IUP 37, Bloomsburg 18
September 7, 2002
Miller Stadium ** Indiana, Pa.
Brian Eyerman completed 16 of 29 passes for 273 yards, Elice Parker rushed for
101 yards and scored three times, and Trent Jones led the defensive charge with
three interceptions as IUP handled Bloomsburg 37-18 Saturday night at Miller
Stadium.
Bloomsburg (0-1) entered the game ranked ninth in the American Football Coaches
Association poll while IUP (1-1) was ranked 22nd.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for IUP dating back to the end of
last season, the longest since a five-game skid in 1982. The Indians also
avoided their first 0-2 start in 40 years.
The win was the 150th in 17 seasons at IUP for head coach Frank Cignetti, who
owns a record of 150-40-1 with the Indians. IUP has defeated Bloomsburg six
times over the past seven years and has a record of 26-7 against PSAC East foes
under Cignetti.
Andrew Herrmann, making his first career start at quarterback for the Huskies,
hit on 13 of 29 passes for 138 yards and one touchdown while suffering a pair
of interceptions. Mike Ceroli led the Bloomsburg ground game with 66 yards on
14 attempts.
LeRon McCoy had six receptions from Eyerman for 136 yards, both career bests.
Carmelo Ocasio had seven catches for 95 yards and moved up the IUP career chart
in both categories. Ocasio now ranks sixth in career receptions with 118 and
fourth with 2,150 yards. He also moved into a tie for third with 21 touchdown
catches.
Eyerman, meanwhile, became the fourth player in school history to reach 6,000
passing yards, finishing the night with 6,226 yards.
IUP, coming off a 37-34 loss to Findlay in its season opener, raced to a 27-3
lead by halftime. Eyerman had touchdown passes of 13 yards to J.R. Thomas and
29 yards to Ocasio, while Parker found the end zone twice from six yards out.
The Huskies managed only a 41-yard field goal by Tom Oliver in the opening 30
minutes.
Eyerman threw for 197 yards in the first half while Parker had 85 yards. The
Indians rolled up 290 of their final total of 375 yards in the first half.
Bloomsburg had 299 yards of total offense for the night.
Jeff Jackson had a career-high 16 tackles for IUP while Jones made 10 stops to
go along with his three interceptions. Andrew Battle had two sacks for the
Indians while Dave Armstrong posted 3.5 sacks as part of Bloomsburg’s total of
five in the game. Matt Keys led the Huskies with 11 tackles, followed by
Armstrong, who had a total of six tackles for loss among his nine stops.
The Huskies cut their 24-point halftime deficit to 30-18 on the strength of a
14-yard shovel pass for a touchdown from Herrmann to Jamison McLaughlin and a
two-yard scoring run by Julius Brown. But Parker had an 18-yard run with 1:05
left for IUP to seal the victory.
Josh Telenko matched his career high with a 42-yard field goal with 14 seconds
left in the third quarter for the only IUP points of the second half until the
late Parker touchdown.
IUP continues its three-game homestand next Saturday with a 7:00 kickoff against
2001 national semifinalist Catawba. Bloomsburg stays on the road at Shippensburg
next Saturday at 1:00.