Panthers record 500th victory

BLOOMSBURG — On a night Bloomsburg honored first responders and military personnel, the Panthers showed military-like execution on both sides of the ball so well, it would have made a sergeant proud.

The defense forced a trio of three-and-outs and didn’t allow a snap in their own territory until the penultimate play of the opening half while the offense had a pair of one-play scoring drives in the same span.

It accumulated to a 36-14 win for Bloomsburg, its 500th in program history.

The Panthers, which had roughly 20 former players, coaches and administrators in the postgame huddle for the occasion, became the 159th school in the state with 500 wins. They join Mount Carmel, Southern Columbia, Williamsport, Montoursville, Shamokin, Danville, Shikellamy, Selinsgrove, South Williamsport, Jersey Shore, Athens, Towanda, Sayre, Canton and Milton in District 4 with the milestone victory.

“What an honor to be a part of this program, this district and to be able to represent it,” coach Mike Kogut said. “I love everyone I work with from our school board to our administration to the entire educational community. Our coaches, and especially these kids, just continue to do amazing things on the field.”

Nothing more amazing than with Hughesville pinning Bloomsburg inside its own 1-yard line on a punt and the Panthers opting for a wildcat formation. Knowing they have the speed, the Panthers snapped directly to running back Jharee Moore-Stewart, who only had to break one tackle in the backfield on a sweep to the right before taking off for a 99-yard touchdown. No Spartan was within 10 yards before the junior slowed his pace near the end zone.

Moore-Stewart kicked off the game’s scoring in the first quarter with a 49-yard rushing touchdown. Just as it looked like he was going to get tackled, he showed off some nice moves at the linebacker level to go untouched.

He finished with 178 yards on six carries — a staggering 29.6 yards per carry.

The Panthers later showed they can hurt the Spartans through the air when Julius Serrano — who finished with a game-high 74 receiving yards — leapt and snagged Shane Frey’s pass over a surprised Levi Green’s shoulders for a 58-yard touchdown for their other one-play scoring drive.

Hughesville went into its bag of tricks to start the second half, opting to onside kick as Bloomsburg was lined up deep. After Christian Ackerman recovered the kick, the Panthers proved their bag of tricks was far deeper and effective. With a first-and-goal, the Panthers went wildcat again, but this time opted to have Moore-Stewart and Frey trade places as the usual starting QB hauled in a 7-yard touchdown reception.

“I wanted to get Shane in the mix a little differently because Shane is versatile,” Kogut said. “He’s someone who can catch the ball and he’s proved that tonight, and that was really neat for him. ... He deserves all the accolades because he is just playing amazing football right now.”

Frey, who finished 7 of 11 with 120 yards passing, also had a 4-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter to give him a passing, rushing and receiving score for the Panthers.

Even with the high offensive success, the Panthers’ defense might have been more stout. The Spartans, who scored via a 9-yard run by Connor Anstandt and a 3-yard run by Carson Shoemaker against Bloomsburg’s backups in the fourth quarter, were held to 10 snaps in Panthers territory in the first three quarters.

Bloomsburg was quick to the ball all night as Spartans’ drives stalled, going 3-for-10 on third down. That domination allowed the Panthers to out gain the Spartans, 380-56 in total yards in the first half.

“Our defense continues to play with physicality and they are fully locked in,” Kogut said. “... They trust the calls and they trust the scheme and they came out and swarmed to the ball.”

And the reward was then getting to mob a banner honoring the program’s achievement with some of those who helped make the milestone possible.

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