BLOOMSBURG – The Bloomsburg Panthers scored just seven points in a disappointing seven-point loss to Danville in Week 1 before being blown out by perennial state power Southern Columbia last week. So, the Panthers may have had some frustration build up due to not only the way they lost those first two games, but also due to their inability to score consistently.
To try to give his team a spark, head coach Kevin Seabrook decided to change some things up on special teams for his team’s Week 3 game, all while his offense continued to learn and pick up the new system that was installed this year – Seabrook’s first as the permanent coach after taking over as interim midway through last year.
“We made some changes on special teams and instead of having just one returner back on punts we went to two with Hunter Coulter to give us some more speed and it worked out pretty well and on kickoffs as well,” said Seabrook. “I said ‘we have to use our best guys back there’ and Hunter is definitely one of them. ”
To say it worked out pretty well on Friday against Warrior Run would be an understatement. Coulter returned a punt for a touchdown – one of three punts returned for kickoffs by the Panthers – and also had a kickoff return for a touchdown to go along with three rushing touchdowns, as Bloomsburg dominated Warrior Run, 62-6 to pick up its first win of the year.
“We’ve been working on the offense for the first two weeks and the kids are just perfecting it right now,” said Seabrook. “It’s a new offense for them but they’re doing an excellent job with it.”
Coulter finished with 97 rushing yards on just five carries for an average of nearly 20 yards per carry, and also added 107 return yards for 204 all-purpose yards.
“They won this in January. They committed themselves in the offseason and I told my team if they don’t commit themselves in the offseason, they aren’t going to be able to compete with team like that,” said Warrior Run coach D.J. Flick. “They were faster, stronger and wanted it more.”
Osiris Hemphill, the other returner Seabrook also put back to return punts, ran back two punts for touchdowns. While he and Coulter dominated offense and special teams for Bloomsburg, the Panther defense was equally as dominating. It held the Defenders to just 116 yards of offense, including just 15 yards on the ground. Bloomsburg recorded 10 sacks on the evening, and had 17 plays go for negative yardage for Warrior Run.
“They just executed and wanted it bad. I think they had a lot of frustration after the first two weeks and really wanted a win tonight,” said Seabrook. “They did an excellent job of executing the offense and playing tough defense.
“Our defensive line is undersized but they’re so fast and quick. They’re hungry and really look for the ball. Joe Zola did a great job coming off the edge. We sent Mitch Reed on a couple of blitzes and he got the quarterback a few times as well. Overall, our defense just has a nose for the ball.”
It was Coulter that had a nose for the end zone all night, however. He capped Bloomsburg’s first drive with a five-yard run just over a minute into the game after Eric Foust caught a 43-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage and then two plays later picked up 35 yards on an end-around. Cooper Thrush ran in a two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Coulter then ripped off a 64-yard run on Bloomsburg’s next possession to put it up 15-0. Warrior Run punted on its ensuing possession and Hemphill weaved through traffic and then used his speed to finish off a 61-yard punt return to make it 22-0.
Coulter got this third rushing touchdown of the night late in the second quarter on an 18-yard run that capped a 39-yard drive that took just four plays.
Warrior Run scored its only touchdown of the game with just :34 left in the half as it capped an impressive 14-play, 73-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Denver Beachel to Ty Kirkner. Beachel replaced starter Gage Anzulavich under center late in the first half.
“We were trying to get a spark and Denver got in there and played pretty well in that last series and was able to get us that touchdown,” said Flick. “We knew Gage could catch the ball and we wanted to hopefully feed off that momentum going into the second half.”
As quickly as Warrior Run was able to get on the scoreboard, though, Bloomsburg made sure there wouldn’t be any momentum for the Defenders, as Coulter took a squib kick at the 18-yard line and returned it 82 yards to give Bloomsburg a 35-6 lead at the half.
An interception by Aiden Klinger on Warrior Run’s first play from scrimmage of the third quarter gave Bloomsburg outstanding field position at the Warrior Run 43 and two plays after ripping off a 38-yard run, Zola punched it in from five yards out to put the game into mercy rule territory, 42-6.
Coulter returned a punt that the Defenders kicked out of their end zone 25 yards on Warrior Run’s ensuing possession for his fifth trip to the end zone of the game.
The Panthers added another touchdown late in the third quarter on Gage Klinger’s 32-yard touchdown run, and then early in the fourth, Hemphill notched his second punt return score of the night to cap the scoring on the evening.
Bloomsburg 62, Warrior Run 6
Warrior Run (1-2) 0 6 0 0 – 6
Bloomsburg (1-2) 22 13 20 7 – 62
First quarter
10:49 – (B) Hunter Coulter 5-yard run (Cooper Thrush run), 4-86, 1:11
4:39 – (B) Hunter Coulter 64-yard run (Kiernan Harmon kick), 5-80, 2:22
2:20 – (B) Osiris Hemphill 61-yard punt return (Kiernan Harmon kick)
Second quarter
4:06 – (B) Hunter Coulter 18-yard run (Kiernan Harmon kick), 4-61, 1:52
:34 – (WR) Ty Kirkner 8-yard pass from Denver Beachel (run failed), 14-73, 3:32
:19 – (B) Hunter Coulter 82-yard kickoff return (run failed)
Third quarter
10:44 – (B) Joe Zola 5-yard run (Kiernan Harmon kick), 3-43, 1:05
7:52 – (B) Hunter Coulter 25-yard punt return (kick failed)
:38 – (B) Gage Klinger 32-yard run (Kiernan Harmon kick), 6-74, 3:18
Fourth quarter
10:27 – (B) Osiris Hemphill 30-yard punt return (Kiernan Harmon kick)
Statistics
WR B
First downs 12 16
Rushes-net yards 35-15 33-320
Passing yardage 101 66
Passing 7-21-1-2 3-5-0-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-41 6-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Warrior Run: Forrest Seybold (13-78), Gage Anzulavich (9-(-24), Ethan Litchard (7-4), Denver Beachel (3-(-29)), Tyler Pick (2-(-9)), Nathan Michael (1-(-5)); Bloomsburg: Joe Zola (8-70-1), Hunter Coulter (5-97-3), Jack Malatesta (4-31), Colby Kashner (3-28), TEAM (3-(-3)), Eric Foust (2-30), Cooper Thrush (2-3), Dylan Smith (2-(-2)), Gage Klinger (1-32-1), Tyson McGill (1-21), Nick Anderson (1-8), Darius Green (1-5)
PASSING: Warrior Run: Gage Anzulavich (3-12-35-0-0), Denver Beachel (4-6-66-1-1), Tyler Pick (0-3-0-0-1); Bloomsburg: Nick Anderson (3-5-66-0-0)
RECEIVING: Warrior Run: Ty Kirkner (2-25-1), Ahmahd Keyes (2-57), Forrest Seybold (2-18), Isaiah Derr (1-4); Bloomsburg: Eric Foust (1-43), Jake Frye (1-15), Jack Malatesta (1-8)
