MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville staged a furious second-half comeback, scoring 28 unanswered points, but Bloomsburg did just enough to hang on 38-35 in Saturday's wild PSAC East finale at Biemesderfer Stadium. 

Millersville trailed 38-7 late in the second quarter, but a Jack Stagaard to Christan Drayton touchdown pass as the first half clock expired jump-started the Millersville offense. The Marauders scored 21 second-half points, but the slow start, along with a missed field goal on the opening drive of the third quarter, and an interception thrown in the end zone with just over six minutes remaining proved too costly to overcome. 

Millersville scored a season-high in points and gained a season-high 410 yards of offense behind Stagaard's 25-of-37 passing for 304 yards and three touchdowns. Stagaard also ran in a touchdown and led the team with 81 yards on the ground. Drayton, Brian Richardson, Hakim Melvin and T'iar Young all caught touchdown passes. Young, a true freshman, made a pair of spectacular plays, including a leaping one-handed TD grab in the third quarter, and a 64-yard catch-and-run on a fourth-and-nine that kept Millersville's hopes alive in the final minutes. 

Bloomsburg's Kaleb Monaco rushed for 163 yards on 22 carries, and quarterback David LePoidevin completed 22-of-30 passes for 213 yards and four scores. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• After starting the game with points on its first six drives, Bloomsburg was limited to 67 yards on 29 plays in the second half. In the first half, a pair of Millersville turnovers--an interception at the Millersville 13 and a fumble on a kickoff return at the Millersville 35 led directly to a pair of short-field touchdowns for the Huskies. Bloomsburg totaled 31 points in the second quarter. 
• Down by 21 points with just one minute remaining in the first half, Millersville found success with Stagaard using his legs. He rushed for 34 yards on a pair of carries and connected with Young for a 22-yard gain. Young managed to get out of bounds at the Bloomsburg 13 with four seconds left. On the next snap, Stagaard hit Drayton in the front left corner to make the score 38-14 at the half. 
• On the first drive of the third quarter, Millersville picked up three first downs and pushed into the red zone. But with first-and-10 from the nine, the drive stalled, and a 24-yard field goal went wide right. A Bloomsburg three-and-out gave Millersville the ball back at the Bloomsburg 49, and a 12-play drive that spanned 5:48 ended when Young caught a fade pass from Stagaard, snagging the high throw with his right hand mid-leap and landing in-bounds. 
• The Millersville front caused some havoc on the next drive. Following a sack by Tyler Tate and Randy Okungu, Chase Alisauckas ripped the ball away from Monaco, and Rafael Lozada recovered the fumble at the Bloomsburg 15. It took Millersville just one play to find the end zone as Stagaard dropped a perfectly-placed pass into the back left corner for Melvin. 
• The teams traded punts, and with 10:43 left in the game, Millersville took over at its own 8. Stagaard completed six of his first seven passes and rushed twice for 10 yards to put Millersville first-and-goal at the Bloomsburg three. Timmy Smith picked up two on first down but was stuffed for a loss on second. On third down, Stagaard scrambled to his right and tried to squeeze a pass into the right corner of the end zone, but Nate Capers stepped in front of the intended receiver for the INT. 
• Bloomsburg went backward on its three succeeding offensive snaps, but a 71-yard punt flipped field position, and Millersville started its drive at its own 11, trailing 38-27 with 4:43 to play. Millersville managed a first down but faced a fourth-and-nine from its 21-yard line. That's when Stagaard found Young down the Millersville sideline. Young broke a pair of tackles and was finally chased out of bounds at the Bloomsburg 15. Stagaard rolled to his left and scrambled in on first down, and he connected with Drayton for a two-point conversion to make it a three-point game with 2:16 left. 
• With two timeouts remaining, Millersville could stop the clock enough to get the ball back but needed a three-and-out. The Marauders put Bloomsburg in a third-and-11 at the Huskies' 24-yard line, but instead of running the ball, Bloomsburg called a play-action pass. LePoidevin floated a pass to Mike Langley over the Millersville defense for a 38-yard gain. That put the Huskies in position to kill the clock. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville scored more points in the final three quarters than it had in any other game this season. 
• Stagaard's four touchdown passes were the most by a Marauder since Collin Shank threw five against Lock Haven in 2019. 
• Bloomsburg converted 9-of-15 third downs while Millersville converted just 3-of-12. Bloomsburg also went 5-for-5 in the red zone, while Millersville went 5-for-7. 
• Alisauckas recorded 1 1/2 sacks, 2 1/2 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Okungu was in one two half-sacks, and Tate's half-sack boosted his season total to 10. He becomes the first Marauder with 10 sacks in a season since 1999. 

UP NEXT
• Millersville closes its 2021 season Saturday, Nov. 13 against Edinboro. Kickoff is at 12 p.m.