SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University football team trailed Slippery Rock in the final minute of a conference crossover matchup Saturday, but redshirt-senior defensive end Richard Nase recovered a fumble in the end zone to give the Red Raiders a 25-21 victory over The Rock on a cool, damp afternoon at SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (2-0) and Slippery Rock (1-1) engaged in a madcap affair that left its postgame observers attempting to adequately quantify the extent of what they had witnessed. The two teams combined for 907 yards of total offense, 222 penalty yards, eight turnovers, multiple blocked or stubbed kicks, two defensive touchdowns, and a season's worth of weird plays in just 60 minutes of football.
 
The game's first half was relatively innocent enough, with The Rock taking a 7-6 lead into the intermission despite 270 yards of offense from the Red Raiders.
 
However, the game's first score was a sign of things to come, as SRU's Trysten McDonald returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown with 3:33 left in the first quarter. McDonald was the beneficiary of a suboptimal exchange between redshirt-freshman Brycen Mussina and redshirt-senior Marcus Lominy that flew right into his hands, and his momentum assisted him down the field to paydirt.
 
With 3:50 left in the opening half, Mussina found redshirt-junior Josh Gontarek for a 59-yard touchdown that made the score 7-6, as the PAT was missed. Gontarek caught a slant near the line of scrimmage, broke a couple tackles on first contact, and skillfully navigated his way downfield for the first SU score.
 
The home stretch featured five lead changes in the final 24 minutes of play.
 
Six minutes into the third quarter, SU attempted a 20-yard field goal that was blocked. The resulting deflection, however, was ruled to have contacted a Slippery Rock player, and upon a lengthy consultation by the game officials, the Red Raiders were awarded possession on the 1-yard line as graduate center Alec Petrillo had pounced on the loose ball.
 
One play later, redshirt-junior Luke Durkin plunged in for a touchdown that made it 12-7. SU went for a two-point conversion and called a trick play, but redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Winston Eubanks threw an incomplete pass.
 
On the ensuing drive, Slippery Rock converted a 3rd-and-15 with a 19-yard jump ball won in the air by Austin Scott. Two plays later, Chacar Berry scored to give the Green and White a 14-12 advantage.
 
The score remained that way into the fourth quarter. With 10:30 remaining, senior Tyler Emge made a nifty red-zone interception to quash an SRU threat, and returned the ball to midfield. Three players later, on 3rd-and-8, Mussina found redshirt-sophomore Charles Headen III for a 33-yard touchdown that made it 19-14 SU.
 
The Rock quickly drove downfield but stalled its ensuing drive at the SU five-yard line. SRU's 22-yard field goal attempt, however, went errant and hit an offensive lineman in the back. The resulting carom and attempted Shippensburg fumble return led to mass confusion on the field, with the Red Raiders ultimately getting the ball after the officials concluded the kick never advanced beyond the line of scrimmage.
 
With 5:00 remaining, Slippery Rock got the ball back and replacement quarterback Taylor King completed a 62-yard touchdown up the seam to make it 21-18 in the visitors' favor. SU then marched downfield and completed five first downs on its subsequent drive, but opposing defensive back Khadir Roberts intercepted a pass at the 2-yard line with 1:06 left.
 
Shippensburg called its second timeout with 59 seconds left after a 1-yard run by The Rock. On the next play, a shotgun snap sailed over King's head, and Nase fell on the ball in the end zone to transform a seemingly inevitable loss into a new opportunity for the Red Raiders.
 
Slippery Rock mustered one last drive, reaching the SU 30-yard line in the final 30 seconds, but an interception by redshirt-junior John Chaney III sealed the result.
 
Mussina finished the day 23-of-48 for 285 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. SRU quarterback Taylor King was 20-of-29 for 335 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions --- all of which was achieved in the second half. King, who had 212 yards in the fourth quarter alone, entered in the third quarter after an apparent injury to starter Andrew Koester.
 
After an opening 30 minutes in which the two teams combined for 161 rushing yards, Shippensburg and Slippery Rock totaled 31 rushes for a total of four yards in the second half. Of the 463 yards the two teams produced in the second half, 459 came through the air.
 
Headen III led the Raiders with four receptions for 44 yards. Redshirt-junior Shea O'Donnell and Lominy each had four catches, while Gontarek had three catches for 84 yards. Lominy paced the Red Raiders on the ground with 77 yards.
 
Defensively, redshirt-junior Eric Dzieniszewski posted a career-high 11 tackles to lead the Red Raiders. Dzieniszewski also stymied an attempted flea-flicker in the third quarter by achieving his first career tackle-for-loss (TFL) with a 10-yard sack.
 
Emge and redshirt-senior linebacker Steven Cain each had 11 tackles. For Emge, that total ties a career high, while Cain sets a new single-game best for the second straight week. Redshirt-junior Tig Spinelli had 10 tackles, including a TFL, while redshirt-freshman Trey Paul made a career-high nine tackles.
 
Redshirt-seniors Josh Lister and Dakota Thompson combined for 3.5 of SU's five sacks. Lister entered the day with 1.5 career sacks through 35 games but finished with two on Saturday.
 
SU had achieved half of its 10 second-half first downs via SRU penalties. The Red Raiders also forced five turnovers – including three in the fourth quarter.
 
UP NEXT: Saturday vs. California, 1 p.m.