Football Rallies for Win over East Stroudsburg

EAST STROUDSBURG--Bloomsburg University scored 29 unanswered points and tailback Jamar Brittingham (Levittown/Neshaminy) rushed for a game-high 190 yards and one touchdown to rally the Huskies to a 35-26 win over East Stroudsburg University on Saturday afternoon.

After a scoreless first period, the Huskies scored on the first play of the second quarter when Brahin Bilal (Philadelphia/Lincoln) caught a four-yard scoring pass from Dan Latorre (Elysburg/Southern Columbia) to put Bloomsburg in front 6-0 after the missed extra point. The Warriors responded with a 14-yard scoring pass from Tim Roken to knot the game at 6-6 after their extra point attempt was blocked.

Later in the period the Warriors went in front 13-6 when Roken connected with Doug Ogden on a 67-yard pass play with 1:59 left in the half.

The Warriors extended their lead to 20-6 on the first drive of the third period when Ogden caught a 15-yard pass from Roken capping a 62-yard drive.

Bloomsburg began its comeback on the ensuing drive when Brittingham capped a 10-play, 50-yard drive with a one-yard plunge and then added a two-point pass from Jeremy Lightner (Fairview/Fairview) to middle linebacker Rob Biernat bringing Bloomsburg to within six at 20-14.

In the fourth quarter, the Huskies marched 76 yards, mainly on the legs of Brittingham who gained 52 of the 76 yards to tie the score. The other 24 yards on the drive went to Latorre, including the final yard into the end zone giving Bloomsburg a 21-20 lead with Jon Koenig's (Pine Grove/Pine Grove) extra point.

Then, in what might have been the play of the game, Bloomsburg's defense came up with a score when cornerback Jesse Cooper (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) intercepted a Roken pass and returned it 50- yards for a touchdown putting Bloomsburg in front 28-20 with 5:44 to play.

The Huskies capped its scoring for the day when Josh Heck (Hazleton/Hazleton) scored from two yards out to make it 35-20 with 1:41 left to play. East Stroudsburg did tack on one score with just five seconds remaining when Roken hit Mike Piazza with a two-yard touchdown pass, but failed on the two-point conversion. On the ensuing kickoff, the Huskies recovered the on-side attempt ending the game.

With his 190 yards rushing, Brittingham moved to within 239 yards of Wesley Cates from Cal for the all-time career-rushing mark in the PSAC. Defensively, Lightner finished with eight tackles, while Greg Myers (Philadelphia/Dobbins) added seven. For the Warriors, Tim Roken finished 19-35 with one interception for 245 yards and four touchdowns.

Bloomsburg, 5-3, 3-1 in the PSAC East, will face Cheyney next week at 1 p.m. East Stroudsburg falls to 2-6, 1-3 in the PSAC East.