Bloomsburg, Pa. – The Mercyhurst football team fumbled the ball six times, losing three of those loose balls, as No. 11 Bloomsburg shut out the Lakers 24-0 Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover action.

 

The Lakers had opportunities, especially in the first half, to give Bloomsburg a scare but Mercyhurst's drives stalled because of fumbles and failed fourth down attempts. The Huskies continued to run the ball at will, posting 334 yards on the ground. Bloomsburg entered the contest as the fourth best rushing offense in all of Division II.

 

Despite those difficulties, Mercyhurst had a chance to change the entire complexion of the game on the Lakers' first drive of the game. Quarterback Garrett Kensy found fullback Dave Stallard for 33 yards to the Bloomsburg 40 yard line on the first play of the game. After a one-yard Richard Stokes rush, Kensy hit Stokes for a 17-yard pass to the 22 yard line. Stokes had carries of 13 yards and seven yards to get to the Bloomsburg two-yard line. Kensy's third-down pass attempt to Mitch Lorig fell incomplete and head coach Marty Schaetzle opted to try for the touchdown on fourth down. The Lakers fumbled the snap and were never able to run the play as the threat ended.

 

Bloomsburg began to assert itself with the running game on the Huskies' first possession, pounding the ball down to Mercyhurst's 28-yard line. But the drive stalled out and Dan Latorre's fourth-down pass fell incomplete to keep the game scoreless.

 

The teams continued to battle for control of the game until midway through the second period when Bloomsburg scored on back-to-back possessions. Latorre found Kenny Domzalski on a 43-yard touchdown strike with 6:16 remaining in the first half but the Lakers came right back and drove to the Bloomsburg 26 yard line. On first down, Kensy was hit by Jon Ochs, who forced a fumble and the Huskies recovered.

 

It took just three plays for Bloomsburg to punch it back in the end zone as Latorre scored on a two-yard plunge with 1:45 remaining in the first half.

 

Mercyhurst's first drive of the third quarter was stopped when Richard Stokes took a three-yard loss on fourth-and-one at the Bloomsburg 21 yard line and the Huskies later picked up a field goal to make it 17-0. On the Lakers next drive, Mercyhurst drove to midfield before a fumble gave the ball back to Bloomsburg again. The Huskies picked up one more touchdown in the fourth quarter on a Latorre 15-yard rush to ice the contest.

 

Bloomsburg finished the game with 490 yards of total offense and 23 first downs. The Lakers compiled just 222 total yards and 11 first downs. Mercyhurst also had just 26:31 in time of possession after leading the country in that category through the first two weeks of the season.

 

Individually, Kensy was 14-of-24 for 184 yards and no interceptions. Stallard led the team with five catches and tight end Josh Szeluga had a team high 61 receiving yards. Stokes had 11 carries for a team-high 40 yards rushing. Defensively, Bryan Boyce led the team with nine tackles and had two sacks and a forced fumble.

 

Bloomsburg improves to 3-0 on the season and Mercyhurst falls to 1-2. The Lakers will open PSAC West play with their 2008 home opener Saturday against Clarion at 1:00 p.m.