BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Huskies dominated every phase of the game as Bloomsburg football opened the season with a 35-7 win over Fairmont State, Thursday night. The Huskies debuted their new black uniforms and showed off in front of a home crowd under the lights. Bloomsburg ran for 284 yards and found the end zone five times in the victory.
 
Graduate student Ben Ries (Bloomsbury, N.J./Phillipsburg) led his offense with a 12-for-18 day passing for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for another 20 yards on nine carries and one touchdown. Ries found Jerry Griffen-Batchler (Norristown, Pa./Germantown Academy) four times, two of the catches were in the end zone, for 80 yards. Justin Wolfe (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg Area) hauled in five passes for 51 yards while Matthew Bowes (Somerton, Pa./La Salle College HS) caught a pass for 45 yards. Gabe Brower (Alexandria, Pa./Juniata Valley) caught two passes for six yards.
 
The run game stole the show as the Huskies ran for 284 yards on 55 attempts and scored three times. Matt Buchman (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton) led the way with a career day of 94 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown. Jake Williams (Myerstown, Pa./ELCO) got the ball 14 times in his Bloomsburg debut for 52 yards and Parker Riley ran for 39 yards on two carries and a touchdown. Brower had four carries for 34 yards and Isaiah Megginson (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) had five carries and 22 yards. KJ Riley (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) ran for 21 yards.
 
Griffen-Batchler did it all for the Huskies as he returned four punts for a career-best 70 yards and finished the day with 150 all-purpose yards.
 
The Bloomsburg offense had the ball for 41:06 minutes.
 
The Huskies and Falcons traded punts on the first two drives before the Huskies gave up a fumble on their second drive of the game. Bloomsburg got the ball right back, though, as the Huskies forced the Falcons to go for it on 4th-and-1 at the Bloomsburg 40. Leonard Farrow's rush attempt was met with Ian Donohue (Schuylkill Haven, Pa./Blue Mountain) and Brady Thompson (Green Lane, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) coming up the middle for a seven-yard loss and a turnover on downs.
 
Bloomsburg took over at its 47-yard line with 4:50 to play in the first. A nine-yard pass from Ries to Brower on 2nd-and-10 flipped the field for the Huskies and Buchman ripped off a 15-yard run to get down to the FSU-29. Ries from Wolfe on 3rd-and-8 for eight yards and a first down before Buchman got the Huskies down to the 15-yard line on a four-yard run. Ries took the ball himself on the next play and hurried down the near sideline for a 15-yard touchdown run and a 6-0 Bloomsburg lead. Brendan McGonigle (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) hit the extra point attempt, and Bloomsburg pushed its lead to 7-0 with 35 seconds to go in the quarter.
 
After forcing another 3-and-out by the Falcons on their next drive, the Huskies marched down the field again for a 15-play, 70-yard scoring drive that took 7:55 off the clock. The longest play of the drive came on an 11-yard catch by Griffen-Batchler and the drive was capped by a 1-yard run by Buchman into the end zone on 3rd-and-goal from the one-yard line. McGonigle was perfect on his extra point attempt and Bloomsburg took a 14-0 lead with 6:42 remaining in the half.
 
Fairmont State answered with its only scoring drive of the game as the Falcons went 67 yards on six plays and only used 2:11 to cut the lead in half, 14-7.
 
After the two teams traded scoreless drives, the Huskies found the end zone once more before the break.
 
The Huskies took over at midfield after forcing the Falcons to go for it on fourth down with 39 seconds to go before halftime. Buchman set the Huskies up with a 33-yard run down the sideline to get Bloomsburg down to the FSU 17-yard line. After a Husky timeout, Ries found Griffen-Batchler for his first touchdown, a 17-yard pass with 11 seconds to play. McGonigle hit the extra point and gave Bloomsburg a 21-7 lead.
 
Fairmont State received the kickoff to start the second half but the Huskies forced another punt and Griffen-Batchler got Bloomsburg up to the BLOOM-45 for their first drive of the half. The Huskies had one of their quickest scoring drive of the game, needing only three plays to go 55 yards into the end zone. Williams carried the ball twice for 21 yards to open the drive before Ries again found Griffen-Batchler. This time for a 34-yard, one-handed catch in coverage in the back of the end zone for the score. McGonigle was perfect again for the 28-7 lead.

 

WE LOVE ONE-HANDED CATCHES! Jerry Griffen-Batchler (Norristown, Pa./Germantown Academy) shows off with his second TD catch of the night, a 34-yard one-handed catch from Ben Ries (Bloomsbury, N.J./Phillipsburg)! #Unleashed #SportsCenterTop10 #Top10 @SportsCenter @BloomUFootball pic.twitter.com/hgKje5PMXQ

— Bloomsburg Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) September 6, 2024

 
The Falcons had their best scoring opportunity in the third quarter as they went 40 yards on eight plays to get to the Bloomsburg 30-yard line. Charles Crews III (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area) and John Aston (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) pushed the Falcons back on their past play of the drive with an eight-yard sack on 3rd-and-10. Emmanual Richardson pulled his 47-yard field goal attempt wide left.
 
Bloomsburg answered the drive with a scoring drive to take a 35-7 lead in the third. After starting on their 30-yard line, Williams ran the ball four straight times to get the Huskies down to the Bloomsburg 41-yard line. Ries ran it for another 15 yards and Parker took it the rest of the way for his first-career touchdown with Bloomsburg, a 39-yard run with 6:09 to play in the third. McGonigle's kick made it 35-7 Huskies.
 
McGonigle's ensuing kickoff was fumbled by Farrow at the Bloomsburg 40-yard line and the Huskies took over once again. Bloomsburg bled the clock and got down to the FSU 2-yard line as the quarter ended. Ries' only blemish on the day came on the first play of the fourth quarter as Howard Williams picked off a pass to the far left corner for a touchback.
 
No harm was done as the Huskies forced a quick 3-and-out on the next drive and took over with 14:29 to play in the fourth. Bloomsburg turned the ball over on downs at the FSU-1 yard line but took six minutes off the clock when they gave the ball back. The Falcons put together an 11-play drive to get to the Bloomsburg 26-yard line but turned it over on downs once again as Cole Turner (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) pushed Jermaine Bradford out of bounds just before the first down marker.
 
Bloomsburg got the ball back with 4:41 to play and got down to the Bloomsburg 36-yard line before Riley punted it away and the Huskies downed the ball on the Fairmont State 18-yard line with 17 seconds to play. The Falcons ran one final play before the clock hit zero for the Bloomsburg win.
 
McGonigle was a perfect 5-for-5 on extra point attempts in his return to the lineup after missing most of the 2023 season due to an injury.
 
Thompson led the defensive effort for Bloomsburg with eight tackles, including 0.5 TFL (3 yards). Turner and Ryan D'Ambra (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood) each had six tackles while Nate Capers (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) broke up a pair of passes and Idriz Ahmetovic (New Oxford, Pa./New Oxford) had a pass breakup in his Bloomsburg debut.
 
The Huskies look to carry this momentum into their week-two match-up with Seton Hill next Saturday. Bloomsburg welcomes the Griffins to Redman Stadium for a 2:00 p.m. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East/West crossover game.