EAST STROUDSBURG -- After allowing a touchdown on the first drive of the game, the East Stroudsburg University football team made eight consecutive stops defensively and scored 35 unanswered points in a 35-14 victory over Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
The Warriors improve to 5-3, 3-2 in PSAC East play, while Bloomsburg falls to 2-6, 1-4 in conference action.
The win for ESU over Bloomsburg is the first since 2015 and is just the second in the last 13 seasons over Bloomsburg. Prior to the dramatic 35-34 win over the Huskies, the last time the Warriors last defeated Bloomsburg was in 2005 NCAA Playoffs with now ESU head coach Jimmy Terwilliger leading the victory at quarterback.
After conceding the opening 77-yard touchdown drive, the stingy Warrior defense allowed just 88 yards of offense over the following eight Husky drives. Three of those drives, all in the second quarter, ended in turnovers, as Tyler Watson and Ryan Hieber tallied interceptions and Deshawn McCarthy would grab a fumbled snap in mid-air. Hieber's first career interception resulted in a touchdown, while McCarthy's recovery would later result in points.
Offensively, the tailback duo of Tyriq Lewis (114 yards, 1 TD) and Gunner Anglovich (86 yards) combined for exactly 200 yards rushing. Along with scoring his first career touchdown, Lewis tallied his first 100-yard rushing game of his career. As a team, ESU rushed for a total of 256 with Jake Cirillo adding 25 net yards.
Cirillo completed 16-25 passes for two touchdowns and two interceptions. Both touchdown throws were thrown to Elie Lavarin, who has now scored three touchdowns over his last two games. Lavarin posted 40 yards on four receptions, while true freshman Chad Parton also tallied for catches for 32 yards.
ESU leading receiver Rece Bender collected three catches for 61 yards, including a 40-yard long completion.
Jacob Keane led ESU with six tackles, while Paul Carreras added five tackles with two tackles for loss.
Along with a fumble recovery, McCarthy added a sack and three tackles. The junior now has 11.5 sacks on the season. He entered the week ranked second nationally in the category. Andre Eldridge also registered a sack for the Warriors. The Warrior co-captain now has 5.5 sacks on the season.
On special teams, Devin Bartholomew converted both of his field goal attempts (32 yards and 36 yards) and all five point-after-attempts. Nate Reed had to punt just three times. He booted three of his seven kickoffs for touchbacks.
As previously mentioned, Bloomsburg would open the scoring with a 77-yard touchdown drive, capitalized by Kaleb Monaco's one-yard touchdown. The Pocono Mountain West graduate rushed for 103 yards on the day.
The Warriors looked to counter right away. Cirillo found Bender for a gain of 40 yards on 3rd and 5 to extend the drive. Anglovich and Lewis combined for 26 yards of rushing the rest of the way, with Lewis finding paydirt from five yards out for his first career touchdown.
The Warriors defense forced its first of five punts on its next drive. Eldridge would takedown BU's LePoidevin for a sack on 3rd down to stall the drive.
After a short Bloomsburg punt setup ESU with good field position near midfield, the Warriors would take its first lead on a 33-yard field goal by Bartholomew.
Heading into the second quarter, the Warrior defense remained relentless, forcing a three-and-out.
ESU continued to run the ball successfully, before a sack on 3rd down would lead to Bartholomew field goal from 36 yards out to grab a 13-7 advantage.
After Bloomsburg completed a five-yard completion on its first play of its next drive, LePoidevin would throw an interception to Tyler Watson. The pick marked the second consecutive week that Watson grabbed an interception, as the Warrington, Pa. native now leads ESU with three INT's this season and seven in his career.
The Warriors could not take advantage after a seven-play drive resulted in a punt.
The turnover bug continued to haunt the Huskies, with McCarthy grabbing an errant snap out of the air. He would return the ball 11 yards on the recovery. With 3:21 remaining in the first half, ESU would find the end zone in just four plays, with Cirillo finding Lavarin for a 10-yard strike. ESU looked to take a 14-point lead, as Dawson Stuart was able to come up with a deflected pass for the two-point conversion. ESU led 21-7 with just 30 seconds remaining in the first half.
Instead of running out the clock, Bloomsburg attempted to pass on its own 20-yard line with 30 seconds left, BU's drive resulted in its third consecutive turnover, with LePoidevin's pass finding defensive end Ryan Hieber, who dropped back into coverage. Hieber grabbed his first career interception as was off to the races, returning the ball 22 yards into the end zone, as the Warriors would take a 28-7 lead into the halftime intermission.
The ESU Athletic Department honored Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Pennsylvania at halftime, presenting Certificates of Appreciation to BBBS NEPA's - Dr, Mark Wade (Governing Board Member) Brenna Courtright (Program Supervisor) and Dr. Doreen Tobin, retired ESU vice president of campus life and inclusive excellence, who is the Chair of the Monroe Advisory Board.
After the intermission, the Warriors received the second half kick and would extend its lead to 28 points on a 12-play, 71 yard drive. On 3rd-and-2 from the Bloomsburg 17-yard line, Cirillo found Lavarin in the end zone for his second touchdown of the contest. The score was Lavarin's third in two weeks after finding the end zone on an 85-yard reception against West Chester.
With ESU in control, Bloomsburg would add its second touchdown of the game with 14:48 left in the contest on a 25-yard touchdown pass. That concluded the scoring, as ESU would drain an impressive 9:18 of clock on an 18-play drive.
Overall ESU led 22-10 on first downs, 235-90 on rushing yards, 402-229 on net offensive yards. The Warriors nearly doubled the Huskies time of possession (39:45 to 20:15). The Warriors held Bloomsburg to just 2-of-9 on 3rd down and allowed the Huskies to reach the red zone twice.
The Warriors return to Eiler-Martin Stadium next Saturday, when ESU hosts the Shippensburg Raiders (6-2, 3-2) at 1:05 p.m.
