SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team ended up on the wrong end of its Saturday afternoon home game that featured four lead changes in the fourth quarter, dropping a 37-33 decision to PSAC Eastern Division opponent East Stroudsburg from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (2-3, 1-3 PSAC) and East Stroudsburg (4-1, 3-1) combined for nearly 1,200 yards of total offense and 59 first downs on a sunny, but windy afternoon. Both teams had its starting quarterback throw for more than 300 yards and also had a ball carrier who ran for more than 100 yards in the contest.
 
Saturday's contest also marked the first time in head coach Mark Maciejewski's tenure that back-to-back games have been decided by less than 10 points. Through 40 career games coached at his alma mater, only five of Coach Mac's games have been decided by single digits.
 
The Red Raiders received a spirited defensive effort in the first half but trailed at the intermission, 16-7, with its lone score coming on a five-yard touchdown run from junior Andrew Smith.
 
Midway through the third quarter, Shippensburg narrowed East Stroudsburg's lead to 16-14 after junior quarterback Chris Lawshe found junior wide receiver Sheldon Mayer open for a 25-yard touchdown reception. Lawshe escaped pressure from the Warriors and found Mayer tucked in the back left corner of the end zone.
 
Lawshe connected with Mayer again late in the third quarter for a 51-yard score. Mayer secured the pass and tip-toed backwards down the sideline before spinning around to run into the end zone.
 
With Mayer's two touchdowns on the afternoon, it marks the fifth time in his career that he has caught two touchdowns in a game. Mayer, the PSAC's leader in receiving yards and touchdowns, totaled more than 100 receiving yards for the fifth straight game.
 
Shippensburg secured its first lead of the game, 26-23, early in the fourth quarter when Lawshe connected with senior wide receiver Trevor Harman. The touchdown reception marked Harman's 56th of his career, putting him two shy of tying West Chester's Mike Washington for the all-time PSAC record. It marked the 28th career game in which he has caught a touchdown.
 
ESU regained the lead just more than three minutes later on a long touchdown pass before the Red Raiders struck again. Smith capped off a 9-play, 73-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown at 7:32 to put the Red Raiders up 33-30. The rushing scores are Smith's first in a Red Raider uniform, with the go-ahead touchdown being set up by a 41-yard toss to junior Daniel Wheeler on a 3rd-and-9 play in which Lawshe evaded the rush and snuck a throw to his fullback open out of the backfield.
 
The Warriors immediately answered to obtain their decisive scoring margin with 5:55 to play. Both teams would punt on their next possession, giving the Red Raiders the ball on their 21-yard line with 1:41 to play. SU managed to get to the ESU 27-yard line with less than 30 seconds remaining but a pair of ESU sacks stymied the rally.
 
Lawshe tallied 315 passing yards, completing 27-of-47 pass attempts to go along with his three touchdowns. He was also intercepted twice and sacked five times. SU's junior quarterback also had to regularly evade an uber-aggressive, blitzing Warrior defense – managing to total 59 yards on the ground for the day.
 
Senior Blair Brooks finished the afternoon with 101 rushing yards on 20 carries – marking the seventh 100-yard game of his career. Only one of his carries went for negative yardage Saturday; he now has just four negative rushes on 80 total totes this season.

The Red Raiders ran for 220 yards on the day. Smith finished with 36 yards on seven carries, while sophomore Justin Pyle added 13 yards on three carries. Senior Michael Lloyd even had nine yards on a fake punt that he ran for a first down.
 
Matt Soltes, ESU's talented quarterback, totaled 527 yards of offense Saturday, including a team-high 111 rushing yards. He threw for four scores but was also intercepted by D.J. Burkey – the first career pick for SU's sophomore safety. Redshirt-freshman defensive back Chavez Cheatham led the Red Raiders with 10 tackles, while senior linebackers James Brennan and Brian Sourber each added eight.
 
ESU senior defensive lineman Bryan Thomson blocked two kicks in the game – a Lloyd field goal in the first quarter and the extra point on SU's go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. Thomson now has blocked 14 career kicks – including an extra point last season against the Red Raiders.

Redshirt-freshman Jeff Gulyas blocked the extra point for the Red Raiders after ESU's opening touchdown in the first quarter. 
 
Shippensburg is on the road for the next two weeks. The Red Raiders play at 3 p.m. next Saturday in Lock Haven.

Notes: Brooks moved into SU's all-time Top 10 for all-purpose yardage in the contest…he has now totaled 3,388 all-purpose yards in 34 games, supplanting Mike Harris '09 (3,323)…Harman (3,846) moved past Jamie Ware (3,822) and Mike Erlandson (3,818) into fifth on the SU all-time all-purpose yards list…Mayer (132) moved into eighth on SU's all-time receptions list and is 88 receiving yards from cracking SU's all-time Top 10 for that category…SU has rushed for more than 150 yards in four of five games this season after doing so just five times in 2013…SU dropped its second straight home game when scoring 30 or more points after previously going 15-0 under Maciejewski when scoring 30 or more points…SU has scored at least 17 points in all 20 home games under Maciejewski.