BLOOMSBURG – Wyatt Brosious spent a lot of time in Bloomsburg High School’s weight room over the offseason preparing for his senior season. And it’s in games like Friday’s where that hard work is paying off.
Brosious, all of 5’9, 180 pounds, ran for 199 yards on 27 carries and threw for 176 yards on 15-of-25 passing against Lewisburg, and accounted for four of Bloomsburg’s five touchdowns against the Green Dragons, leading the Panthers to a 35-24 win over Lewisburg.
Bloomsburg ran a total of 69 offensive plays, so Brosious’s rush or pass on 52 of those means he was the focal point for over 75 percent of the Panthers’ plays on Friday.
“It all starts with Wyatt, he is the catalyst for us with everything we do,” said Bloomsburg coach Mike Kogut. “He’s an unbelievable talent and he continues to amaze me. We wanted to put the ball in his hands in the second half and we ran it with probably a little bit more than they expected and our receivers made catches when they needed to.
“You have to give them credit for coming back swinging after we scored twice and going up at halftime, but I challenged our guys at halftime and said ‘if you want to be a great football team, you have to be able to deal with adversity and that breeds character and you have to step up.’ And they stepped up.”
“He was explosive, he’s been good since his freshman year,” said Lewisburg coach Eric Wicks. “He’s a guy that can make plays with his feet and his arm, and he makes his team good.”
The win improves the Panthers to 3-0, and gives Bloomsburg its first 3-0 start to a season since 2011. And it sets up an intriguing Week 4 game next Friday against another 3-0 team in Warrior Run, last year’s District 4 Class 2A runner-up.
It was all about Brosious in the second half as he rallied his team back after the Panthers had coughed up a two-score lead in the first half.
After Jharee Moore-Stewart’s one-yard touchdown gave the Panthers a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter, Lewisburg’s Nick Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-6.
Bloomsburg would then turn the ball over on downs on its next two drives and theN punted on its final first half possession. Lewisburg would take advantage as Xavier Carter hit a leaping Jaylen Walker in a crowded end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass from at the 1:34 mark of the second quarter to cut Bloomburg’s lead to 14-12 and cap an eight-play, 69-yard drive.
After a three-and-out by Bloomsburg, the Green Dragons got a 22-yard punt return by Coleman and took over at their own 46 with under a minute to play in the half.
From there, Carter capped a five-play, 54-yard drive by scrambling into the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first half to give Lewisburg its only lead of the game, 18-14, heading into halftime.
“They’re high school kids so maybe they got a little comfortable with the lead, but Lewisburg made some plays, too. The kickoff return was a big momentum shift and that changed the complexion of the game a little bit in the first half,” said Kogut. “That’s why I’m so proud of my team. They had the momentum and we stopped it early in the second half.”
For as great as Brosious was, Carter had a great game under center as well. He completed 17-of-30 passes for 159 yards and a pair of touchdowns – both to Walker, who finished with seven catches for 79 yards.
The Green Dragons received the second half kickoff and managed a single first down on their first drive but were forced to punt. From there, they had a difficult time containing Brosious for the remainder of the game.
Brosious engineered a seven-play, 73-yard drive in just under three minutes that ended with a 15-yard touchdown run.
After a three-and-out by Lewisburg, Brosious and the Panthers put together an eight-play, 55-yard drive capped by a 17-yard touchdown run by Brosious.
After Lewisburg cut the lead to 28-24 with their only second half touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Brosious and the Panthers put together what turned out to be a game-clinching drive as they went 70 yards in 12 plays over 7:00, featuring six first downs and an eight-yard Brosious touchdown run.
The Panthers were 4-for-4 on third down conversions in the second half, excluding a kneel down on the final play of the game. Bloomsburg ran 30 offensive plays to just 17 for Lewisburg in the second half following Lewisburg’s initial drive. Aside from Lewisburg’s one scoring drive in the second half, the Green Dragons managed just 30 additional yards in the second half.
Bloomsburg 35, Lewisburg 24
Lewisburg (0-3) 6 12 0 6 – 24
Bloomsburg (3-0) 14 0 14 7 – 35
First quarter
8:48 – (B) Julius Serrano 12-yard pass from Wyatt Brosious (Masteller kick), 9-70, 3:12
1:31 – (B) Jharee Moore-Stewart 1-yard run (Masteller kick), 12-56, 4:29
1:13 – (L) Nick Coleman 92-yard kickoff return (kick failed)
Second quarter
1:34 – (L) Jaylen Walker 19-yard pass from Xavier Carter (run failed), 8-69, 3:18
:00 – (L) Xavier Carter 8-yard run (kick failed), 5-54, :46
Third quarter
6:24 – (B) Wyatt Brosious 15-yard run (Masteller kick), 7-73, 2:57
1:02 – (B) Wyatt Brosious 17-yard run (Masteller kick), 8-55, 3:10
Fourth quarter
10:09 – (L) Jaylen Walker 15-yard pass from Xavier Carter (pass failed), 9-56, 2:53
3:09 – (B) Wyatt Brosious 8-yard run (Masteller kick), 12-70, 7:00
Statistics
L B
First downs 14 28
Rushes-net yards 15-84 44-241
Passing yardage 159 176
Passing 17-31-2-0 15-25-1-0
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0
Penalties-yards 10-80 13-94
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Lewisburg: Mateo Cardello (6-48), Xavier Carter (4-28-1), Dane Shuey (3-9), Nick Coleman (2-(-1)); Bloomsburg: Wyatt Brosious (27-199-3), Jharee Moore-Stewart (8-15-1), Wyatt Schrader (4-16), Shane Frey (3-14), Krue Wheadon (1-0), Team (1-(-3))
PASSING: Lewisburg: Xavier Carter (17-30-159-2-0), Team (0-1-0-0-0); Bloomsburg: Wyatt Brosious (15-25-176-1-0)
RECEIVING: Lewisburg: Jaylen Walker (7-79-2), Nick Coleman (5-44), Mateo Cardello (3-21), Drake Osunde (2-16); Bloomsburg: Jack Katulis (7-104), Julius Serrano (3-27-1), Krue Wheadon (2-22), Jharee Moore-Stewart (2-14), Shane Frey (1-9)