SELINSGROVE, PA - With the disparity in points at Selinsgrove Saturday afternoon, it's almost hard to believe that the #4/5 Susquehanna University football team needed to overcome an early 10-0 deficit to Bridgewater. Alas the River Hawks had their work cut out for them as a few early miscues led to the Eagles swooping in on a 10-0 lead, capitalized by a 61-yard touchdown reception for the two-possession lead at the end of the first quarter. Susquehanna proceeded to drop the next 28 points and piled on four fourth-quarter touchdowns to brush off Bridgewater for the third straight year by a 56-17 score, their largest margin of victory over them in that span. Susquehanna pushes it moniker in 2-0 ahead of its much-anticipated matchup against third-ranked Johns Hopkins next Saturday at 1 p.m.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Bridgewater 3, Susquehanna 0 - Both teams exchanged scoreless possessions in the beginning. The Eagles were set to punt on their opening drive. After it nearly getting blocked, it went in and out of the hands of returner Dominic Winn, which was pounced on by the Eagles at the 50. After a penalty-laced drive got as close as the SU one yard line and ended up at the SU 6, kicker Augustin Miguel provided the first points of the game with 5:01 left in the first.Â
- Bridgewater 10, Susquehanna 0 - The River Hawks' ensuing drive failed to take off. With the Eagles taking over at their own 35, quarterback Jaicere Bateman found Ian Browne down the sideline for a 61-yard connection and a key 10-0 lead after one quarter.
- Susquehanna 7, Bridgewater 10 - The tide began to turn as naturally as the first quarter turning over into the second. The River Hawks opened the quarter with a convincing drive that led them to Bridgewater's one yard line, with quarterback Josh Ehrlich throwing a fade to the back right corner of the endzone that young receiver Carter McCauley hauled in for his first career touchdown with 9:30 to go in the first half.Â
- Susquehanna 14, Bridgewater 10 - The winds of change continued to swirl in Susquehanna's favor as the defense played a part in the go-ahead score. With Bridgewater stuffed on 3rd and 1 at its own 34, the Eagles went for it on fourth down. It proved to be costly as defensive tackle Brian Layton shut down running back Brandon Robinson to turn it over on downs. Susquehanna took advantage of the short field with another one-yard touchdown, this time from Ehrlich on a QB sneak with 3:37 left in the half.
- Susquehanna 21, Bridgewater 10 - The defense again offered the River Hawks another scoring opportunity before the end of the first half. Bateman's pass over the middle was deflected and intercepted by Ben Fleming to set Susquehanna up at Bridgewater's 40. Ehrlich connected with Robert Stolfa, who caught a pass at the five yard line and dove for the endzone with 1:16 remaining .Â
- Susquehanna 28, Bridgewater 10 - Susquehanna's only score of the third quarter came on its first drive of the second half. At the Bridgewater 13, Ehrlich found running back Drew Hutchins in the flat, who broke a tackle and found an open path to the endzone with 8:05 left in the third.
- Susquehanna 28, Bridgewater 17 - Bateman ran in a seven-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 11 before the end of the third quarter.
- Susquehanna 35, Bridgewater 17 - The River Hawks left nothing to chance in the fourth quarter as they delivered four touchdowns in the final frame to cruise to a convincing victory. The first came from running back Matt Surtz, who torched the Eagles for a 38-yard touchdown run in what was at that time the longest run from scrimmage for the day for Susquehanna.Â
- Susquehanna 42, Bridgewater 17 - Ehrlich found Stolfa again with another endzone strike as number seven got a step ahead of his coverage and caught an 18-yard delivery for a 25-point lead with 11:03 remaining.
- Susquehanna 49, Bridgewater 17 - The youth movement for Susquehanna was in full effect as the next touchdown came from back Aaron Angelo. He bested Surtz's scoring length with a 44-yard romp just one minute after the team's previous touchdown with 10:03 to go.
- Susquehanna 56, Bridgewater 17 - Aaron Angelo closed up business with another scoring run, this time from four yards out with 4:03 to play.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Josh Ehrlich made up for lost time after not throwing a touchdown in Week 1 against Union by throwing for four against the Eagles. He connected on 21-of-29 for 188 yards, officially putting him over 5,000 career passing yards as a River Hawk, the fifth person ever at Susquehanna to reach the mark. He also reached 50 career passing touchdowns, the fourth Susquehanna QB ever to do so.
- The ground game was again at its menacing best, netting 325 yards. Angelo led with 92 yards on six carries, with Hutchins covering 86 yards on 15 carries. Ehrlich ran for 74 yards on 15 keepers, while Surtz ran for 73 yards in his season debut on six carries.
- 12 receivers touched the ball for Susquehanna for 232 yards between Ehrlich's 188 yards passing and backup Tommy Wright's 4-for-5 day on passing for 44 yards. Hunter Morgenroth led with 70 receiving yards on five catches, while Stolfa had six catches for 49 yards.
- Reigning Landmark Specialist of the Week Dominic Bourgeois connected on all eight of his extra point tries. He kicked off eight times for 498 yards with two touchbacks and punted three times for 113 yards. Chris DeGroote kicked off once for 49 yards late in the game.
- Linebacker Steven Seibert led with six tackles, while Brennen Miller led with four solo tackles. Galen Limantour had 1.5 tackles for loss for two yards. Fleming's interception was the defense's lone takeaway for the game as Bridgewater's offense was held to just 190 yards of total offense between 33 rushing yards and 157 yards.
- Susquehanna led Bridgewater in nearly every offensive category, including 30 first downs to the Eagles' nine. SU nearly outgained BC 3-to-1 in total offense at 557-190 margin, including a 325-33 lead in rushing yards and 232-157 in passing. The River Hawks had 36:12 of possession time and converted 13-of-16 third downs to the Eagles' 3-of-14.Â