Bloomsburg handles Wildcat gridders, 42-21

BLOOMSBURG, PA – No one was sure what the outcome would be Friday night when two 0-1 teams met at Bloomsburg’s Panther Stadium. But the Panthers’ handful of returning skill players proved too much for an inexperienced Central Mountain defense, Bloomsburg piling up big yardage on the way to a 42-21 win.

The teams traded early touchdowns, each scoring on their initial possession: Bloom went 75 yards for a score, the Wildcats answering with a 63-yard drive, quarterback Brady Myers with a 4-yard run for a touchdown. Peyton Jones’ extra point tied things at 7-7.

But Bloomsburg put up three touchdowns in the second quarter to open a 28-7 lead and maintained a double-digit margin for the remainder of the night. The Wildcats were able to cut the margin to 28-13  in period three after a Bloom high snap on a punt attempt gave CM the ball at the home team’s 6-yard line; sophomore Jake Weaver scored from six yards out but the 28-13 score would be as close as the Wildcats got. The Wildcats did pick up eight fourth quarter points on a Tom Sprague to Dominic Longworth 15-yard touchdown pass, followed by a Sprague to Kevin Grenninger pass for a 2-point conversion. That cut the score to 35-21 but Bloom tacked on a final seven points late in the game to wrap up the scoring.

The Central Mountain defense struggled throughout the contest stopping the Panthers’ running back tandem of senior Madden Locke and sophomore Blake Zeisloft; they finished with 219 yards from Locke and 113 from Zeisloft. Locke finished with four touchdowns, Zeisloft with three. Senior quarterback Liam Zentner added 96 yards passing on six completions on 12 attempts.

Central Mountain meanwhile struggled offensively. Rocco Serafini led the ground game with 31 yards on seven carries while Weaver finished with two rushes for seven yards. Starting quarterback Myers completed 8-of-12 passes for 78 yards and one interception; he also intercepted one Bloom pass. Backup Sprague went 5-for-7 for 118 yards.

Mack Saar picked up two of the four Wildcat sacks.

The Wildcats, now 0-2, will try to regroup next Friday, Sept. 9, when they host winless Shikellamy; the Braves lost Friday night by a 35-13 score to Mifflin County (2-0). The Huskies had defeated Central Mountain by a 14-7 score last.

CM   7 0 6 8 = 21

Bl   7 21 0 14 = 42