SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Shippensburg seeks its eighth consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium when it plays host to Millersville on Parents and Family Day. The Red Raiders have not won eight consecutive games since the 1981 team began its season 12-0.
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. Coverage will also be shown on terrestrial television on Comcast community channel 21 and campus channel 82.
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.
Shippensburg is currently three spots outside of the Top 25 in the latest AFCA Division II coaches poll. The Red Raiders are receiving 34 votes.
Through three games, Shippensburg leads the PSAC in numerous offensive categories, including scoring (156 points), passing offense (450 ypg), passing efficiency (195.9), total offense (581.7) and first downs (81). The 156 points are by far the most ever scored in the first three games of a season by the Red Raiders – it surpasses the previous record set last season of 122 through such a span.
SU's passing offense and total offense marks also lead all of Division II. There are 158 football teams in the Division II statistical rankings.
In 14 games with head coach
Mark Maciejewski and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich in their respective positions, the Red Raiders have scored 567 points (40.5 ppg) and totaled 4,209 passing yards (300.6 ypg) and posted a 10-4 record.
Shippensburg with 23 returning starters from a season ago, was picked to finish fifth in the PSAC Eastern Division preseason coaches poll. SU went 7-4 last season in which it scored 411 points and were ranked among the Top 5 PSAC teams in 18 major statistical categories.
Millersville, meanwhile, was voted to finish seventh in the PSAC Eastern Division Football Coaches Preseason Poll. The Marauders went 3-8 last season, including 2-5 against PSAC East opponents, and returns 17 starters to the fold.
Last weekend, junior quarterback
Zach Zulli set the school single-game records for passing yards and total offense 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 Red Raiders 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 – easily surpassed SU's nearly 30-year-old previous school record of 423 yards, thrown by Mark Beans in a 1983 game.
That same evening, the West Chester offense put on a spectacular display for its home fans under the lights by totaling 655 yards of offense for a 65-14 win over Millersville. West Chester quarterback Mike Mattei completed 16-of-20 passes for 382 yards and tossed six touchdown passes. It was the most yards West Chester had put up against Millersville in the 80-year history of their rivalry and the fourth-most in West Chester single game history.
Series History vs. Millersville
The Red Raiders lead the overall series 39-23-2. SU has won the last eight meetings in the series but lost the previous five before the current streak began in 2001. The regional rivals have faced each other 17 times over the past 24 seasons but the first divisional entry in the series came in 2008.
The two teams first met in 1916 with Shippensburg earning a 15-0 home victory. SU has out-scored Millersville 206-93 over the last seven meetings between the two squads.
Last season, the two teams played in a rare October snowstorm on Millersville's Homecoming from the Biemesderfer. SU held Millersville to minus-7 yards of total offense until its final drive of the game and just 62 yards overall while running for 391 yards, the fourth-best single-game total in school history, in a 40-0 shutout of the Marauders.
