No treats as Panthers fall to Braves
BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg can't help but feel like the little brother that got all of his candy stolen from his older brother after trick-or-treating.
Back-breaking penalties, numerous missed tackles, costly fourth-quarter turnovers, and special team blemishes turned a game the Panthers felt was theirs into a 35-28 Shikellamy win that was decided in the final seconds.
The Panthers didn't allow them to take off with the candy without a fight, though.
The Braves took their first — and only — lead of the game on an Asher Moyer 1-yard rush with 1:35 left in the contest. It was set up by Noah Johnson's 28-yard interception return to that exact location after getting Wyatt Brosious to throw off his back foot.
On the ensuing drive, the Panthers attempted to march 59 yards for the tying score. Brosious — like he did much of the game — took over by collecting 10 yards on a designed run and another 39 to Krue Wheadon, who immediately left the game with an injury. The last pass completion put the Panthers at the Braves' 8-yard line where Shikellamy forced a pair of incompletions before Corbin Stahl sealed the game by picking off Brosious in the corner of the end zone.
"We made some nice plays, big plays in the second half," Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut said. "When they tied it up, we fought back and then it was just a heavyweight fight going back and forth. In the end, we just didn't capitalize inside the 10 here."
Bloomsburg looked like a much different team to start the second half, scoring touchdowns via a 39-yard pass to Gabe Dube and a 19-yard run by Brosious on consecutive drives. The defense was just as strong, forcing a pair of three-and-outs in that stretch.
Penalties, however, kept the Braves' third drive alive and well, allowing them to put together an 11-play, 72-yard scoring scheme to stay well within the game.
Those penalties continued to hurt the Panthers on offense, this time a high snap led to intentional grounding. The Braves got the ball on downs and took just one play, as Brody Rebuck found the speedy Thomas Pollack on a 63-yard post route to tie it early in the fourth.
It was Pollack's second touchdown of the game, having a 62-yard rushing score in the second quarter on yet another one-play drive for the Braves.
The Panthers quickly responded for their last lead with Brosious finding Dominick Rosini on a 60-yard completion for a one-play drive of their own.
Brosious accounted for all four of the Panthers' TDs, throwing for three — including a 46-yarder to Ryan Scherer in the second — and rushing for another. He finished 15 of 26 with two interceptions and 386 yards. He also led the Panthers with 37 rushing yards.
"Wyatt is continuing to develop and making good decisions, good throws," Kogut said. "He's spending a lot of time watching film and wants to be as complete of a player as possible. We had a lot of bright spots with him, both throwing and running."
Special teams also came back to haunt the Panthers on Friday the 13th. Justin Pegg missed a 23-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half, but it was a blocked punt in the fourth that hurt them the most.
The Braves started the drive at the Panthers' 13, capping it off with Rebuck's 1-yard QB keeper to once again tie it with 4 minutes remaining.
"It was a tough first half and we scored twice in a row so momentum was definitely in our favor, but they came back," Kogut said. "I didn't think they could run the ball like that, but they did a good job and ran tough.
"We struggled with tackles, and at the end, they made plays when they needed and we didn't make plays when we needed. ... This is one we should have had, and at the end of the day, that falls on me."
The Braves finished with 185 yards on the ground, many of those coming after contact.
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