TURBOTVILLE – Up by a touchdown in the waning minutes of the first half, Warrior Run’s James Keifer hit Tyler Ulrich in full stride down the seam for what appeared to be a 45-yard touchdown pass that would give the Defenders a two-possession lead over Bloomsburg as Friday’s game neared halftime.

But the score was called back due to an illegal formation penalty, and the Defenders were forced to punt. And instead of leading by two touchdowns heading into the break, Warrior Run ended up tied with the Panthers at the half after Bloomsburg quarterback Wyatt Brosious scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown run on a third-and-10 with under a minute to play in the half.

From there, Brosious and the Bloomsburg defense took over in the second half, as the Panthers scored on their first three drives of the second half while only allowing Warrior Run a single first down in the second half until midway through the fourth quarter. That momentum shift late in the first half and second half surge led Bloomsburg to a 42-28 win over the Defenders in a battle of unbeatens.

“We had some success running it and I probably should have kept running it some more,” said Warrior Run coach Derrick Zechman. “We had guys go out with cramps and we had guys that didn’t take care of their bodies this week. We had a guy cramping it seemed like every other play in the second half. Looking back on it, though, I’m the one calling the plays so I need to be better with that. When you take points off the board, it’s going to kill you and penalties killed us tonight, especially in big moments and big plays. We missed on a couple of opportunities early, it was a shootout in the first half but we went stagnant a little bit in the second half.”

Bloomsburg scored on a 12-play drive and an 11-play drive on their first two second half possessions, holding onto the ball for a combined 9:30 of the third quarter. Overall in the second half, the Panthers ran 40 plays to just 22 for the Defenders.

In addition to the second half, the difference in the game was Wyatt Brosious. The Panther quarterback threw for 313 yards on 18-of-33 passing with a touchdown, and also picked up 92 yards on the ground on 16 carries with three rushing touchdowns. His guidance of Bloomsburg’s offense, particularly in the second half, kept the Panthers on the field and continuously moving the chains – Bloomsburg had 29 first downs to just 16 for Warrior Run.

“You have to tip your cap to them. Brosious played a heck of a game,” said Zechman. “He’s a dual threat, hurts you with his feet and passing the ball. We had decent coverage on their receivers and he’s throwing dimes and they’re making plays. We knew we had to help our defense by our offense staying on the field and we didn’t do a good enough job with that.”

The first half was mostly a back-and-forth between what looked like two evenly matched teams. Bloomsburg forced a Warrior Run punt on the Defenders’ opening drive and proceeded to put together a seven-play, 84-yard drive capped by a Wyatt Schrader three-yard touchdown run. A 60-yard hookup between Brosious and Jharee Moore-Stewart on a screen pass flipped the field from the Bloomsburg 20 to the Defender 20.

Warrior Run answered with an eight-play, 71-yard drive capped by Ulrich’s five-yard touchdown run, with a 48-yard run by Denyn Beachel flipping the field.

The Defenders then forced a three-and-out by the Panthers and Cohen Zechman took the Bloomsburg punt back 74 yards for a touchdown to put the Defenders on top by a score.

Bloomsburg then turned its ensuing drive into a 10-play, 80-yard scoring possession capped by Schrader’s second rushing touchdown of the evening, this one from six yards out to tie the game.

Keifer hit Ulrich in the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown on Warrior Run’s ensuing drive, putting the Defenders up 21-14 at the 5:18 mark of the second quarter.

Warrior Run then picked up the only turnover of the night, as Beachel picked off Brosious to give the Defenders the ball at the Bloomsburg 45. But from there, Warrior Run had the touchdown wiped off the board due to the illegal formation penalty.

Bloomsburg received the second half kickoff and took over at its own 31. Despite being backed up by a holding and illegal block penalty after advancing the ball down to the Warrior Run 14, they still capitalized on the drive when Brosious hit Krue Wheadon for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Wheadon had a monster game with six catches for 105 yards.

“It all starts with Wyatt,” said Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut. “We put it in his hands, I thought Krue Wheadon had a great game. We were attacking the outside a little bit and took what they gave us. Wyatt might have pressed a bit in the first half because we were down and since he’s such a fierce competitor and wants to make plays, but I just told him to settle down and it started with him and we made plays when we needed to.”

Brosious then capped Bloomsburg’s next two possessions with short touchdown runs to put the Panthers up by three scores, 42-21 at the 8:23 mark of the fourth quarter. Warrior Run managed to convert a fourth-and-15 as Keifer scrambled for 47 yards midway through the fourth quarter and Ulrich finished with a two-yard run. That drive was responsible for 75 of Warrior Run’s 126 yards in the second half.