Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Junior quarterback Zach Zulli set the school single-game records for passing yards and total offense on Saturday night as the Shippensburg University football team recovered from a slow start with a dominant 33-point second quarter en route to a 63-21 road victory over East Stroudsburg from Eiler-Martin Stadium in both teams' PSAC Eastern Division openers.

The undefeated Raiders (3-0, 1-0 PSAC East) finished with 719 yards of total offense and 606 passing yards as a team, which rank sixth-most and third-most, respectively, in PSAC history. Zulli's 496 passing yards – which are the most ever thrown against East Stroudsburg (1-1, 0-1) – easily surpassed SU's nearly 30-year-old previous school record of 423 yards, thrown by Mark Beans in a 1983 game.

The victory marks the first time the Raiders have won seven consecutive games since stringing together seven straight wins from Nov. 8, 2003 to Oct. 2, 2004.

After going down 14-7 early in the second quarter, Shippensburg rattled off 56 unanswered points and didn't allow the ESU offense back in the end zone until there were 16 seconds left in the game. The 63 points are the most allowed by East Stroudsburg in a single game at home, and are the second-most allowed by the Warriors in a single-game all-time (New Hampshire scored 70 in a 1998 game).

Zulli finished the game 27-of-38 passing with five touchdowns. The junior nearly broke the school single-game passing record in the first half alone, as he went into intermission with 422 yards, one short of the mark. Backup redshirt-freshman quarterback Chris Lawshe was efficient in his time on the field, going 6-for-6 through the air for 110 yards and a touchdown in addition to 51 yards rushing and one score on eight carries (all career highs).

Senior wide receiver Jacob Baskerville caught six passes and set a career-high with 134 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore wide out Trevor Harman tied his career high with seven receptions to go along with 118 yards and a score.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Brian Sourber led all tacklers and set a career-high with nine stops, while junior defensive end Jake Metz was a terror along the line, setting career-highs with eight tackles and three sacks.

The first time they touched the ball, the Warriors ran off a 14-play drive over six-and-a-half minutes to take an early 7-0 lead with a one-yard touchdown plunge from fullback Thomas Tippett. The Raiders responded, however, with a 10-play, 84-yard drive that stalled inside ESU's 10-yard-line, but the 27-yard field goal try from junior kicker Michael Lloyd went wide left.

SU forced a three-and-out on the Warriors' next possession, and Zulli led the Raiders on a two-minute scoring drive over six plays that ended with a 43-yard thread-the-needle touchdown pass to a streaking Baskerville up the middle of the field that knotted the game at 7-7.

On the second play of East Stroudsburg's next drive, quarterback Nate Daniels hooked up with wide receiver Dusty Reed – who set career highs with 11 catches and 198 receiving yards – for a 65-yard touchdown up the left sideline to put ESU back out in front, 14-7, to start the second quarter.

The ESU defense kept the Warriors' rolling with a big three-and-out stop on SU's next possession. Then, with the Warriors facing third-and-18 on their own 21-yard-line, senior safety Corey Hunt came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game. A scrambling Daniels threw an errant pass over the middle that Hunt picked off and returned 29 yards to paydirt. Lloyd's extra point attempt was blocked and the Raiders trailed 14-13, but Hunt managed to quickly cease ESU's growing momentum.

The Raiders defense forced another three-and-out, and Zulli threw back-to-back long completions – a 42-yarder to Harman and a 52-yard touchdown strike over the middle to senior wide receiver Bryan Barley – in a two-play, 94-yard, 41-second drive that gave Shippensburg the lead for good at 20-14 midway through the second quarter.

The touchdown marked the first of four straight Shippensburg touchdown drives to finish out the first half. Zulli completed four straight passes – two to Harman, one to senior running back Mike Frenette and the final one a 20-yard touchdown strike to a sliding Barley in the back right of the end zone – in the Raiders' next drive, a four-play jaunt over 68 yards that chewed up just 48 seconds and put SU in front 27-14.

Shippensburg forced a third straight ESU three-and-out, as the SU offense took over at its own 46-yard-line with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. A 27-yard completion to senior fullback Kevin Herod and a 22-yard reception by sophomore tight end Alex Kuljian brought the Raiders inside the Warriors' five-yard-line, where Frenette pummeled into the end zone two plays later from one yard out for a 34-14 advantage.

East Stroudsburg drove to the SU 32-yard-line on its next drive, but a Daniels deep pass to the end zone landed in the hands of junior defensive back Mike Goode with 1:55 remaining on the clock. Zulli led Shippensburg down the field in seven plays, with the last a one-yard touchdown toss to Herod in the flat with 23 ticks left that put Shippensburg in control for good at halftime, 40-14.

The second half began with SU getting a safety after a snap to the ESU punter sailed over his head and out of the back of the end zone. ESU's next possession ended with an interception from senior linebacker Cody Fleming near midfield.

The Raiders' subsequent six-play drive was finished off with a touchdown pass from a scrambling Zulli that found the hands of diving sophomore wide receiver Sheldon Mayer near the back right pylon for the Raiders' only score in the third quarter and a 49-14 lead.

Lawshe led the Raiders on a scoring drive in the team's first possession of the fourth quarter. The 10-play trip ended with Lawshe completing a five-yard touchdown pass to Harman, just two plays after Lawshe carried SU down near the goal-line on a 17-yard rumble. Lawshe would hit paydirt himself on the team's next possession midway through the final quarter, with the quarterback scoring from four yards out to finish the Raiders' scoring on the night.

Shippensburg returns home next weekend for a 1 p.m. contest against Millersville on Parents & Family Day.

Notes: Shippensburg scored at least 40 first-half points for the second week in a row…Through three games this season, Zulli has thrown for 1,236 yards and 13 touchdowns… SU's 31 first downs were two short of tying the school record set last year in the home victory over Clarion…Saturday night was the Raiders' first night game since a 44-43 overtime loss at West Chester on Oct. 7, 2010…it was the team's first victory at night since a 28-24 win at Clarion earlier in the 2010 season (Sept. 18)…junior defensive end Mike Schmidt made his first career start.