The Shippensburg University football team produced 594 yards of total offense on Saturday at Clarion, its most in a game since Week 4 of the 2017 season, as it defeated the host Golden Eagles by a score of 62-33 in non-conference action at Memorial Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (3-0) ran 90 plays, its most in a game since 2015, en route to 366 passing yards and 228 rushing yards. SU also totaled 32 first downs, its most in a game since Week 10 of the 2017 season.
 
The Raiders got points on seven of their first eight drives of the game – scoring five touchdowns and kicking two field goals. The team's 41 first-half points also happened fast, as five of the seven scoring drives were completed in 2:19 or quicker.
 
The popular connection of the day was redshirt-junior quarterback Brycen Mussina to redshirt-senior wide receiver Kyle Evans, as it produced three touchdowns. The duo combined for a 39-yard score on the opening drive of the game and hooked up again six minutes later for a 48-yard score. Midway through the third quarter, Mussina scrambled out of the pocket and launched a strike to Evans for a 70-yard score.
 
Mussina finished the day 23-of-37 for 350 yards and equaled a career high with five touchdown passes before being relieved in the fourth quarter. Through three games this season, Mussina has thrown for 713 yards, eight touchdowns and zero interceptions.
 
Evans, who was playing against the team that he played for from 2015-17, finished with single-game career highs of seven receptions, 199 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
 
The 199 receiving yards by Evans are the fifth most in SU single-game history and the most in a single game by a Raider since Sheldon Mayer had 244 receiving yards in a road victory at No. 5 Bloomsburg on Oct. 31, 2013.
 
Six different Raiders scored a touchdown. Freshman Ian Sheehan had seven catches for 94 yards and a touchdown, bringing his three-game totals to 16 receptions and 256 receiving yards. Redshirt-junior tight end David Balint III had four catches for 27 yards and his first touchdown of the season.
 
The SU ground game had 49 carries and averaged 4.7 yards per tote. Redshirt-sophomore Khalid Dorsey returned to action and ran for 67 yards on 10 carries. His 20-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the game made it 14-0.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Bill Williams found the end zone again, finishing with 12 carries, 60 yards and a touchdown. Redshirt-freshman Nasai Moon had a career-high 14 carries and ran for 65 yards. Redshirt-sophomore Xavier "Juice" Harris scored his first SU touchdown on a three-yard run on a wide-receiver handoff in the third quarter.
 
Freshman kicker Jaxson Montross was 2-of-3 on field goals, converting kicks of 27 and 31 yards, and was 8-of-8 on PATs.
 
Junior Dante Witcher and senior Trey Paul led the defense with seven tackles. All seven of Witcher's tackles were solo stops, while Paul intercepted his second pass of the season in the second quarter to preface an SU scoring drive.
 
Shippensburg had 7.0 tackles-for-loss (TFLs), with redshirt-sophomore linebacker Tyler Petucci credited with a team-high 1.5 TFLs. Petucci had six total tackles.
 
Clarion (0-3) kept with Shippensburg in the first half thanks to some big plays. Golden Eagle quarterback Taylor Eggers connected with wide receiver Quinn Zinobile on touchdown passes of 73 yards and 53 yards in a 72-second span of the first quarter to make it 14-14 before the game was seven minutes old.
 
Eggers finished with 329 yards and four touchdowns, while Zinobile had five catches for 202 yards. It's the first time an opposing receiver had a 200-yard game against the Raiders since two Warriors achieved the feat in the infamous 69-67 five-overtime win at East Stroudsburg on Oct. 3, 2015. CU tailback Mylique McGriff ran for 100 yards and a touchdown.
 
Overall, the two teams combined for 1,015 yards of total offense and averaged a very nice 6.9 yards per play.
 
Shippensburg opens the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division schedule at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Bloomsburg for Parents & Family Day at Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.