Once momentum gets going against you, it's tough to stop
For nearly three full quarters on Friday the Towanda Black Knights kept Bloomsburg and their star quarterback Blake Rankin in check.
After Bloomsburg scored on their opening drive, the Black Knights defense tightened up, and the game was tied at seven with under a minute left in the third.
"They came out to play and they played great defense throughout," Rankin said. "They are one of the toughest defenses I have faced. When they hit you, they hit you hard. We made a few adjustments at halftime and that made a difference."
As well as Towanda played all day, it took just two plays to put Bloomsburg ahead and give them momentum that the Black Knights were never able to stop.
First came a fourth down play with 45 seconds to go in the third quarter as Towanda's defense lost coverage and Rankin found the open man for a touchdown.
"I think what happened was it was a blown coverage and in games like this, that's the difference," Towanda coach Craig Dawsey said. "That's the name of the game. Mistakes can hurt you in these type of games. Turnovers, penalties, those things can hurt you in these games."
On the next drive the Black Knights were stopped and forced to punt. Backed up after a penalty, Bloomsburg got a 58-yard touchdown pass as Rankin found an open John Clingerman after a Towanda defender slipped.
"That is the difference in games like this," Dawsey said. "It's one, two plays, that's the difference this week and it will be the difference next week for Bloomsburg in the final."
Rankin knows he was able to make those plays because of his receivers.
"It's a credit to our receivers," he said. "When things break down, they do a great job of looking to get open and finding the open spot."
Once Bloomsburg got those two big plays and took a two-score lead they carried that momentum to the victory.
"That's what happened, they made those plays and they got the momentum," Dawsey said. "It's hard to swing back the momentum once it gets going. You have to fight to get the momentum and once they get it, it is hard to get back."
One of the challenges for the Black Knights all game long was bringing down the Rutgers-bound Bloomsburg quarterback. Twice on the opening drive they had arms around him in the backfield, and both times he stayed upright long enough to complete passes. It was something that carried over throughout the game.
"That goes back to my receivers," Rankin said. "They definitely hit you, but my receivers did a good job of finding an open space and giving someplace for me to get the ball."
While Towanda was able to get to Rankin, they know they needed to do a better job of getting him to the ground.
"That's the big thing, we didn't wrap him up," Dawsey said. "We got to him, but we didn't do a good job of getting him to the ground. He's a big kid and he's a really good player. He did a great job of making plays and we just didn't do a good job of getting him to the ground."
Few teams this year have found a way to get Rankin to the ground as he finished Friday with 2,129 passing yards on the year with 20 touchdowns and 1,476 rushing yards and 28 scores.
Some may look at the final score and see Bloomsburg with 35 points and think it was a lopsided game, but Towanda was in this one the entire way until the momentum started going against them late.
"We played hard all game," Dawsey said. "I told the kids after the third quarter, we have to play all four quarters. It was a great performance tonight, a gutty performance. From beginning to end we came out and went right at them, at the end the score just didn't go our way and that happens in sports."
And Dawsey knows exactly why Bloomsburg is going to the district final and his team is going home. One week after they rode the momentum in the fourth quarter to a comeback win over Danville, it was Bloomsburg riding the momentum to a victory in the final quarter.
"We had the momentum last week and this week they got it," he said. "That's the big thing. You always work to get the momentum in these type of games and today we didn't get it."
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