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SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — The Shippensburg University football team began PSAC Eastern Division play Saturday with a bevy of big plays and numerous standout performances, racking up 317 return yards and 421 yards of total offense in a 41-31 victory over East Stroudsburg on a cloudy and rainy afternoon from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.

Shippensburg (1-2, 1-0 PSAC East) improved its home winning streak to 10 games by answering East Stroudsburg's (2-1, 0-1 PSAC East) second-half scoring drives with touchdowns of its own. After a scoreless third quarter, the two teams combined for 35 points in less than 10 minutes of the fourth quarter – including three SU scores of 65 or more yards.

With the exception of East Stroudsburg's first touchdown, Shippensburg countered each of the Warriors' four remaining scores Saturday with a touchdown of its own less than a minute later. All six of SU's scoring drives lasted 95 seconds or less, with five occurring in under a minute.

"It was a tough game and they played us hard, but it's big for us to come out of there with a victory," head coach Mark Maciejewski said after the game. "We played decent football. We have got to clean a lot of things up, but we made some big plays today."

Among the many standout SU performers Saturday was junior Shannon Maura, who made his Red Raider debut and shattered the school record with 240 kickoff return yards on just five runbacks. Maura had an electric 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that extended SU's lead and nearly reached paydirt in the first half with an 83-yard return.

Junior wide receiver Trevor Harman caught six passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns – including an 81-yard strike less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Harman also toe-tapped the end zone with 10 seconds left in the first half for a 20-yard touchdown that gave SU a 17-14 lead going into the intermission and caught another in the first quarter after Maura's 83-yard return.

Senior quarterback Zach Zulli threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-36 passing, completing a pass to eight different receivers in the contest. Zulli surpassed the 8,000-yard mark for his career and now has 95 passing touchdowns in 27 games.

Sophomore quarterback Chris Lawshe made frequent appearances in Saturday's game and led the team in rushing – helping to clinch the victory with a career-long 67-yard touchdown scamper with 3:25 remaining. Lawshe had eight rushes for 97 yards. 

Junior wide receiver Sheldon Mayer opened the scoring less than four minutes in with a 12-yard touchdown reception and also racked up 77 punt return yards – giving him 179 in just three games.

SU's defense yielded its most yards since Maciejewski's head coaching debut at Shepherd in 2011 but managed success with its pass rush – totaling five sacks, seven quarterback hurries and eight pass breakups. Senior defensive end Jake Metz was relentless with 10 tackles, including 2.5 sacks, and two pass breakups. Sophomore linebacker Cortlin Dell also tied for a game high with a career-high 10 tackles while junior linebacker James Brennan tied his career high with nine tackles and had a forced fumble.

The Red Raiders only trailed for 46 seconds in Saturday's game. After staking out a 13-3 lead through one quarter, SU relinquished two Warrior touchdowns in less than two minutes late in the second quarter before driving 75 yards on just five plays to regain the lead.

Shippensburg will travel to Millersville next Saturday for a noon matchup with the Marauders from the Biemesderfer.
  
Notes: SU has scored at least 36 points in all 10 games of its current home winning streak and is one win shy of tying the school record for consecutive home victories (11, set from 1925-27)…SU has now won five straight over ESU and has not lost to the Warriors since 2008…Maura's 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown is SU's first since Jeff Fertig returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown at C.W. Post on Oct. 3, 2009…the previous school record for single-game kickoff return yardage was 158 by Mike Erlandson vs. Bloomsburg on Oct. 25, 1997…Harman now has eight 100-yard receiving games and has caught a touchdown in 17 career contests, three short of tying Mike Harris's school record…Harman leads the PSAC with 350 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns through three games…Harman's 32 career touchdown receptions ranks 10th in PSAC history…Metz now has 22 career sacks and is just 2.5 sacks shy of the school record…Saturday was Metz's 16th career game with a sack…the two teams combined for 981 yards of total offense Saturday and each averaged 6.1 yards per play…SU has converted all seven of its red-zone chances in the last two games…Red Raider quarterbacks have been sacked 12 times in 2013 after taking just 16 sacks in 2012…senior kicker Drew Newcomer attempted a 49-yard field goal in the fourth quarter that would have tied his school record set last week…junior tight end Alex Kuljian caught a career-high three passes Saturday…SU's opponents have maintained a 10-1 turnover margin this season, including a 3-0 margin for ESU on Saturday…the Red Raiders have forced six fumbles but managed just one recovery…senior Nate Schmidt booted a career-long punt of 59 yards in the first quarter.