Box Score
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The Shippensburg University football team totaled nearly 350 yards on offense and scored a touchdown in each quarter on a humid Saturday afternoon at No. 11 Shepherd but ultimately fell victim to a second-half onslaught in a 53-27 loss to the Rams in the 14th annual Great Valley Classic.

It was a game of firsts for Shippensburg; most notable was the Red Raider head coaching debut of Mark “Mac” Maciejewski and the unveiling of multiple offensive sets by coordinator Mike Yurcich. Sophomore Zach Zulli made his first career start at quarterback and threw for 277 yards and four touchdowns.

Eight different players had at least one reception on Saturday, including four each by junior Mike Frenette and sophomore Zack Kinney. Freshman receiver Trevor Harman caught touchdown passes of 16 and 36 yards. Harman is believed to be the first player in more than 15 years to catch multiple touchdown passes in his first game as a Red Raider.

Shippensburg (0-1) trailed by just one point at halftime, 14-13, thanks to a bizarre series of events late in the second quarter. With just under four minutes remaining in the half, the Rams were in the middle of a methodical march down the field. Receiver Nik Norrell caught what looked to be a sure touchdown pass but inexplicably dropped the ball as he was running into the end zone, allowing junior safety Corey Hunt to recover the fumble at the 1-yard line.

Three plays and 99 yards later, SU answered with a touchdown. Zulli threw a 15-yard pass to Kinney on the first play of the drive before junior Taimur Harris climbed the ladder on the next play to make a 25-yard catch.

Near midfield, Zulli split out wide on the next play and ended up getting a toss out of the backfield. He then stopped and threw a strike down the center of the field to junior Jacob Baskerville, and the result of the flea flicker was a 59-yard touchdown that put the Red Raiders within one point of the lead. The extra-point attempt was blocked.

SU began marching down the field on its first drive of the game but had to settle for a punt after nine plays because of a personal foul penalty that stopped the momentum. The second drive led to the first points of the game for the Red Raiders after freshman Sheldon Mayer caught a pass in the flat and broke a tackle in his one-on-one matchup for a 37-yard touchdown.

Defensively, sophomore Jake Metz and senior Vinnie Ranauto had seven tackles. Metz had two tackles for loss. Sophomore Tyriq Kershaw picked off a pass in the end zone on the drive following SU's first touchdown.

Frenette paced the squad with 188 all-purpose yards – including 124 on returns. He also recovered a fumble on a punt in the fourth quarter that set up the game's final touchdown – a 16-yard slant pass to Harman. Mayer had 27 rushing yards but the Red Raiders totaled just 64 yards on the ground for the game – its lowest output in a road game since 2007.

Shippensburg returns to action next Saturday with a 12 p.m. contest at Gannon.

GREAT VALLEY CLASSIC NOTES: Shepherd has now won seven straight meetings over the Red Raiders dating back to 2004...Shepherd has won 10 of the last 14 meetings...Shippensburg has won just 2 of 8 games at Ram Stadium since 1997...the Red Raiders lead the overall series with Shepherd 28-19.

RED RAIDER NOTES: SU has not won a season opener since 2005...the Red Raiders have recorded at least 25 rushing attempts in 36 consecutive games dating back to Nov. 3, 2007...SU is now 32-20 all time against the WVIAC...SU is 0-12 since 1998 when allowing 40 or more points in one game...junior fullback Kevin Herod had just two rushing attempts...senior tailback Roshaan McCain had eight rushing yards and now needs 98 to reach 1,000 for his career.

PLAYERS MAKING ON-FIELD DEBUTS: left tackle Andrew Lesagonicz, left guard Tim Latham, freshman tailback Sheldon Mayer, sophomore wide receiver Zack Kinney, redshirt freshman defensive back James Cooper, redshirt freshman defensive back Trevor Mack, sophomore safety Kyle Karpinski, redshirt freshman linebacker Brian Sourber, redshirt freshman linebacker James Brennan, redshirt freshman Sean Sadosky, redshirt freshman offensive lineman Doug Randall, redshirt freshman defensive lineman Caleb Morris, redshirt freshman tight end Alex Kuljian, redshirt freshman wide receiver Trevor Harman.