SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — The Shippensburg University football team returns home to SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium at 1 p.m. Saturday with a matchup against the Warriors of East Stroudsburg. It is the first of two home games to wrap up the 2011 regular season.
Tickets for the game are $8 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and non-SU students. Shippensburg students and PSAC students are admitted free with their student ID. Children ages five and under also receive free admission.
Live video coverage of the game will be provided by Shippensburg University's student television station (SUTV) and can be accessed online at www.ship.edu/goraiders. The game will also be shown on local cable television on Comcast community access channel 21 and campus channel 82. Student broadcasters Jon Bloch and Trey Kemble will call the action.
A student-radio broadcast of the game will be available on 88.7 FM in Shippensburg and can be accessed online at www.wsyc.org. Student broadcasters Sean Gallagher and Chris Field will call the action on the radio.
Shippensburg has scored 327 points through the first nine games of the season — which is the second-most in school history through that span. The 1999 team scored 352 points through that span. This year's group of Red Raiders is one of just three teams in school history to amass 300 or more points through the first nine games of a season.
The Red Raiders set a school record in its Week 3 win over Clarion with 33 first downs – 15 by rushing, 13 by passing and five by penalty. Shippensburg ran the ball on 34 of its 44 first-down plays and totaled an incredible 272 yards on first-down runs.
Shippensburg nearly matched its new record in Week 6 against West Chester with 32 first downs. The Red Raiders also had 31 first downs in a lopsided Week 8 victory at Cheyney.
Through nine games, Shippensburg is tied for first in all of NCAA Division II in both first downs per game (25.67) and total first downs (231). SU is one of just seven teams in the country to amass at least 220 first downs this season. The Red Raiders are also just 16 first downs short of the single-season school record (247) that was set in 1999.
SU is running a ton of plays: 733 through the first nine games. That total is tied for the second-most in all of Division II. The Red Raiders ran an incredible 101 plays in the Week 6 loss to West Chester — the second-most in a game in school history — and also ran 91 plays in the Week 2 victory over Gannon and the Week 5 victory over No. 12 Kutztown.
After being held without a sack in the opener at Shepherd, Shippensburg has totaled 32 sacks in the last eight games to rank second in the PSAC behind C.W. Post (34). The Red Raiders had seven sacks in its Week 3 win over Clarion and a Week 9 win at Millersville – its most in one contest since recording eight against Lock Haven on Sept. 30, 2000.
SU is nine sacks short of the single-season school record (41) set in 1981 and 15 tackles for loss short of the school record (96) set in 2003.
Shippensburg matched or surpassed several school records in terms of its passing attack:
SU has now completed 198 passes — a new single-season record for pass completions — and is just one behind Mercyhurst (199) for the conference lead in the category.
SU has thrown for 29 touchdown passes this season, which has surpassed the previous school record of 28 set by the 1998, 1999 and 2009 teams.
Sophomore quarterback
Zach Zulli has thrown 27 touchdown passes this season to tie the single-season school record set by Chad DiFebbo in 2009. He is also just 490 yards short of the single-season passing yards record of 2,832 set by Chris Gicking in 1999.
Sophomore place kicker
Drew Newcomer is the only individual in the PSAC yet to miss a field goal with at least five attempts this season. He is 8-for-8 in 2011 and 13-for-13 with the Raiders with a career-long boot of 38 yards.
Junior linebacker
Cody Fleming ranks second in the PSAC with 17.5 tackles for loss (TFLs) this season and ranks seventh in Division II with that total. Fleming has made 189 tackles in his career — including 34.5 tackles for loss overall.
Between Zulli (17th in Division II for total offense) and ESU quarterback Ray Wagner (3rd in Division II for total offense), the pace of Saturday's game could be fast and furious. This weekend's matchup is the only game in Division II pitting two individuals against one another that are ranked among Division II's Top 25 in total offense.
Series History: Shippensburg vs. East Stroudsburg
The Red Raiders lead the overall series 28-17-2. Shippensburg has won nine of the last 11 meetings between the two teams. The two teams first met in 1926 with Shippensburg earning a 7-0 home victory.
Perhaps the most historic meeting between the two teams came in 1976, when Shippensburg battles East Stroudsburg in the State Game. The Red Raiders, under head coach Joe Mark, battled Douds and the Warriors to a 14-14 tie at Seth Grove Stadium.
Douds, who holds the all-time Division II record for games coached, was on the sidelines in 1991 when SU and ESU faced off in the NCAA playoffs from Eiler-Martin Stadium. That was 212 games ago for Douds, and current Red Raider head coach
Mark Maciejewski was a junior nose guard on the field for Shippensburg in a game won by SU in overtime, 34-33.
