BLOOMSBURG – It’s been a while since Warrior Run last started a football season 4-0. So long, in fact, that available records don’t go back that far. What is known for sure, however, is that the Defenders haven’t started 4-0 in at least the last 20 years.
However long that may be beyond the last two decades will remain unknown for the time being, but Warrior Run is living in the present. Thanks to a three-touchdown fourth quarter, the Defenders broke open a close game and finally put away pesky Bloomsburg to walk out of Panther Stadium with a 38-24 win and notch a 4-0 start to the season.
“Someone said maybe the 1950s, or maybe in the 1980s, some people were asking around last week, but whenever it was, it says a lot about our team, our community, our coaches, our players and the buy-in and commitment and the hard work that’s been put in,” said Warrior Run coach Derrick Zechman. “It’s not happening by mistake. We stress winning the week. We can’t look to next week, we have to take care of the business in front of us and we were able to do that tonight in the second half.”
Not only does it mark the first 4-0 start in a long time for Warrior Run, but this is just the fourth time since 2004 that a Defender squad has managed to win as many as four consecutive games during the season, but also the second straight year, as Warrior Run won five in a row at one point in 2023.
The Defenders will have a chance to equal that next week, thanks to a 367-yard offensive outburst in the second half. The difference in the second half, and in particular the fourth quarter for Warrior Run, was largely due to senior wide receiver Samuel Hall. After Bloomsburg held Warrior Run to just 100 yards in the first half, Hall made seven catches for 154 yards in the second half alone, and for the game finished with 10 receptions for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both of which came in the fourth quarter.
Hall’s 20-yard touchdown with 7:12 remaining in the fourth extended Warrior Run’s lead to 31-21, the first two-possession lead the Defenders had all night. Hall caught James Keifer’s pass on a crossing route, took a hard hit to the midsection but bounced off it, and then went around the corner and into the end zone.
After Bloomsburg got a 28-yard field goal by Justin Pegg with 3:57 remaining to cut the lead to 31-24, Warrior Run needed to run some clock down, but were faced with a third-and-7 from its own 23 following a penalty. Rather than run the ball again only for Bloomsburg to call its last timeout, Keifer instead went for the knockout blow, and found Hall down the right sideline for a breakaway 77-yard touchdown pass that effectively clinched the win.
“There were some plays we didn’t finish, we still made some really nice plays and it was a hard-fought game,” said Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut. “We knew their talent level and that they came in undefeated, and they executed and made some big plays on third and long, and Sam Hall is a heck of a player. I’ve been impressed with him since day one of seeing him in a uniform.”
Hall also notched a pair of interceptions on the night, and those two returns combined with his punt return yardage gave him a total of 257 all-purpose yards on the night.
But Warrior Run started slowly. A 61-yard touchdown pass from James Keifer to Eli Butler in which Keifer hit Butler in stride down the right sideline gave the Defenders a 6-0 lead early on but that accounted for more than half of their offense in the first half.
Bloomsburg answered right back as it put together a 13-play, 87-yard drive capped by a 18-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Brosious to Dominick Rosini with 2:28 left in the first quarter. That drive could have been a three-and-out but it was extended by a roughing the passer penalty, and the Panthers capitalized.
The Panthers extended that lead to 14-6 midway through the second quarter when Jharee Moore-Stewart capped a five-play drive with a one-yard touchdown run on a direct snap. A 42-yard reception by Jack Katulis flipped the field on that drive.
But Warrior Run got a 30-yard field goal by Gavin Hunter just before halftime to cut the lead to 14-9, and then, following some halftime adjustments, the Defenders’ air attack came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, Warrior Run would finish the game with 406 passing yards on the night.
“It started up front, they were winning the line of scrimmage in the first half. Our longest rushing play was three yards so we started running the ball a little more, which opened up our passing,” said Zechman. “We had a wake-up call. Bloomsburg is a heck of a team and their record doesn’t show how good they are. They are a matchup nightmare on defense. But we got the ball to our playmakers in the second half and we responded, which was huge and I’m super proud of our team. Our defense played phenomenal in the second half.”
“I thought we dictated the momentum in the first half and then they came out and made some things happen in the second half. We didn’t score right away and then they put one up, but we kept fighting and fought to the end so I’m really proud of our kids, but we had some missed opportunities on the board there,” said Kogut.
On Warrior Run’s second offensive play of the second half, after they stopped Bloomsburg three-and-out, Keifer found Stone Allison down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown pass, giving Warrior Run a 17-14 lead. Keifer completed 15-of-28 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns on the night.
Hall’s interception of Wyatt Brosious at the Warrior Run 5-yard line with 3:27 left in the third quarter stopped a Panther drive in plus territory.
Keifer tossed an ill-advised pass under pressure on Warrior Run’s ensuing drive, and that pass was picked off by Jack Katulis and returned 35 yards for a touchdown to put Bloomsburg back up 21-17 at the end of the third quarter.
But Warrior Run would grab the lead back to good on its next drive, as Cohen Zechman took a pitch from Keifer in the backfield and then pulled up and tossed a pass to Butler, who caught it in between a pair of Bloomsburg defenders, managed to elude both of them, and go 74 yards for a touchdown for his second score of the night to give the Defenders the lead back for good at 24-21 just :12 into the fourth quarter, setting the stage for Hall’s exploits later in the fourth quarter.
Warrior Run 38, Bloomsburg 24
Warrior Run (4-0) 6 3 8 21 – 38
Bloomsburg (1-3) 7 7 7 3 – 24
First quarter
8:12 – (WR) Eli Butler 61-yard pass from James Keifer (kick blocked), 1-61, :10
2:28 – (B) Dominick Rosini 18-yard pass from Wyatt Brosious (Pegg kick), 13-87, 5:44
Second quarter
6:40 – (B) Jharee Moore-Stewart 1-yard run (Pegg kick), 5-56, 2:21
:02 – (WR) Gavin Hunter 30-yard field goal, 6-11, 2:31
Third quarter
10:37 – (WR) Stone Allison 80-yard pass from James Keifer (Keifer run), 2-80, :18
:07 – (B) Jack Katulis 35-yard interception return (Pegg kick)
Fourth quarter
11:48 – (WR) Eli Butler 74-yard pass from Cohen Zechman (Hunter kick), 2-80, :19
7:12 – (WR) Samuel Hall 20-yard pass from James Keifer (Hunter kick), 8-39, 3:16
3:57 – (B) Justin Pegg 28-yard field goal, 10-64, 3:15
2:21 – (WR) Samuel Hall 77-yard pass from James Keifer (Hunter kick), 3-80, 1:36
Statistics
WR B
First downs 14 17
Rushes-net yards 24-61 27-89
Passing yardage 406 209
Passing 16-29-5-1 14-30-1-2
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-67 10-75
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Warrior Run: Colby LeBarron (14-32), James Keifer (4-6), Stone Allison (3-13), Eli Butler (2-8), Samuel Hall (1-2); Bloomsburg: Jharee Moore-Stewart (14-55-1), Wyatt Brosious (13-34)
PASSING: Warrior Run: James Keifer (15-28-332-4-1), Cohen Zechman (1-1-74-1-0); Bloomsburg: Wyatt Brosious (14-30-209-1-2)
RECEIVING: Warrior Run: Samuel Hall (10-162-2), Eli Butler (3-145-2), Stone Allison (1-80-1), Tyler Ulrich (1-15), Cohen Zechman (1-4); Bloomsburg: Jack Katulis (4-81), Dominick Rosini (4-45-1), Jharee Moore-Stewart (3-25), Krue Wheadon (2-28), Julius Serrano (1-30)
