The Bloomsburg University football team fell short in their week two matchup against Edinboro with a final score of 21-16 on Friday, September 7th at Redman Stadium.
On a cold and windy Saturday afternoon on the upper campus of Bloomsburg, the Edinboro offense came out rolling as they received the opening kickoff and drove it 63 yards, capping off with a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andrew Tomko.
Bloomsburg did manage to retaliate as they drove 60 yards on the next drive with the help of a 29-yard run by senior running back Hakeem Sillman on the first play of the drive. Sophomore Quarterback Erik Benjamin finished the drive with a one-yard punch in score to tie the game at seven with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter.
On the very next kickoff, Edinboro return specialist Ta’Nauz Gregory caught the ball at his own ten-yard line and raced past all the Husky defenders, arguably untouched for a 90-yard score. The touchdown gave Edinboro a 14-7 lead as Bloomsburg found themselves behind again quickly.
It was all the Fighting Scots after that as they took a 21-10 lead up until the fourth quarter of the game. Bloomsburg found a spark of life as senior defensive back Dexter Jordan picked off the backup Edinboro’s quarterback at the BU 13-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Edinboro’s starter went down just plays before, with an apparent throwing hand injury.
The Huskies then managed to drive 87 yards for a score as Benjamin managed to record 35 of the 87 yards in the air. BU also found support from running backs Qmac Quiteh and Tre Green on the ground as the drive was capped off with a second one-yard punch in touchdown from Benjamin. A failed two-point conversion led to a 21-16 Edinboro lead with 6:21 left in the game.
The Bloomsburg defense stayed strong as they managed to stop Edinboro two different times in the final six minutes of regulation.
The Huskies comeback fell short as Benjamin threw an interception with 3 and a half minutes remaining on a deep pass which fell in favor of the Fighting Scots. The Edinboro defense managed to intercept Benjamin a total of three times on the wet afternoon. The sophomore quarterback completed just half his attempts in his second career collegiate start.
In the rushing category. the Huskies were led by senior running back Hakeem Sillman who rushed for a total of 104 yards off of 20 carries. This marks his second straight week as leading rusher for BU and his second straight week with over 100 yards on the ground.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Huskies were led by senior Nate Monroe as he totaled ten tackles on the afternoon. Dexter Jordan picked up two interceptions, while senior Marquis Seamon added another.
Bloomsburg managed to add up 327 yards of total offense in the loss as Edinboro walked away with only 258 yards and still picked up the victory.
On the opposing side, the Edinboro defense was led by linebacker Trey Hall who racked up two interceptions and ten total tackles for the Fighting Scots.
Edinboro now stands at 2-0 (PSAC West) as they head into week 3. Junior wide reciever Ta’Nauz Gregory was named PSAC co-athlete of the week after he recieved two kickoffs for 121 yards in the game, one being the monster 90-yard return for a score in the first quarter/
The Huskies fall to 1-1 (PSAC East) as they head to Mercyhurst University this Saturday, September 15th. Mercyhurst enters the game at 0-2 as kickoff is slated for 12 o’clock.
The Huskies’ next home game is scheduled for Sep. 22 in a 6 p.m. matchup against the visting Shippensburg Raiders. The game is the only home night game of the 2018 season.