2002 Warrior Football

Brubaker Field Goal Lifts Warriors Past Bloomsburg on Gridiron

October 5, 2002

Bloomsburg, Pa -- Mark Brubaker connected on a 38-yard field goal with 50 seconds remaining to give East Stroudsburg a 16-13 victory over 20th-ranked Bloomsburg Saturday afternoon. It was the Warriors first win at Bloomsburg since 1990 to break a four-game losing streak at Redman Stadium and the first victory over the Huskies since 1993.

ESU improved to 4-1 on the year and more importantly 2-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division. Bloomsburg dropped to 3-2 and now 0-1 in the league.

As the game was tied 13-13 late in the fourth quarter, the ESU defense held on a fourth and one from the Warrior 39-yard line when running back Julius Brown fell in the back field for a two-yard loss to give the ball over on downs. Quarterback Jeremy Palm then directed the team 38 yards with the key play of the nine play drive coming when he scampered for 17 yards from the Huskies' 45 to their 28-yard line. He hit John Jeffries two plays later for seven yards but was all the closer the Warriors could get to set up what would be the game-winning field goal by Brubaker.

Cornerbacks Nick Beisker and Michael Glover were the defensive standouts for the Warriors on the day. The pair each had two key interceptions and forced and recovered a fumble. Glover's pair of picks came in the second half. His first came in the middle of the third quarter and returned it 23 yards to the Bloom 12-yard line where the ESU offense tied the game at 13-13 four plays later on an A.J. Oliveri one-yard plunge.

Bloomsburg's quarterback Andrew Herrmann found Rocco Forgione down to the ESU 20-yard line where Beisker stripped the ball and Glover pounced on it to thwart another Huskies' drive. Then Glover came up with his second interception on Bloomsburg's next possession. He leaped up and snapped the pass out of the air one handed at the ESU three-yard line. Beisker added his second interception after ESU went ahead 16-13 in the contest. On Bloom's first play, Beisker pulled in the Herrmann pass at the Bloom 47-yard line to ice the game.

ESU was first on the board in the opening quarter at 4:05 on an Anthony Carfagno one-yard run to cap off a 56-yard 13-play drive for a 6-0 lead after the point after attempt missed. The game remained 6-0 until Julius Brown ran in from two yards for Bloomsburg on an eight-play 88-yard drive for the halftime score of 7-6.

The Huskies extended their lead to 13-6 on the opening possession of the second half. It only took four plays to cover 62 yards when Herrmann hit Forgione from 17 yards to make it 13-6.

Linebackers Ryan Vermillion and Phil DeCecco each recorded 10 tackles apiece to top out in stops while defensive end Greg Thoman had two tackles for loss and four tackles.
Freshman punter Ken Parrish had a great day with a 42.2 yard average. He put his first two punts inside the Bloom 20-yard line in the first half and then booted punts of 52 and 57 yards in the fourth quarter to get ESU out of deep in their own territory.

Palm threw for 209 yards with Craig Mahon having two catches for 72 yards and Jeffries five for 68 yards.

The Warriors return home next Saturday to host Cheyney University at 1:05 p.m. for Family Day.