CHEYNEY, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team secured its seventh straight winning season under head coach Mark 'Mac' Maciejewski on Saturday afternoon after posting a 56-0 shutout over Cheyney in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division game on a mostly grey afternoon from O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (6-1, 3-1 PSAC East) recorded its third shutout of the year, marking its most in a season since 2003. The Red Raiders set a school record with their fifth defensive touchdown of the season – a 41-yard interception return by senior Kevin Taylor II – to tie Bemidji State and Fairmont State for the most defensive touchdowns by an NCAA Division II team in 2017.
 
Cheyney (1-6, 0-4) finished with minus-3 yards of total offense, the lowest output by a team in all divisions of NCAA Football thus far in 2017. The Wolves ran 47 plays on Saturday, completing 8-of-24 passes for 20 yards and attempting 23 rushes for minus-23 yards – losing 33 of those yards on a snap that sailed over the punter. Only 14 of Cheyney's plays resulted in positive yardage, three of which went for just one yard. The Wolves finished with two first downs and went 0-of-13 on third down.
 
It is just the second time in school history that a Red Raider opponent has finished with negative yards of total offense – Shippensburg's school record for total defense is minus-29 yards against Bridgewater College in 1953. It is the eighth time in school history that the opposition has finished with negative rushing yards, and the first time since Millersville had minus-29 yards in the 2015 season.
 
Shippensburg finished with 11 tackles-for-loss (TFLs) – marking the third straight game that the defense has had a double-digit output in a game. Ten different Red Raiders contributed to a tackle-for-loss, while redshirt-freshman defensive end Tim Bradley had a game-high three – including a sack. Junior J.T. Hopple led SU with seven total tackles, while senior Darius Wills had six tackles – including 1.5 TFLs.
 
All seven of Shippensburg's offensive touchdowns came on the ground. SU ran the ball 54 times for 273 yards and seven scores, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Redshirt-freshman London Whitfeld had a game-high 17 carries, all in the second half, for 57 yards and his first two collegiate touchdowns. Senior Cole Chiappialle had seven rushes for 48 yards and three touchdowns, while graduate Colin McDermott had eight carries for 39 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Last week, senior Ryan Zapoticky became the 11th quarterback in PSAC history with 1,000 career rushing yards. On Saturday, junior Chase Yocum became the 12th – he led Shippensburg with 86 yards on 16 carries. Zapoticky had 28 rushing yards himself, passing current Penn State head coach and East Stroudsburg alumnus James Franklin (1,077 yards) to rank eighth all-time among PSAC quarterbacks with 1,079 career rushing yards. Yocum now ranks 10th with 1,064 career rushing yards.
 
It is the first known occurrence in PSAC history that a team boasts multiple quarterbacks on its roster with 1,000 or more career rushing yards. Zapoticky also completed 10-of-14 passes for 126 yards on Saturday; his 6,074 career passing yards now rank fourth all-time in school history behind Zach Zulli (10,988), Chris Gicking (6,365) and Brian Gilbert (6,205).
 
Among the other notable firsts occurring Saturday included a 14-yard carry by sophomore fullback Mike Cassidy, an extra point by redshirt-freshman Larry Eimer, and a sack by redshirt-freshman Alec Aspray that came on the final play of the game.
 
SU's seven consecutive winning seasons marks its longest such stretch since an eight-year streak from 1950-57 under coaches Vinton Rambo and Jack Roddick in which the team posted a 50-9-4 combined record. Maciejewski, in his seventh season, is now second all-time among Red Raider head coaches in victories with a 52-23 overall record.
 
Shippensburg hosts Millersville at 1 p.m. Saturday for Homecoming from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.