The Shippensburg University football team ended its 2016 season Saturday on a high note, scoring all of its points in the first half and using that early momentum to stave off home-standing Seton Hill, 30-21, in a conference crossover at Offutt Field in Greensburg.
 
Shippensburg (7-4) scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and led 30-14 at halftime, but the Red Raiders were shutout in the second half. Seton Hill (5-6) connected on a 77-yard touchdown pass less than five minutes into the third quarter to get within nine points, but there would be no scoring for the final 25 minutes of play.
 
SU collected 410 yards of total offense, highlighted by a 92-yard touchdown run in the first quarter from redshirt-junior Cole Chiappialle. Chiappialle finished with 107 yards on five rush attempts.
 
Senior Justin Pyle also collected 77 total yards, 62 of which were on the ground. Pyle finishes his 48-game Red Raider career with 1,619 rushing yards, ranking him among the Top 15 in school history for the category.
 
Junior quarterback Ryan Zapoticky returned to the field after missing five games with injury, and keyed the first-half momentum by throwing touchdown passes to three different seniors. Zapoticky threw for 220 yards, completing 16-of-34 attempts for three touchdowns without an interception.
 
Wide receiver Brady Forney, Jordan Harro and Erik Kerns achieved the scores in their final collegiate contests. Forney opened the scoring just 2:43 into the game with a 40-yard touchdown reception to begin a drive. Kerns had a 54-yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter, and Harro hauled in a 27-yard touchdown that gave SU a 27-7 lead.
 
Defensively, the Red Raiders turned in another stout performance. Shippensburg did not allow Seton Hill one third down in the game – the Griffins were 0-of-14 on third-down in the contest. Seton Hill entered the game as the No. 2 passing offense in the country, and the Red Raiders held the hosts to 299 passing yards – 137 of which came on the two Griffin aerial scores.
 
Senior defensive back Jordan Harper, playing against his former team, made the most of his finale. Harper paced the Red Raider defense with a career-high 10 tackles (nine solo), and intercepted a pass for the second consecutive week.
 
In the trenches, sophomore Dakota Thompson collected two sacks – giving him an impressive eight sacks for the season. Fellow sophomore Richard Nase added a half-sack, giving him 5.5 for the season. Nase finished as SU's leaders in tackle-for-loss on the year with 13.5. Through two years, Nase and Thompson have combined for 43 tackles-for-loss -- including 26 sacks.
 
Shippensburg especially hunkered down defensively in the second half. After yielding the early third-quarter touchdown, the Red Raiders stymied the Griffins in allowing just 64 yards on their final five drives of the contest.
 
SU's defense finishes the year allowing just 187 points (17.0 points per game), the fewest yielded by the Red Raiders in a single season since 2004 (13.6 ppg; 163 in 12 games).
 
The Red Raiders finish with the sixth straight winning season for head coach Mark 'Mac' Maciejewski, who has posted a 46-22 record since his appointment in 2011.
 
Shippensburg and its players have again achieved numerous school records and milestones in 2016. Among them, the Red Raiders tied a school record set last season in committing just 10 turnovers (9 interceptions, 1 fumble) in 11 games. SU are the only NCAA Division II team and one of just nine spanning all divisions to lose just one fumble this season.

A full list of records and other achievements will be available early next week at shipraiders.com.