SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Shippensburg University football team allowed four scoring plays of 60 yards or greater on Saturday afternoon from Ram Stadium and could not preserve a third-quarter lead as homestanding Shepherd defeated the Red Raiders 34-23 in the 12th annual Great Valley Classic.

Shippensburg (0-1) held an 11-minute edge in time of possession in the contest, totaled 22 first downs and had control of the ball for all but 2 minutes and 30 seconds during the third quarter. The Red Raiders also converted 12-of-21 third-down attempts and scored on four of their five trips into the red zone.

Shepherd (1-0) gained early momentum in the contest with two long pass plays. Wide receiver Raymond Mends caught a 78-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first quarter and struck paydirt again less than six minutes later on a 73-yard touchdown pass to give the Rams a 14-3 lead. Kevin Clancy, the starting quarterback for the Rams, completed just 5-of-10 passes on Saturday but totaled 196 yards.

Senior quarterback Chad DiFebbo was resilient in the opening two quarters for the Red Raiders and got Shippensburg within four points of the lead before halftime. A 12-play, 87-yard drive was capped off with DiFebbo finding senior tight end Mark Rossi for a two-yard touchdown that brought the score to 14-10.

Shippensburg drove to the Shepherd 21-yard line on its opening drive of the third quarter but senior place kicker Kyler Ford narrowly missed wide left with a 39-yard field goal attempt. On the next play, junior safety Nick Melusky intercepted a pass that would set up a Red Raiders scoring drive.

Starting their drive at the 32-yard line, the Red Raiders faced three key third-down plays and converted all of them. After a DiFebbo 9-yard scramble and a 20-yard pass to junior tailback Kevin Marshall eventually set up a first-and-goal situation, senior split end Mike Harris broke open in the corner of the end zone and DiFebbo found him for a five-yard touchdown pass with 7:16 to play in the third quarter.

Shippensburg held a 17-14 lead at that point and the defense forced a three-and-out that gave the Red Raiders the ball once again. The offense had entered Ram territory and was looking to strike once again, but with 2:07 to go in the third quarter, Shepherd cornerback Deonte Steele intercepted a pass from DiFebbo and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

Shepherd then extended its lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when tailback Tommy Addison broke off an 84-yard touchdown run on a third-and-five play that gave the Rams a 27-17 lead.

Junior defensive lineman Andy Horn had a stellar game with three sacks and forced a fumble that was recovered by sophomore linebacker Vinnie Ranauto which led to Shippensburg's final scoring drive.

On the ensuing drive, Rossi matched his career total for touchdowns by catching his second of the game from DiFebbo with 5:42 remaining in the fourth quarter to make the score 27-23. The catch capped off a 5-play, 43-yard drive for the Red Raiders.

The Rams, however, was ultimately able to control the tempo during the final five minutes of the game on the ground, as Addison clinched the victory with a 31-yard touchdown run during the final two minutes of play.

Shepherd's offense never made it into the red zone yet the Rams still produced 34 points. The Rams ran just 47 plays on offense in the contest but averaged 8.1 yards per play, including 39.2 yards per pass play. With the exception of the three long scoring plays, Shepherd totaled just 147 yards of offense.

"You might say they won ugly by making big plays when they need them, but we didn't stop them from making those plays," Rees said.

Shippensburg will return to action next weekend with a PSAC crossover contest at Edinboro that is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Notes: Shippensburg opened the scoring with 2:17 to play in the first quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Ford, a new career-long for the senior place kicker...senior linebacker Andy Casale had a whale of a game defensively with 10 solo tackles, the most solo stops in a game since Jonathan Aldridge had 12 against The Rock on Oct. 20, 2007...Horn's three sacks are the most by a Red Raider since at least 1996...true freshmen Bryan Barley and Mike Frenette were among the players that made their debuts in the game...Barley nearly returned a kickoff for a touchdown with a 61-yard runback in the fourth quarter...red-shirt freshman Kevin Herod also made his debut as the starting fullback and got 25 carries, the most by a Raider back since Aaron Dykes at Slippery Rock on Oct. 7, 2006...Edinboro, SU's week two opponent, defeated West Liberty State on Saturday afternoon by a 42-30.