Bloomsburg Remains Undefeated with Win over East Stroudsburg

EAST STROUDSBURG —The game between Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg featured two of the nation's top D-II offensive threats in the Huskies' Jamar Brittingham (Levittown/Neshaminy) and the Warriors' Jim Terwilliger. But in the end, it was the defensive play of Bloomsburg's Tyler Trettin (Hershey/Hershey) which made the difference in a 31-24, overtime win for the Huskies on Saturday.

The win moves the Huskies to 6-0, 1-0 in the PSAC East on the year, while East Stroudsburg falls to 4-1, 1-1 in the PSAC East.

Trettin knocked down a fourth and seven pass from Terwilliger in overtime that set off a wild celebration for the Huskies and left the home crowd in stunned silence.

In the overtime session, the Huskies were on offense first and were facing a third and nine when Brittingham ripped off a 19-yard run to the Warrior five-yard line. On the next play, Brittingham bulled his way into the endzone putting Bloomsburg in front 31-24 after Garrett Bloom's extra point.

The Warriors then needed to score a touchdown to force a second overtime. After a rush for no gain, Terwillger ran for three yards to the Bloomsburg 22-yard line. On third down Terwilliger threw low to Doug Odgen setting up the game's final play. Terwilliger then drooped back and tried to connect with Ogden again, but Trettin stepped in front of the pass and knocked it to the ground giving Bloomsburg the win.

The game started out with Terwillger leading the Warriors on an eight play, 80-yard drive with Anthony Carfagno scoring from two yards out. The score was the first allowed by the Huskies on the road this season.

Later in the first Terwillger moved the Warriors down to the Huskies' seven yard, but his second and goal pass was intercepted by Marcus Waddy (Philadelphia/Frankford) in the endzone stopping the threat.

The Huskies then moved 80 yards in 12 plays with Brittingham scoring from five yards out to cap the scoring drive. On the drive Brittingham picked up 47 yards.

On the ensuing drive for East Stroudsburg, Terwilliger threw a 23-yard scoring pass to Evan Prall to put the home team back in front, 14-7 with 10:58 to play in the half.

After the teams traded punts, the Huskies scored the tying touchdown when Brittingham scored on a 12-yard run to make it 14-14 with 4:26 left in the half.

After the Bloomsburg defense forced a three and out series, the Huskies took their first lead of game when Brittingham scored his third touchdown of the half on a three-yard run with 1:38 to play.

The Bloomsburg defense made a play that would be one of several key plays in the game just before halftime. With the Warriors on the move for the game tying score, Bloomsburg's Phil Riccardi (Lansdale/North Penn) forced a fumble, recovered by Zac Barton (Berryville, VA/Loudan Valley) on a wild, spinning hit of Terwilliger at the two-yard line with 16 seconds remaining in the period.

In the third period, the Warriors tied the score on an 11-yard run by Carfagno that capped a eight-play, 83-yard drive.

After another trade of punts, the Huskies took over and moved to the East Stroudsburg 13 yard before the drive stalled. From there Garrett Bloom (Sunbury/Shikellamy) drilled a 27-yard field goal to put Bloomsburg in front 27-24.

The teams then went back and forth in fourth period with the Huskies' defense making several more big plays. On a fourth and one from the Bloomsburg five with 7:45 to play in the game, Carfagno was stopped for no gain giving the Huskies the ball on downs. Later, with the Warriors driving for the potential go-ahead score, Greg McGhee (Philadelphia/Cheltemham) intercepted Terwilliger at the four-yard line and returned it 55-yards into Warrior territory with just 2:22 to play.

At that point, it appeared that one more first down and the game would be over. However, East Stroudsburg stopped the Huskies on fourth and one from the Warrior's 32-yard line giving the home team one more shot.

With no timeouts, Terwillger moved the Warriors downfield and appeared to have thrown the game winning score with just a second to play. But, Terwilliger was flagged for an illegal forward pass on the play and the Warriors had to settle for a game-tying field goal from Marc Brubaker forcing the extra session heroics.

In all Brittingham rushed 33 times for 206 yards and four scores with Christian Allen (Pottstown/Pottstown) netting 83 on just seven carries. Quarterback Jack Lydic was 10-20 for 160 yards and one interception, while defensively, Phil Riccardi made 12 tackles, nine solo, with Keith Davis (Woodlyn/Strath Haven) making eight tackles.

Bloomsburg will look to make it seven straight on Saturday, October 8th when it hosts Kutztown in a Parent's Day matchup at 1:30 p.m.