Bloom can’t get offense going, falls to Spartans
BLOOMSBURG — Despite Bloomsburg coming up on the short end of a defensive battle with Hughesville, coach Mike Kogut was pleased with the effort the team put forth.
He was most disappointed with himself after a 12-3 loss to the Spartans in the District 4 Class 2A quarterfinals. The Panthers finish the year 5-6 while the Spartans travel to No. 1 seed Mount Carmel next week.
"I feel our program evolved with our senior leadership and I feel we're taking strides in the right direction," Kogut said. "They did it the right way. They were a close-knit group and kept everyone together through the good and bad — especially through adversity. They were always positive and there for each other. They're going to be a successful group of young men outside of football because of their work ethic.
"... I'm really proud and thankful of everything they've done. I'm disappointed in myself because I couldn't get a win for them in their last game at Panther Stadium."
Bloomsburg was oh so close, though.
With the game tied at 3 midway through the fourth quarter, Hughesville originally had its field goal unit on the field. Instead, coming out of a Spartans' timeout, they opted to stay on the ground with Mason Hoppes on fourth down and the Panthers came away with a big defensive stop, stuffing him at the 1-yard-line.
The Panthers' defense played lights out for most of the night, holding the Spartans to under 4 yards a play. They also held Hughesville in check on third (2-for-13) and fourth downs (0-for-2).
Unfortunately for Bloomsburg, it was Hughesville that came up with the biggest defensive play of the night. On the first snap following the safety, the Spartans sacked Panthers quarterback Liam Zentner for a safety to take a 5-3 lead.
"Overall, we played with heart and were tough. They did what we asked them to do," Kogut said. "Obviously, the defense came to play tonight in a 12-3 game. ... [Hughesville] also made plays when they needed to."
The Spartans put the game away on the ensuing series, erasing 4:20 off the clock on an eight-play, 55-yard touchdown drive. It was capped off by a 10-yard rush by Hoppes — maybe in a matter of revenge — for the game's only touchdown.
Any hopes of a comeback went by the wayside when Bloomsburg's backup quarterback Wyatt Brosious, on the run, threw an interception to Conor Knight.
Both teams traded field goals in the middle quarters with Hughesville getting a toe-tapping 12-yarder from Josh Heiney. The Spartans had a 39-yard attempt blocked and a 42-yard attempt come up short — both before halftime.
The Panthers took advantage of the low-scoring affair coming out of halftime. They turned to playmaker Madden Locke on 10 of its 12-play drive to open the third quarter. He helped get Bloomsburg to Hughesville's 6-yard-line where Kogut didn't want to take any chances, opting to tie the game on a 23-yard field by Sisay Doerschler.
For the game, Locke finished with 84 yards rushing on 22 carries. He also had two catches for 37 yards. All were game-highs.
"Offensively, it starts with me and we just couldn't get anything going," Kogut said. "We wanted to get the ball in the best player's hands and sometimes they just forced us into second and long, third and long, and that's nobody's game.
"We tried coming out in the second half by putting the ball in [Locke's] hands. We had a real nice drive that took a lot of time up, which was fine because we didn't want the ball in their hands. We just didn't do that enough tonight."
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