their lead to 24-10 with 1:01 to go in the third quarter after they blocked a punt deep in Husky territory, and Eltayeb scooped up the loose ball and scored on a six-yard return. The Huskies opened their ensuing drive with a 21-yard kickoff return by junior Kaleb Monaco (Pocono Pines, Pa./Pocono Mountain West) to set Bloomsburg up at the Fairmont 25-yard line.
 
After an incomplete pass opened the drive, Monaco got the ball and rushed up the middle for 15 yards to the Bloomsburg 40 and a Husky first down as time expired in the third. KJ Riley (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) then hit junior receiver Jerry Griffen-Batchler (Norristown, Pa./Germantown Academy) for a 20-yard completion down to the Faimont-40. Another completion for Riley got the Huskies to the Fairmont one-yard line; this time, it was a 39 strike to Nas Jones (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area). Riley completed his third-straight pass to Griffen-Batchler, but the wideout was met at the line of scrimmage. After a rush by, Monaco failed to move the pile. Riley kept it himself, pushing the Huskies into the endzone for six points. Brendan McGonigle (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) connected on the point after attempt, and the Huskies cut the Falcons' lead to 24-17.
 
Bloomsburg forced a three-and-out the next Fairmont State drive and capped the impressive defensive stop with a fumble recovery at the Fairmont 26-yard line. Falcons' quarterback Michael Floria kept it himself on 4th-and-9 and took a six-yard loss before fumbling the football, and Nate Capers (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) recovered it at the FSU 20. A penalty after the play pushed the Huskies back to the FSU-35, but Bloomsburg opened the drive in excellent field position with 11:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
After an incomplete pass started the drive, Monaco got the ball on two straight plays and got the Huskies down to the FSU-22. With 9:35 to go in the fourth, Riley rolled out right on the 1st-and-10 and took it himself up the Huskies sideline and snuck in the front corner of the endzone, and McGonigle made the extra point to tie the game, 24-24, with 9:35 to play in regulation.
 
The Falcons used just under four minutes of clock and went 49 yards on seven plays to get down to the Huskies' 26-yard line before Emmanuel Richardson hit a 43-yard field goal to give the lead back to the Falcons with 5:50 to play.
 
Monaco again got the Huskies' workable field position as he returned the kickoff 20 yards to the Bloomsburg 23-yard line. Facing a 2nd-and-10 at the 23, Riley connected with Peyton Persing (Danville, Pa./Danville Area), who fought his way to 45 yards down to the FSU-32. Ty Pringle (Cheyney, Pa./Bayard Rustin) got the ball on the next snap and rushed to the FSU 20 for three yards.
 
Riley once again found Griffen-Batchler, this time for 29 yards, as the wideout raced down the far sideline and separated himself from coverage to catch the touchdown pass from Riley and give Bloomsburg its first lead since the first quarter, 30-27.
 
A holding call on the return backed the Falcons to the Fairmont State nine-yard line to start their next drive, and the Huskies forced a 3-and-out to get the ball back at the FSU 48-yard line with 3:23 to play.
 
Fairmont State answered with a 3-and-out to get new life with 1:43 to play in regulation.
 
The Falcons capitalized on Husky miscues and kept the drive alive to get to the Bloomsburg two-yard line. Derek Crosby II eventually punched it in for the Falcons on 3rd-and-2, and Richardson hit the extra point to give the lead back to Fairmont, 34-30, with less than a minute to play.
 
Riley hit Griffen-Batchler for 15 yards and Husky first down, but Bloomsburg couldn't' convert the lateral down the field, and time expired for the 34-30 Falcons' win.
 
Bloomsburg scored on its first possession of the game after going 85 yards on 11 plays. Pringle punched it in from 12 yards out for his first career touchdown with the Huskies. The Falcons answered on their first drive of the second quarter and took the lead with 8:26 to play before halftime with a 61-yard run by Leonard Farrow.
 
With 4:29 to play in the second, the Huskies appeared to have a game-tying touchdown catch by Jones, but a last-second effort to get the fumble by Jovon Jackson spoiled the Husky's drive, and the Falcons took over at their 20-yard line thanks to the touchback.
 
Fairmont and Bloomsburg traded quick drives by both offenses before a penalty brought back a deep completion by Fairmont, and the Huskies' defense stepped up and stopped the Falcons at their own 15, forcing a punt. Scout Arthur's punt went 40 yards, and Griffen-Batchler returned it 32 yards with three seconds on the clock to set up a short field for McGonigle. Fairmont's head coach called a time-out to try and freeze the sophomore kicker, but he was unfazed and connected on a 40-yard attempt to send the Huskies into halftime trailing by just one score, 14-10.
 
The third quarter was all Fairmont as the Falcons out-scored Bloomsburg 10-0 and controlled all of the game clock in the third quarter.
 
Riley finished the day 13-for-25 with 252 yards and one touchdown in the air while running for another 13 yards and two scores. Griffen-Batchler was Riley's favorite target, as he caught six passes for 103 yards and a score. Jones just missed the century mark with four catches for 95 yards.
 
Monaco carried the ball 19 times for 81 yards, and Pringle took nine handoffs for 46 yards and one score. Pringle did not take one tackle for loss. Monaco had six kickoff returns for 116 yards, and Griffen-Batchler returned one punt for 32 yards.
 
Quentin Gaskill (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) led the defense with seven tackles, while Ryan D'Ambra (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood), Tom Goetz (Wenonah, N.J./Gateway Regional), Nate Capers (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford), and Ron Long (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) all had six stops. Goetz had 2.0 tackles for a loss of three yards and had the only Bloomsburg sack. D'Ambra broke up a pair of passes.  
 
The Huskies now focus on the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference as they head to Clarion for the first two PSAC East/West Cross Over games on Saturday, September 9, at 1:00 p.m.