By William Bowman
LEWISBURG -- There comes a moment when a team decides enough is enough. A decision is made that what they are doing is not good enough, that a change must be made.
Whether that moment came at halftime of Bucknell's Patriot League opener against Georgetown on Saturday, or on a crucial fourth-down completion in the fourth quarter, is uncertain. Whenever it occurred, Tim Landis feels like the Bison turned the corner, especially on offense.
After its defense dominated from the start and its offense sputtered again, Bucknell came to life against the Hoyas in the final two quarters at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Sophomore C.J. Hopson ran for short scores in the third and fourth quarters as the Bison rallied for a 14-6 victory in their conference opener.
Bucknell is now 3-2 on the season, 1-0 in the Patriot League and tied for first. The Bison have also won four consecutive home games for the first time since 2001. The Hoyas, who won in each of their previous two trips to Lewisburg, drop to 0-5, 0-3 in the league.
Following a less-than-stellar first half offensively -- Bucknell managed just 90 yards and five first downs -- there was a lively atmosphere in the Bison locker room as the defense, turning in its second strong effort in as many weeks, voiced their opinion about the first 30 minutes.
"It was lopsided," was how senior receiver Cale Cadman, who had career highs in catches and receptions, described the intermission. "There was a lot of defensive intensity."
"At halftime, it was a tough locker room," said BU coach Tim Landis. "The defense was really fired up. They were playing well and the offense was just trying to find an answer."
Whatever was said certainly worked. The Bison fell behind by six points early and then dominated the second half on both sides of the ball.
The offense cranked it up several notches, piecing together two long scoring drives and racking up 172 yards, outgaining their opponent for the first time this year. The defense also picked it up, not that it had much to improve on. The Hoyas managed just four first downs and 58 yards after halftime.
"I was really pleased with the second half. We really had to start to play well as a team," said Landis. "We couldn't just rely on defense and big plays on special teams. The offense stepped up and did a great job."
It started with an impressive seven-play, 67-yard scoring drive sparked by Hopson. The sophomore from Maryland came off the bench in relief of Marcello Trigg in the second quarter and never left the game. Hopson ran for 17 yards on the first play and Justin Pulgrano hit Cadman on a halfback pass to put the Bison inside the 10. Three plays later, Hopson swept the left side and Drew Orth booted the point after to make it 7-6.
Bucknell's defense then came up with its first of two fourth-quarter interceptions when Ahkiel White grabbed a tipped pass near midfield. From there Bucknell marched in for another score, with the crucial play coming when Hopson hit Cadman right at the sticks for a nine-yard completion on fourth-and-eight.
"It was a sideline rout," said Cadman, who caught six passes for 75 yards. "My job was to get to the sticks. The offensive line did a great job protecting and C.J. threw a great ball. I had the easy part."
Hopson, who ran for 101 yards, capped the drive with his second TD run, this one from four yards out to make it 14-6 with a little more than nine minutes to play.
"That fourth-down play was a tough decision," said Landis. "It would have been a 41-yard field goal. I thought that was a real growing-up process for this offense. Once that happened, the light went on. Hey, we can do this. We can make some plays.'"
The Hoyas ate up nearly seven minutes of the first quarter with a 12-play drive, capped by a 41-yard field goal from Jose-Pablo Buerba to take a 3-0 lead.
It took just a couple of plays for Georgetown to add to its lead, taking advantage of a Bucknell miscue. Moments after Trigg dropped a handoff and the Hoyas recovered, Buerba booted his second field goal, this one a 27-yarder on the second play of the second quarter.
"Bucknell did a nice job moving the football in the second half," said Georgetown coach Kevin Kelly. "Defensively, they shut us out and we didn't score any points. In my mind, we should have had 21 points in the first half. We needed to score touchdowns in the red zone and we didn't score any."
