Box Score

CHEYNEY, Pa. – Sophomore quarterback Zach Zulli set a school record with six touchdown passes as the Red Raider football team scored touchdowns on its first three possessions of the game and never looked back en route to a 59-20 victory over Cheyney on Saturday afternoon from O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium.

Shippensburg (4-4, 2-3 PSAC East) scored eight total offensive touchdowns on the afternoon, with junior tailback Mike Frenette scoring half of that total. Frenette caught two of Zulli's touchdown strikes and added two rushing scores – a 23-yard run and a 3-yard run – as his four touchdowns set a career high. SU finished the game with 31 first downs, falling two short of tying the school single-game record that was set earlier this year against Clarion.

The Raiders got off to a hot start with Zulli throwing his first touchdown pass of the day – a 9-yarder to junior wide receiver Bryan Barley – just under three minutes into the game. Zulli's career day was well underway, as he finished 25-of-36 passing for a career-high 384 yards – the fourth highest single-game total in SU history – and set the school record for touchdown passes in just three quarters of play.

After SU forced a subsequent Cheyney (1-7, 0-5) three-and-out, Zulli orchestrated a 4-play, 53-yard drive through the air that culminated with a 26-yard scoring strike to junior wide receiver Jacob Baskerville. Zulli spread the ball around on the drive, completing his passes to three different wide receivers – redshirt freshman Trevor Harman, sophomore Zack Kinney and Baskerville.

Another three-and-out from Cheyney gave the ball back to the Raiders at their own 17-yard line. Five plays later, the Raiders moved into Wolves territory with back-to-back Harman catches totaling 46 yards. On the 10th play of the drive, junior wide reciever Taimur Harris was on the receiving end of Zulli's third touchdown pass, a 7-yard score.

The Shippensburg offense kept its foot on the pedal in the second quarter, capitalizing on another 4-play drive on its first possession of the period. After allowing the Wolves to drive down to the SU 10-yard line, the Raiders' defense forced a wide right 32-yard field goal attempt. Zulli and the offense got right to work, with a 23-yard pass to Harman sandwiched between two rushes from freshman Blair Brooks. Zulli then found Frenette from 50 yards out for their first scoring strike of the game and a 28-0 SU lead.

Cheyney got on the board on its next possession, needing just one play as tailback Marcus Jones rumbled 69 yards for the score, followed by a missed extra point. But the Raiders answered right back, as three minutes later Frenette found paydirt again, this time from 23 yards out for his first score on the ground and a 35-6 SU lead.

A Cheyney three-and-out gave the Raiders the ball back with 2:14 remaining in the first half. Zulli and the receivers again moved the ball downfield, and with 57 seconds left on the clock, the quarterback completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Kinney.

On their second possession of the second half, the Wolves capitalized on a SU fumble inside its own 10-yard line. On the very next play, Cheyney's Cardoza Jacks ran it in from eight yards out. But again, the Shippensburg offense responded quickly. A 9-play, 68-yard drive ended with Frenette scoring on the ground from three yards out.

After an interception from redshirt freshman linebacker Brian Sourber – who finished the day with eight tackles, including three for loss – Zulli set the school record with a 15-yard touchdown throw to Frenette.

Sophomore kicker Drew Newcomer later connected on a 21-yard field goal for his eighth field goal of the season and has yet to miss an attempt. Harman finished the game with 124 yards receiving. Frenette had 98 through the air and 44 on the ground.

The Red Raiders, which had struggled to finish drives in the past couple of games, scored all five times it entered the red zone on Saturday: scoring four touchdowns and kicking one field goal. SU also controlled the ball for over 18 minutes in the second half and won the time of possession battle for the fourth consecutive game.

Shippensburg completes its three-game road swing at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against Millersville from the Biemesderfer.

Notes: Zulli is now three touchdown passes short of the single-season school record of 27 set in 2009 by Chad DiFebbo...the 384-yard performance by Zulli marks the most passing yards in a game by an SU quarterback since Chris Gicking threw for 388 yards in 1999 against Bloomsburg...Zulli has thrown for 2,272 yards this season, already the sixth-highest single-season total in school history...Newcomer is the only place kicker in the PSAC this season to be perfect in field goal kicking with at least eight attempts this season...he is 13-of-13 for his career...Shippensburg holds a 12-0 lead in the all-time series with Cheyney…the Red Raiders had never allowed more than 13 points to Cheyney in history until Saturday…Saturday's game was just the second time in 22 years that SU played at O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium, with the other meeting being in 2009…SU has recorded at least 25 rushing attempts in 41 consecutive games dating back to Nov. 3, 2007…during this streak, SU has run for 200 or more yards in a game on 16 occasions…the Red Raiders are 13-3 in such occurrences.