Box Score

Millersville, Pa. - Millersville traded punches for three quarters with No. 8-ranked Bloomsburg Saturday at Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium, but the heavyweight Huskies delivered a knockout blow with its power running game in the fourth quarter to pull away from Millersville by a 49-24 final score.

Bloomsburg remained perfect on the season, improving to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the PSAC East while the Marauders were kept without a victory, falling to 0-6 and 0-3 in the conference. The Huskies entered the contest ranked third in Division II in rushing offense with 274 yards per game and after managing 138 yards in the first half, Bloomsburg broke out in the second, racking up 290 rushing yards on 30 carries while controlling the ball for over 21 minutes. Bloomsburg finished the game with 428 rushing yards and 511 total, becoming the second opponent to rush for over 400 yards against Millersville this season. It also became the sixth-straight team to record over 400 yards of total offense against Millersville.

Millersville's offense, however, was up for the challenge. Red-shirt sophomore Bill Shirk kept the Marauders close until late, leading four scoring drives in the first three quarters to match Millersville's highest point total of the season. Shirk completed 22-of-33 passes for 228 yards, 157 of which came in the first half, giving him two 200-yard passing performances in his three starts this season.

Benefiting from Shirk's accuracy was senior wide receiver Andy Tischbein, who hauled in eight catches for 111 yards--his first 100-yard receiving effort since 2006. Brad Lantz was impressive early, rushing for 51 yards on 12 carries and catching five passes for 75 yards, but was forced to exit the game in the third quarter because of injury and was not able to return.

Lantz's absence obviously slowed the Marauder offense as it was unable to match Bloomsburg's two-score fourth quarter run. Bloomsburg also had an answer for every Millersville comeback attempt.

The Millersville defense started strong, forcing a pair of three-and-outs to start the game. But Bloomsburg opened an early lead by playing opportunistic football. Justin Rivera forced a fumble on a first quarter punt, and Bloomsburg quickly turned the miscue into points. Running back Derrick Price took three rushes for 11 yards or more on the six-play, 63-yard drive to give Bloomsburg the game's first score with 2:30 left in the first quarter. On Millerville's next offensive play, Shirk's pass went off the hands of Tischbein and to a leaping Andre Ellis for an interception. Dan Latorre and the Huskies cashed in with a seven-play, 64-yard drive that concluded with a Ryan Barr eight-yard touchdown catch from LaTorre.

Millersville bounced back, though. Lantz took a swing pass from Shirk and turned it into a 23-yard touchdown catch on Millersville's first drive of the second period to cut the lead. But once again, Bloomsburg had an answer. Jesse Cooper took the ensuing kickoff 91 yards to build the lead back to two scores. Millersville knifed the lead back to seven after a 10-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 4:36. Freshman Matthew Booker scored the first of his career-high two touchdowns on a two-yard hook up with Shirk.

Bloomsburg nursed a 21-14 lead into halftime but scored on their opening drive of the third quarter. The Marauders countered with Booker's second TD of the day that came at the end of a seven-play, 60 yard drive. Yet once again, Bloomsburg's high-powered running game came through, as Kenny Domzalski built the lead back to 14 with a 63-yard TD run on the first play of the ensuing drive. The Marauders received a career-long 50-yard field goal from kicker John Banzhof to reduce the lead to 35-24 with 2:48 remaining but Bloomsburg would pull away from there, using its ground game to wind the clock and wear down the Marauder defense.

Millersville's 334 yards of total offense was its second-best toal of the season. It also won the time of possession battle for the first time since the season opener, controlling the ball for 32:42.

The Marauders will look to notch its first win of the 2008 campaign on Oct. 11 when they host Cheyney at Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1p.m. and the live game action can be heard online via MSBN.

QUICK NOTES
- Bloomsburg has now won nine-straight over Millersville dating back to 2000.
- After recording just three catches in the first three games, Andy Tischbein has 18 for 259 yards in the last three. Bill Shirk has started at quarterback in all three games.
- John Banzhof's third quarter, 50-yard field was a career-long and two-yards shy of tying the school record set by Barry Brunner in 1974 against Bloomsburg.Banzhof now has three field goals of 40 or more yards this season. His previous career-long was 42 yards against Slippery Rock on Sept. 8, 2007. Banzhof missed a 52-yard attempt in the second quarter of Saturday's game as well.
- Matthew Booker's second quarter touchdown catch was the first touchdown of his career.
- Ryan Knox and Thomas Wilmer combined on a sack, giving Millersville it's first quarterback sack since the opening game of the season at Bentley.
- Freshman Matt Egenreider's 43-yard kick return was the longest of his career and the second-longest of any Marauder this season.