Game Notes:
Shippensburg (.pdf)
Bloomsburg (.pdf)
PSAC Report (.pdf)

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BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Red Raider football will battle this weekend for their chance to play for the PSAC Eastern Division title as Shippensburg hits the road to face PSAC Eastern Division opponent Bloomsburg. The Huskies will celebrate their Parents and Family Day from Redman Stadium in a contest that begins at 2:30 p.m.

SU boasts its best record in five seasons at 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the division while Bloomsburg is ranked at No. 3 in Division II and boasts an 8-0 record while allowing just 9.9 points per game. A Red Raider victory on Saturday would give the team a chance to clinch the Eastern Division title if it also wins on October 31 at Cheyney.

The game is being broadcast live on the PA SportsFEVER network and will be re-broadcast on Monday at 7 p.m. by FSN-Pittsburgh. According to SportsFEVER, the game will air locally on WGCB in the Harrisburg-Lancaster-York-Carlisle market, WQMY in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area and on Comcast channel 18 in the Chambersburg market. A full map of network coverage for your area is available here.

Interim sports information director Bill Morgal will broadcast the game on the radio (WSYC 88.7 FM) and on the Internet. Live statistics will also be provided by the Bloomsburg sports information office and can be accessed here.

The initial forecast for Saturday's game provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is for an 80 percent chance of rain with a high temperature around 61 degrees. Three of Shippensburg's last four games have featured steady rain that has affected play. The last three meetings with the Huskies dating back to 2005 have also been played in the rain, including last season's Homecoming contest held at Seth Grove Stadium marred by over two inches of rain and muddy field conditions.

The contest pits two teams in a regional race for the postseason. Bloomsburg, as one might expect given its unblemished record, is ranked atop the Super Region 1 rankings and the ECAC-sponsored Lambert Cup standings. Shippensburg, meanwhile, ranks sixth in the Super Region 1 rankings and fourth in the Lambert Cup standings. The top six schools from each region make the playoffs, while the first two seeds receive first-round byes.

Shippensburg has scored at least 23 points in each of its first eight games this season, becoming the first squad in the 105 seasons of organized Red Raider football to achieve this feat. The Red Raiders have scored at least three touchdowns in each of the first eight games of a season for the first time since the 1999 season.

Shippensburg currently leads the PSAC in scoring offense with an average of 33.9 points per game. The Red Raiders have tied California (Pa.) with 271 total points through eight games and currently sit 127 points behind the university record for total points in a season set in 1999.

The Red Raider Wing-T has also thrived with ball control, ranking first in the conference with an average time of possession at 32:49 per game and ranking second in the conference with an average of 180.5 rushing yards per game despite being held under 100 yards in each of the last two contests.

In addition to the knack for scoring points, the Red Raiders rank third in the conference for total offense, averaging 394.0 yards per game. Shippensburg has rushed for 1,444 yards and thrown for 1,708 yards.

The Red Raider defense has applied significant pressure on the quarterback this season. Through seven games, Shippensburg has totaled 25.0 sacks, which ranks third in the conference. That total is already more than the Red Raiders have totaled in each of the past two seasons and is just three sacks short of the production during the 2006 season.

Rocky Rees, in his 20th season as the Red Raider head coach, earned his 150th career head coaching victory on October 10 against Kutztown. This year marks the 10th season that Coach Rees has guided the Red Raiders to at least six victories and the first since the 2004 campaign in which Shippensburg went 10-2 and qualified for the NCAA playoffs.

Shippensburg holds a 41-30-1 lead in the series but has won just 15 of 35 meetings on the road. The Red Raiders have lost three straight meetings between the teams, last earning a 48-10 victory in 2004 at Seth Grove Stadium.

The teams did not play in 2007, marking the first time the two teams did not face each other in the regular season since 1971. The regional rivals have met 72 times since the 1917 season.

There has not been a more successful team in Super Region 1 over the past decade than Bloomsburg, a squad that has posted an overall record of 92-22 since the 2000 season. The Huskies have won more than 80 percent of their games and posted a 53-6 divisional record over that span.

Bloomsburg is looking for its second straight 9-0 start to a season and has employed a ferocious defense to key its incredible performance in 2009. 

The Huskies are the only team in Division II currently holding opponents to fewer than 10 points per game (9.9) while sitting as one of just five teams in the nation that has not allowed 100 or more points this season.

In fact, through eight games, the Huskies have allowed the fewest points (79) and the fewest touchdowns (8) in the nation.

Bloomsburg is also stingy when an opponent is up against the wall. The Huskies are one of just five teams in the country to allow just one fourth down conversion all year (1-of-16).

Graduate quarterback Dan Latorre is a leader with both his performance and his personality. After graduating in May, the fourth-year signal caller is nearing multiple school records and is threat through the air (1,112 yards, 59.4 pct.) and on the ground (132 yards, four touchdowns).

Tailback Derrick Price is one of the leading rushers in the conference despite missing the first three games of the season due to injury. Price has totaled 554 yards in five games, including a season-high 185 yards againast C.W. Post, while scoring 11 touchdowns.

In terms of receiving, a total of 15 different players have caught passes from Latorre while no one has totaled more than 21 receptions. Efficiency is the goal of the BU passing attack but the big play ability is still in play as the Huskies have completed several passes over 40 yards this season.

Defensively, Anthony Smith has totaled 80 tackles this season (second in the PSAC) while fellow linebacker Mike Varanavage has 63. Justin Presley, a senior like Smith, has seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss this season and is the main factor on an imposing defensive line.

Senior place kicker Jon Koenig is arguably the most valuable boot in the league and has proven he can convert field goals from almost any distance. He is the only kicker in the conference and one of just nine in Division II this season to convert a 50-yard field goal.

Full game notes for both teams as well as the weekly PSAC report will be posted by Thursday evening.