BRIDGEWATER, VA – While Susquehanna football had plenty of offense with an evenly-balanced attack, the special teams made three big plays on punts to make it an even more sizable 51-19 win at Bridgewater Saturday in their season opener. The win puts Susquehanna at 1-0 on the year and ups its regular season win streak to 12 games dating back to 2021. They also picked up their sixth straight season-opening win dating back to 2017. 

The first score of the day came from newly-installed starting quarterback Josh Ehrlich finding downfield threat Kyle Howes for 42 yards across the middle to take a 7-0 lead with 8:34 to go in the first. Bridgewater's ensuing drive showed the first glimpse into the special teams' ability to rise to the occasion. A punt by Bridgewater back on their own 24 yard line resulted in the ball being snapped through the back of the endzone for a safety to go up 9-0. The River Hawks' following possession had them starting on Bridgewater's 42 yard line, taking them only five plays to convert into points when Tommy Grabowski punched it in from five yards for the first rushing touchdown of the season and a 16-0 lead with 4:00 left in the first. The Eagles gained some ground when quarterback Malcolm Anderson found Ian Browne for a 55-yard touchdown to finish the first quarter with a 16-7 margin.

Though running back Matt Surtz put Susquehanna's lead back up to 16 with a four-yard run to go up 23-7, Bridgewater got a big opportunity when a River Hawks punt was also snapped through the back of the endzone to make it a two-touchdown game. On the ensuing kickoff, return man Brendan Robinson took it back 82 yards for a 23-16 game. With less than two minutes before the half, Bridgewater was set to punt, but a low snap sent punter Alex Sorozano to field the ball, which got knocked out of his hands by Andrew Wells and scooped up by Josh Lesesne for a touchdown, making the halftime score 30-16.

Susquehanna began to pull away halfway through the third as Ehrlich again went to the air, finding Rowen Hershey for the 14-yard score, capping off a 12-play drive that took 6:17. Bridgewater's only response in the second half was a field goal on the ensuing drive. Susquehanna's next possession ended in running back Matt Surtz going 12 yards to paydirt to take a 44-19 lead into the fourth quarter. In an otherwise conservative fourth quarter, the Susky special teams spiced things up with a blocked punt for the last score of the day. Wells came undetected from the left to get a hand on the punt and sending it straight up for Josh Lesesne to snatch it out of the air and run 44 yards down the right side.

The starting debut of Ehrlich was a successful one, completing 19-of-24 for 186 yards and two touchdowns, earning him a 171.8 quarterback rating. He also ran for a team-best 76 yards on 12 rushes, with his longest going for 29 yards. Howes caught six passes for 92 yards with one touchdown, giving him 968 career receiving yards to get closer to the 1,000-yard mark, as slot man Warren Griffith caught five for 45 yards. Surtz and Grabowski equally divvied up the bulk of the carries with ten apiece as Surtz ran for 50 yards and Grabowski 36. The turnover sheet was clean for both offenses.
On the other side of the ball Jake Schultes tied for a team-best five tackles, including two solo with one for loss and one sack. Garrett Carter, Josh Lesesne, and Alex Hacker all had five tackles, while Josh Parson had the team's one other sack and totaled three tackles, including one tackle for loss.

Susquehanna held onto the ball for 34:52, moving the chains 22 times and converting of 6-of-12 third down conversions to the Eagles' 1-of-12. Susky's fourth-down efficiency was 2-for-4 compared to 1-of-4 for Bridgewater. The Maroon and Orange amassed 359 total yards between 204 passing yards and 155 rushing yards. Bridgewater converted 11 first downs and totaled 279 yards in 182 passing yards and 95 rushing yards. The Eagles were forced to punt four times compared to just two for the River Hawks.

Next week sees Susquehanna traveling up to the Rochester area for a Saturday big noon matchup at Brockport.

Facebook: susquehanna.riverhawks | Instagram: @gosusqu
Twitter: @GOsusqU | Hashtags: #AllIn, #GOSU, #RiverHawkPride