All about the fight
BLOOMSBURG — Both Danville coach Carl Majer and Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut know Bloomsburg has more potential than Friday night's final score.
The Panthers hung tough with District 4 powerhouse Danville for the first 22 minutes of play before the Ironmen pulled away with a 45-7 win.
"Momentum certainly changed. We didn't expect it and I thought our defense played tremendous," Kogut said. "I thought our kids executed well and made them uncomfortable. Unfortunately, they had some turnovers that we didn't capitalize on. ... We were fighting for all four quarters which is good."
Bloomsburg, fresh off its second fumble recovery of the opening half, put together its best offensive drive to that point — an 11-play, 66-yard operation — getting itself into the red zone for the second time. Unfortunately, the Panthers missed an opportunity to chip into a 10-0 deficit when Justin Pegg missed a 35-yard field goal.
Danville quickly took advantage as Madden Patrick connected with Cole Duffy for 41 yards and Bo Sheptock on a 39-yard flat route for six points.
Duffy intercepted Panthers quarterback Wyatt Brosious on Bloomsburg's first play from scrimmage to give Patrick the ball back. After a pair of keepers, Patrick connected with Carter Raup for the Ironmen's second touchdown in 37 seconds.
Patrick later had the game's final touchdown, an 8-yard toss to Cameron Kiersch to finish with 199 yards passing and no interceptions.
"He was getting back into a rhythm there," Majer said of Patrick's late first-half performance. "People point to his numbers from last year, but that's last year. He was picking it up when he needed to, especially after the great game our defense had."
After a stagnant third quarter for the Ironmen, Bo Sheptock, who fumbled the ball a few times and lost it twice, put the game away for good.
He put the dismal start behind him with a 21-yard scamper, breaking a couple of tackles along the way. He then added a 71-yard dash down the left side on the team's ensuing possession.
"Sometimes, I feel we are a second-half team. Being our first game, we were a little sloppy, but our line stepped it up," Sheptock said. "I'm going to give all the credit to the line for all the rushing yards. I can't do it without them. They're the biggest piece of the puzzle."
Sheptock, who also had an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, finished with 207 yards on the night.
Bloomsburg, which showed a lot of defensive fight throughout, forced six fumbles. It recovered three of them. Its offense, unfortunately, didn't turn them into points, committing three turnovers and six fumbles as well, including Duffy's first interception of the night coming off the heels of his offensive fumble.
"I was really down on myself and beating myself up because I'm so hard on myself," Duffy said of his fumble after a catch. "All of my teammates came to my support and said 'You're going to be the next one' and I went in there, read the play, and came away with the pick. It felt great."
The Panthers weren't shutout, taking advantage of a big fourth down stop and a short field late in the third. Bloomsburg needed just 27 yards — and converted its only third down play of the night in the process — with Brosious finding Jharee Moore-Stewart for a 16-yard touchdown.
The Panthers went 1-for-10 on third down.
Brosious finished with 162 yards passing while Moore-Stewart led the Panthers with 75 yards rushing.
"I thought we won the third quarter and I didn't think we were out of the game," Kogut said. "I just thought we hurt ourselves with basic mistakes and tried to overplay and do too much."
Majer, who was excited to see Patrick adapt and become multidimensional with 101 rushing yards after Bloomsburg made him uncomfortable in the pocket all night sees a lot of potential in Bloomsburg.
"You have to give it to Bloomsburg. Coach Kogut had them ready to play hard and that's good. Playing through adversity is good," Majer said. "He forced Madden to adjust and he did just that. The kid can run and does whatever it takes to get the team going and he put the team on his back by running tonight. But Bloomsburg has a great defense and it should show this year."
The Ironmen also got a 36-yard field goal from Garrett Hoffman in the second quarter.
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