SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team totaled 382 yards Saturday but was held without a touchdown in a difficult home loss to Bloomsburg, 17-6, in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East opener for both teams.
               
Shippensburg (2-2, 0-1 PSAC East) moved the ball well for most of the afternoon, including 200 yards on the ground. The Red Raiders matched Bloomsburg (2-2, 1-0) with 21 first downs Saturday, but could not finish off drives with touchdowns. Shippensburg attempted three field goals on the afternoon, with redshirt-freshman kicker Billy Deane making two and having one blocked.
 
Deane's first field goal, from 23 yards, tied the game at 3-3 late in the first quarter. His second, a career-long 39-yarder, cut Bloomsburg's lead to 10-6 with 12:36 remaining in the game. Deane is now 7-for-8 on the year, with his lone miss coming on the blocked kick in the second quarter of Saturday's game.
 
Three different Shippensburg players had more than 60 yards rushing in the game, led by senior Andrew Smith, who had 76 yards on 12 carries. Smith finished with 196 all-purpose yards. Junior Justin Pyle finished with 63 yards on 11 totes while sophomore quarterback Ryan Zapoticky ran for 62 yards on 12 carries.
 
Zapoticky also completed 17-of-34 passes for 182 yards. Senior Sheldon Mayer led SU with four catches and 47 yards. Senior Quran Kent recorded 42 yards on four receptions. On each of its first three drives, SU drove inside the Bloomsburg 10-yard line, but the three drives finished with an interception, a field goal and a blocked field goal, respectively.
 
The game remained tied 3-3 from the 0:15 mark of the first quarter until Bloomsburg's Joe Parsnik scored on a 12-yard touchdown run with 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Parsnik's touchdown came on Bloomsburg's longest drive of the day – an 11-play, 80-yard voyage that included two fourth down conversions.
 
SU answered with Deane's second field goal, and then forced Bloomsburg to punt after a lengthy drive. However, the Huskies pinned Shippensburg at their own two-yard line with an effective punt.
 
SU went three and out on the ensuing drive, and Bloomsburg scored two plays later on a 30-yard touchdown run by Lawrence Elliott Jr. to put the Huskies up by two scores with 5:30 remaining.

The Huskies finished with 352 rushing yards on 47 attempts. Elliott gained 157 yards on 17 carries himself.
 
Overall, the two teams combined for 864 yards of offense and 42 first downs. However, Shippensburg was 3-of-15 on third-down conversions. Bloomsburg was 4-of-14. Penalties also played a factor, as the Huskies were flagged nine times for 107 yards while Shippensburg accrued 75 yards on eight penalties. The two teams combined for seven holding penalties.
 
Saturday was a matchup of two teams that have dominated the second half in 2015 – Shippensburg entered with a 70-7 advantage in the final two quarters, and Bloomsburg a 38-17 mark in the second half. However, the Huskies outscored Shippensburg 14-3 in the third and fourth quarter of Saturday's matchup.
 
The Red Raiders were led defensively by junior Chad Miller's 10 tackles. Sophomore Kevin Taylor II, who entered with the most passes defended in the PSAC, added his ninth in that category with another break up Saturday. Four different Red Raiders notched a tackle for a loss.

Shippensburg travels to East Stroudsburg next Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup with the Warriors.

NOTES: Shippensburg participated in the national initiative, "Coach to Cure MD," with coaches wearing logo patches on their shirts. Additionally, Teagan Imler, a young boy who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, joined the Red Raider captains for the coin toss at midfield before the game. He was accompanied by his mother, father and brother…joining the Red Raiders as they ran onto the field pre-game was the Red Raider Pack, a group of more than 150 local students...Tricia Maciejewski, the wife of SU head coach Mark Maciejewski, organized the group of local elementary school students from the Shippensburg Area School District.