SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — The Shippensburg University football team will begin the 2011 regular season at noon Saturday from Ram Stadium with a clash against No. 11 Shepherd in the 13th annual Great Valley Classic.
A radio broadcast of the game will be available on 88.7 FM in Shippensburg and can be accessed online at
www.wsyc.org or through the links above. Sports information director
Bill Morgal will provide coverage along with WSYC-FM student broadcasters Sean Gallagher and Chris Field.
Saturday's contest will mark the first game at head coach for Shippensburg's Mark 'Mac' Maciejewski '92/'96M. Coach Mac is now in his fourth different coaching role with his alma mater and will begin his 13th overall season at Shippensburg in 2011.
Shippensburg also heads into the 2011 season with four new assistant coaches. A.J. Reisig has been hired as the graduate assistant while
Mick Chronister '88,
Ron Kerr and
Gary Carter will be serving as volunteer assistants.
Shippensburg enters the contest on a four-game winning streak that dates back to last season. SU's most recent five-game winning streak occurred in Weeks 7-11 of the 2009 campaign.
SU has four opponents on its schedule ranked among the nation's Top 25 teams per the preseason poll released in June by The Sporting News. Those schools are #8 Mercyhurst (2010 PSAC champions), #10 Bloomsburg (2010 PSAC East champions), #14 Shepherd (2010 NCAA Semifinalists) and #21 Kutztown.
Shippensburg's first five opponents in 2011 combined for a 39-20 record last season. That group includes Shepherd and Kutztown along with private school opponents C.W. Post and Gannon, which both finished above .500 in 2010.
Shippensburg returns 31 letterwinners from last season. The team's captains are senior linebacker
Vinnie Ranauto and senior tight end
Brian Heitz.
Shippensburg leads the overall series with Shepherd 28-18 but has lost six consecutive meetings to the Rams. The teams have met every year since 1991 and during that span have split the series with 10 wins apiece. In the 13 meetings of the Great Valley Classic, SU is just 4-9 against Shepherd.
Each of the last six games in the series have been decided by 14 points or less, including three by five points or less. Shippensburg had held a third-quarter lead in three of the last four meetings, but Shepherd has outscored the Red Raiders by a 47-15 margin in the fourth quarter of those contests.
The Red Raiders last earned a victory over Shepherd in 2004, when Shippensburg started out an eventual PSAC Western Division championship campaign with a 35-7 victory at Seth Grove Stadium.
The last time the two teams played at Shepherd was in the 2009 season opener. SU allowed four scoring plays of 60 yards or greater and could not preserve a third-quarter lead in dropping a 34-23 decision to the Rams. Junior lineman
Andy Horn had three sacks; senior quarterback Chad DiFebbo threw three touchdown passes and redshirt freshman fullback
Kevin Herod made his Red Raider playing debut.
The two teams first met in 1923 with Shepherd taking a 14-7 victory at home. Shippensburg won four of the first seven meetings with the Rams from 1923-31 before winning nine straight games in the series from 1937-59. The Red Raiders also won six straight from 1991-96.
However, since 2000, Shepherd has won nine of the 11 meetings. SU has also won just two of seven games at Ram Stadium since 1997.
The Red Raiders are 57-45-4 all-time in season-opening games. Shippensburg has lost its last five season openers, all to Shepherd in the Great Valley Classic.
Shippensburg has opened its season against Shepherd 21 times in history, totaling an 11-10 record which includes a 33-10 victory in the first opener between the teams back in the 1965 season.
Full notes can be accessed through the above link.
