SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team had a spirited, rip-roaring clash with Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division rival Kutztown on Saturday, but the Red Raiders came up short in a heartbreaking 42-28 setback to the No. 15-ranked Golden Bears on Homecoming from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (3-5, 1-3 PSAC) and Kutztown (7-0, 4-0) combined for 919 passing yards and 58 first downs in a game in which neither team led by more than a touchdown until the final three minutes.
 
Per Homecoming tradition, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post No. 6168 of Shippensburg presented Game MVP trophies for the 28th consecutive year. The honorees were redshirt-freshman quarterback Brycen Mussina and redshirt-junior safety Deionte Wilson.
 
Mussina completed 36-of-53 passes for 510 yards, throwing four touchdowns and two interceptions. The prolific aerial performance by Mussina marks the second-best single-game passing output in SU history, trailing only the memorable 2012 performance of Harlon Hill-winning quarterback Zach Zulli at Kutztown (581 yards). It is the 20th time in PSAC history that a quarterback has finished with at least 500 passing yards in a game.
 
Wilson led the SU defense with a career-high 13 tackles – including six solo stops – and had one interception. It was Wilson's second career interception and first as a Red Raider. 
 
Saturday's game was a back-and-forth battle, with the teams exchanging scores and leads throughout. The squads also prolifically racked up "chunk" plays (plays of 15 or more yards) – Kutztown finished with 14, while Shippensburg totaled 13.
 
Yet it was a pair of point-swinging plays that proved pivotal in the visitors' favor – the first of which came just before halftime. With Shippensburg holding a 21-14 lead and just four seconds left on the clock, the Golden Bears blocked a 34-yard field goal attempt by the Red Raiders, scooped up the loose ball, and returned it for a 74-yard touchdown that evened the score at 21-21.
 
With 2:30 remaining in regulation, and Shippensburg down 35-28, the Red Raiders came within inches of an equalizer. A run play got to the edge of the KU goal line – but the Golden Bears forced a fumble and returned the loose ball out of the end zone to their own 15-yard line.
 
Mayhem ensued in the immediate aftermath of the wild play – ultimately resulting in a pair of SU personal fouls. With the Homecoming crowd and the sidelines still abuzz, KU quarterback Collin DiGalbo took a handoff on the next play from scrimmage and ran unmarked up the left side for a 55-yard touchdown that put the game out of reach for the Red Raiders.
 
It was a madcap conclusion to a riveting contest between Eastern Division juggernauts. After a 12-play, 80-yard drive by Kutztown opened the scoring with 5:24 remaining in the first quarter, Shippensburg immediately answered with a touchdown drive of its own – capped off by a 36-yard strike from Mussina to redshirt-sophomore Winston Eubanks.
 
SU made it 14-7 on its next drive, scoring just before the end of the first quarter as Mussina again found Eubanks – this time for a 35-yard touchdown. With 2:00 left in the opening half and the score locked at 14-14, Mussina threw a long pass to redshirt-junior Josh Gontarek, who broke a tackle after the reception and ran to paydirt for a 77-yard touchdown that gave SU a 21-14 lead.
 
After a scoreless third quarter in which each team intercepted the other, the Golden Bears finished a 12-play, 95-yard drive early in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown throw. SU once again answered on the next drive, with redshirt-junior Kyle Haines going high into the air to convert a 3rd-and-14 into a 29-yard touchdown and make the score 28-28 with 9:38 remaining.
 
The Golden Bears made it three straight touchdown drives, taking a 35-28 lead with 6:57 left on a seven-yard halfback pass that prefaced the decisive final drives of the game.
 
Among the prolific contributors on offense were Eubanks, who finished with 10 catches, 138 yards and two touchdowns, and Gontarek, who had nine catches, 162 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt-freshman David Balint continued to impress, hauling in three catches for 70 yards. Haines finished with three catches, 45 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, redshirt-freshman Sean Judge had five carries for 36 yards.
 
SU had a host of key contributors defensively. Redshirt-junior linebacker Tig Spinelli had 11 tackles – combining with redshirt-senior Richard Nase on a sack to total one tackle-for-loss (TFL).
 
Redshirt-senior John Durkin had a career-high seven tackles, recording three TFLs that included two sacks. Redshirt-junior Dennis Robinson and senior Tyler Emge each had seven tackles, while redshirt-senior Dakota Thompson also had a sack.
 
Shippensburg's defense bottled up KU's leading rusher, Craig Reynolds – limiting him to just 21 yards on eight carries. DiGalbo finished with 102 yards – of which 55 came on the late touchdown. He threw for a career-high 402 yards and three touchdowns.
 
Saturday's contest is the first regulation game since 2014 in which both Shippensburg and its opponent recorded 500 or more yards of total offense in a game (SU and ESU achieved the feat in the infamous five-overtime game in 2015).
 
With three weeks remaining in the regular season, and pending the results of Saturday's suspended games in Erie, Mussina leads the PSAC with 2,651 passing yards (331.4 yards per game) and 23 passing touchdowns. Gontarek ranks second in the PSAC with 841 receiving yards (105.1 yards per game). Thompson ranks third in TFLs (12.0).
 
UP NEXT: Saturday, 12 p.m. at Lock Haven.