Box Score
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team overcame a sluggish start in its home opener on Saturday afternoon with 34 unanswered points and 563 yards on offense in a 54-24 rout of visiting Clarion from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.

Shippensburg (2-1) entered Saturday's game without a rushing touchdown in two games but answered with six against the Golden Eagles and totaled 356 yards on the ground – its most in one game since totaling 380 against Lock Haven on Oct. 27, 2007. Junior Mike Frenette paced the unit with 106 yards and two touchdowns – including a 44-yard scamper to paydirt in the third quarter.

The Red Raiders set a school record on Saturday 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. Only four first-down rushes ended with negative yards.

Clarion (0-3) scored on the opening drive of the game and countered a Red Raider score with a 68-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to take a 14-10 lead with 9:36 remaining in the first half. SU then began its scoring run with a 9-play, 68-yard drive that was capped off with a 1-yard plunge by junior Kevin Herod. The Red Raiders took a 10-point lead into halftime.

Frenette opened the third quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run and later erupted for his 44-yard run with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter.

On Clarion's first offensive play following Frenette's second score, redshirt freshman James Brennan jumped a route and returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown to put the Red Raiders up 44-14 with 5:05 remaining. Brennan, making his first career start, had a day to remember with a team-high eight tackles with one sack.

Senior Roshaan McCain ended the scoring with 5:28 left in regulation after breaking a 65-yard run for a touchdown. McCain, who finished with 91 yards on just six carries, is just three yards short of 1,000 for his career.

Sophomore Zach Zulli had another solid game as the signal caller for the Red Raiders but made most of his impact by scrambling for first downs. Zulli ran for 61 yards and scored two touchdowns – including SU's first of the game. With the exception of one blemish in the third quarter, Zulli was also very efficient in the passing game – completing 20-of-28 passes for 207 yards.

Zulli was 7-of-8 when passing on first down while taking two sacks. Most impressively, six of the seven first-down passes went for 10 or more yards.

Herod, who entered Saturday's game with just three carries in two games, finished with 14 carries for 59 yards in addition to setting new career highs as a pass catcher with four receptions for 38 yards.

Shippensburg's defense applied consistent pressure all day on Clarion quarterbacks Ben Fiscus and Eric Coxon. The Red Raiders had seven sacks in Saturday's game – its most in one contest since recording eight against Lock Haven on Sept. 30, 2000. SU also registered six pass breakups.

Senior Vinnie Ranauto blew up the first drive of the second half by the Golden Eagles with a sack-fumble for a loss of 17 yards. Sophomore Jake Metz, who had a 12-yard sack of his own in the second quarter, recovered the fumble on Ranauto's sack.

Shippensburg opens PSAC Eastern Division play next at 1 p.m. Saturday from C.W. Post on Long Island.

Notes: The 122 points scored by SU in the first three games of the season is the most it has ever totaled three games into a season…the 1991 team had 118 points through the first three games and the 2004 team totaled 115 points in the same span…the 55 points scored by the Red Raiders Saturday mark the most ever against Clarion in 54 career meetings between the two teams…SU has now won 9-in-a-row over Clarion and 12 of the last 13 meetings despite still trailing in the overall series matchup…both teams combined Saturday for 20 penalties and almost 250 penalty yards…Shippensburg's longest touchdown drive lasted just 3 minutes 1 second…Brennan's “pick six” was the first interception return for a touchdown by an SU player since Travis Proctor achieved the feat on Homecoming in 2009…Frenette is SU's first 100-yard rusher in a game since Kevin Herod had 116 yards in Week 2 last season versus Gannon and now has more than 2,000 all-purpose yards in his career…Zulli has completed 20 passes in back-to-back games…sophomore Drew Newcomer kicked field goals of 20 and 30 yards on Saturday and has yet to miss a field goal in nine career attempts…sophomore Nate Schmidt kicked a career-long punt of 53 yards in the first quarter.