SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team had a memorable Senior Day Saturday as every senior skill position player scored a touchdown in a 69-20 victory over Mercyhurst in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover game at SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium to end the 2015 season.

The Red Raiders (8-3) rolled up a season-high 620 yards of total offense, including 344 yards rushing, to send eight seniors off on a high note. After dropping a tough decision last week at Kutztown in the PSAC East finale, the Raiders responded with its fourth 60-plus point game of the season.

"It was passionate, Red Raider football, which we had talked about all week. I'm proud of them for being able to bounce back from last Saturday," Shippensburg head coach Mark Maciejewski said. "What a heck of a game by our seniors...Football is such a special sport and it goes by so fast, so we made sure they had a great memory. We had to come out and we had to fight today. We had to fight for 60 minutes. We challenged (our) guys all week about it and they did it today."

"They might be leaving the program, but they'll always be part of the family."
                     
Shippensburg had five different seniors score touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Sheldon Mayer ended his incredible Shippensburg career with three catches for 114 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown on a play-action pass in the second quarter. Saturday's touchdown makes 228 career points scored by Mayer – the second-most by a non-kicker in SU history.
 
Mayer finishes his career with the second-most catches in SU history and the fourth-most receiving yards. As a punt returner, Mayer set the new record for best career punt return average at 14.3 yards per return. Mayer's 22.3 yards per punt return this season was also a new SU single-season record.
 
Both records were previously held by current Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes ('02-'05).
 
Senior Andrew Smith finished his career in style as he set the single-season SU record for all-purpose yardage. Smith recorded 172 all-purpose yards Saturday to up his 2015 total to 1,831 yards, breaking the record previously set by running back Mike Frenette (1,780 yards) in 2011.
 
Senior fullback Daniel Wheeler caught a seven-yard touchdown in the second half for the Red Raiders. Senior receiver Quran Kent followed suit with a 76-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
 
Scoring the final touchdown of the day was senior Shannon Maura, who broke off a 57-yard touchdown run – his first of the season.
 
Among the other standout performances for SU was sophomore quarterback Ryan Zapoticky, who set both the single-game and single-season Red Raider record for rushing yards by a quarterback. Zapoticky carried the ball 13 times for 138 yards and three touchdowns – all of which came in the first half.

The previous SU record for rush yards by a quarterback in a single game was held by Ralph Sassaman, who ran for 127 yards against Lock Haven on Oct. 16, 1965.
 
Zapoticky finishes with 561 rushing yards in 2015, breaking the record set by quarterback Chris Lawshe last season. The sophomore signal caller finished with six total touchdowns as he completed 10-of-18 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
 
Redshirt-freshman defensive end Richard Nase capped his outstanding rookie season with two sacks to break the school record for sacks in a season. Nase finishes the 2015 season with 12 sacks, topping the mark previously set by defensive end Jake Metz (11.5) in 2012.
 
Finishing their careers on the defensive side of the ball were senior defensive end Kurt Walker and senior linebacker Cortlin Dell.
 
Walker had one of SU's three sacks and his big hit of Mercyhurst quarterback Logan Weaver forced an easy interception. Dell recorded 10 tackles, including 1.5 for a loss.
 
Mercyhurst scored first with a rushing touchdown Saturday, but the Red Raiders responded with four consecutive touchdowns. The Lakers cut the SU lead to 28-14 with a score in the second quarter, but again SU scored four straight touchdowns to pull away quickly.

Saturday's result was a far cry from the previous three meetings between the two teams -- all of which were tied at halftime either 14-14 or 13-13. Shippensburg scored the most points by an opposing team against Mercyhurst since Nov. 12, 1983 (Edinboro defeated the Lakers, 74-13). 
 
The Shippensburg defense had six interceptions in the game Saturday – tied for the second-most in SU single-game history. The last time SU picked off six passes came 24 years ago on Sept. 21, 1991 vs. Kutztown.
 
The Red Raiders did not turn the ball over Saturday, and finished this season with just 10 giveaways – by far the least in school history for a single season. The previous low for a season was 16 giveaways in both 1981 and 1999. SU ends the season with a PSAC-best turnover-margin of plus-19.

Shippensburg and PSAC Champion Slippery Rock were the only two teams to finish the regular season among the league's Top 4 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. The Rock is first in scoring offense (48.7) and second in scoring defense (17.8) while the Red Raiders are second in scoring offense (44.1) and fourth in scoring defense (25.0). 

The Red Raiders led the PSAC in sacks this season (37) and tied for the league lead in interceptions (20). 
                                                                                                    
SU finishes the 2015 season as one of four teams in the PSAC, and the only team in the PSAC East, to win eight games. Smith's 1831 all-purpose yards led the PSAC.

A full rundown of SU's records and accomplishments in 2015 should be available by Tuesday at shipraiders.com. There's more than a couple things to highlight.