Bloomsburg Rallies For Win In Football Opener
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BLOOMSBURG—Jamar Brittingham (Langhorne/Neshaminy) rushed for a career-high 250 yards and four touchdowns to lead Bloomsburg University to a 40-24 come-from-behind win over Slippery Rock on Saturday afternoon in the season-opener for both teams in front of nearly 4,000 fans at Redman Stadium.
Brittingham scored on runs of 28, 3, 12 and 37 yards to help the Huskies come back from a 24-6 deficit midway through the third period.
In the third period the Huskies fell behind 24-6 after Luke Wetzel caught a one-yard scoring pass from Nate Crookshank to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive to open the second half for the visitors.
The Huskies cut the deficit to 24-13 by going 68-yards in 10-plays with Brittingham scoring from three yards out after gaining 24 yards on the previous play.
Bloomsburg's defense then held Slippery Rock with a three and out on the ensuing series and took over at their own 41 yard line after a short punt.
Then, on the second play of the drive, Josh Heck (Hazleton/Hazleton) danced his way down the sideline and into the end zone on a 59-yard run cutting the deficit to 24-20 after Garrett Bloom's (Sunbury/Shikellamy) extra point.
Bloomsburg's defense came up with another big play on the Rock's next drive when Phil Riccardi (Lansdale/North Penn) intercepted a Crookshank throw giving the Huskies the ball at the Rock 24-yard line.
Five plays later on a third down play, quarterback Jack Lydic (Selinsgrove/Selinsgrove) hit Kevin Keating (Lansdale/Lansdale Catholic) with a nine-yard scoring pass giving Bloomsburg its first lead since the second period at 27-24.
In the fourth period the Huskies added to their total with scoring runs from Brittingham of 12 and 37 yards. The last run iced the game for Bloomsburg coming with just 1:40 left to play in the game.
The Rock got on the board first with a 31-yard field goal from Ryan Daniel with 8:17 left in the first period. The score was setup after Slippery Rock recovered a Bloomsburg fumble on the opening drive of the game, then marched 64 yards before settling for the score.
Bloomsburg took its first lead in the game when Brittingham scored on a 28-yard run with 3:23 left in the first. The 43-yard scoring drive was set up by a 29-yard punt from Brittingham.
Slippery Rock regained the lead in the second period when Josh Kneiss scored on a two-yard run to make it 10-6. Then, later in the period, Crookshank hit John Benca with a 14-yard scoring pass to give the Rock a 17-6 lead at the break.
Brittingham finished with career-highs in carries (25), yards and touchdowns (4), while Heck rushed nine times for 99 yards and one score. In all the Huskies 361 yards of rushing and 438 in total offense. Defensively, Tyler Trettin (Hummelstown/Hershey) made 11 stops for the Huskies with Rob Beirnat (Bristol/Conwell Egan) making 10.
For Slippery Rock Crookshank was 23-37 for 311 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Bloomsburg, 1-0, will visit Fairmont State on Saturday at 1 p.m., while Slippery Rock goes to Youngstown State on Thurs, Sept. 1.