NTL FOOTBALL: TOWANDA BRINGS IN BLOOMSBURG FOR DISTRICT PLAYOFF QUARTERFINAL (2024-11-01)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Towanda (8-2) football will be hosting their first playoff game in over a decade, and will be looking for their first playoff win since 2014 when they welcome Bloomsburg (5-5) on Friday night with a 7 p.m. start.

“Bloomsburg is a very athletic team,” said Towanda coach Jamie Wecker. “The QB is a dual threat and is probably the best throwing QB we’ve seen. I think he’s thrown for over 2000 yards, so defending them will definitely be a challenge. Their receivers run very good patterns, so we need to be very disciplined defensively. They run well enough to keep the defense honest also.”

After a 1-4 start to the season Bloomsburg went 4-1 down the stretch, including wins over Hughesville (39-7) and Central Columbia (29-20). They also played Loyalsock to a tough 20-13 loss midway through the season, so they’ve been battle tested.

Wyatt Brosius is their junior signal caller, having thrown for 2,069 yards this season with 17 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. He sports a .538 completion percentage.

On the ground he is second on the team with 425-yards rushing and seventh touchdown on 124 carries.

“We need to be disciplined in our coverage, make our reads, and then react accordingly,” said Wecker. “Another big thing is we need to get pressure on the QB. We can’t give him too much time or he will hurt us.”

After a 3-2 start to the season Towanda has been on a roll their final five games, going 5-0 as they’ve out scored opponents 213-44 during that span.

They boast a strong dual threat QB of their own in Riley Vanderpool, who has thrown and run for over 1,000-yards this season.

“Offensively, we just need to try to be balanced and take advantage of what the defense gives us,” said Wecker. “We also need to try to control the tempo of the game, and we need to limit the mistakes.”

KEYS TO THE GAME

Bloomsburg — Don’t let Vanderpool get loose. While Vanderpool has some new found success with his arm, he’s a runner at heart. If the Panthers don’t contain him, they’ll be chasing him all over the field, and that’s not a recipe for success.

Towanda — Don’t beat yourselves. Towanda has had some problems with turnovers and penalties at times this season. They had five turnovers against Tunkhannock, and had a few contests where penalties got away from them. That’s a recipe for disaster in playoff football.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jharee Moore-Stewart, Bloomsburg, RB — The freshman running back has 576-yards rushing and nine touchdowns on the season. He’s also a threat in the passing game, with 26 receptions for 518-yards and a team high eight touchdowns. 

Sawyer Robinson, Towanda, LB — Robinson leads Towanda with 67 tackles on the season, 15 of them for loss. With two athletic runners to watch out for in Brosius and Moore-Stewart, Robinson will need a big game to keep them contained.

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