NO TURNING BACK

BLOOMSBURG — For the first time in 80 years, Bloomsburg has a zero in the loss column at the end of the regular season.

But it doesn’t come with zero drama in its 54-7 win over Northwest.

Bloomsburg scored a pair of touchdowns in under a minute late in the first half when Jharee Moore-Stewart hauled in a 17-yard pass from Frey — their second of the night — and Wyatt Schrader punched it in from six yards out for his second score, the latter following a Loegan Diltz kickoff return fumble that Julius Serrano jumped on at the Rangers’ 15.

The Panthers’ defense, as it had all night, stood strong and forced a three-and-out. Already up 37-0 and in the waning seconds of the opening half, Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut didn’t run out the clock. He instead used the team’s speed to his advantage with Frey hitting Moore-Stewart for a 33-yard pass. After a pair of incompletions, he sent Oakley Wodehouse out for a 28-yard field goal, which would have been good from 40.

It was Wodehouse’s second of the night, the first bouncing off the left upright and through from 30 yards out earlier in the quarter.

Northwest coach Greg Mullins wasn’t upset about his players’ performance, but how the game played out and even told the team not to participate in any post-game handshakes with the Panthers.

“At my program, you win with class, and you lose with dignity. We may have lost, but we lost with dignity, and that really matters to me,” Mullins said. “... Good on them for being 10-0, but I said when we took over this program that we would never chase stats. When we played Vo-Tech, we ran 22 offensive plays and 11 went for touchdowns. There wasn’t anything we could have done about that.

“This right here was just an absolute atrocity for coaching.”

Kogut, though, says he wasn’t trying to run up the score. Instead, the Panthers, who were in a battle with Southern Columbia for the No. 1 seed and a potential first-round bye in the District 4 Class 2A playoff bracket was hoping to get a few kinks out with some players before the stakes get higher.

“We wanted to work on our field goal stuff. I never wanted to run a score up,” Kogut said. “ I don’t agree with them not shaking hands with us, so I’m disappointed the coach feels that way. ... That was not my intention. I’m coaching football, and there is no mercy rule in the first half, so we were able to get our two-minute drill down, and we were focused on three points, not seven there.

“... We came out with our starters for the first series of the second half to work on a few other things, especially with Shane because I didn’t feel he was as sharp as we’d like early on.”

Frey capped off the opening drive of the second half with a 1-yard keeper. He finished 18-of-31 for 294 yards, three passing touchdowns and an interception to Boone May. The senior connected with five different receivers, finding his favorite target Moore-Stewart seven times for 150 yards.

“We watched a lot of film, saw what their defense does and when they blitz, we blitz replaced and we just ran our routes and did our jobs,” said Moore-Stewart, who also accounted for the game’s first score, beating the Rangers over the top for 37 yards on the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage.

Serrano also showed speed kills by running a post route and catching a ball well past the Rangers’ secondary for a 60-yard strike in the opening quarter.

When the starters were pulled, the Panther continued to show a strong passing game. Backup QB JD Klingerman went 4-for-7 for 52 yards. He remained cool in the pocket, first finding Mehki Mullins on a fourth-and-16 play for 22 yards and hitting Damien DeLarge for a 10-yard touchdown on the ensuing play.

It all amounted to the first unblemished, untied regular season for the Panthers in program history, something they couldn’t have imagined when camp broke.

“We lost a lot of talent. We lost nine starters, two All-State kids, we had questions at quarterback. We had some tough games early in the season and were wondering if we would be ready,” Kogut said. “We were ready and it all starts with the kids. We have a great coaching staff as well, but to be 10-0 and writing some new chapters in the history of the Bloomsburg football program, I’m extremely proud and honored to be here.”

Despite the lopsided loss that saw the Rangers only convert a pair of first downs and get outgained by 477 yards, there were no sagging heads or attitudes afterward.

Instead, they are hoping to cash in on Zaiden Meeker scoring the game’s last points, going 75 yards on a kickoff return to start the fourth, and carry that momentum into a playoff matchup at Canton next week.

“It felt good to spoil a shutout, and even in a defeat like this, they’re finding small victories and turning their focus away from tonight,” Mullins said. “Bloomsburg came out and was more physical than us, and it was almost like they were starstruck a bit, but I think we’ll be ready for Canton.”

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