Box Score HTML BOXSCORE

SHIPPENSBURG – In a battle of nationally ranked, unbeaten teams 10th-ranked Shippensburg University scored with five seconds left to knock off 4th-ranked Bloomsburg University, 49-42, on Saturday in a PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) Eastern Division matchup in front of over 7,100 fans at Seth Grove Stadium.
 
With the win, Shippensburg improves to 9-0 and wins the PSAC Eastern Division title with a 6-0 record. Bloomsburg falls to 8-1, 5-1 in the PSAC East.
 
Bloomsburg, which trailed 35-7 at halftime, tied the score at 42-all with 2:39 to play on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Tim Kelly (Camp Hill/Cedar Cliff) to Ryan Dickerson (Harleysville/Souderton).
 
The Red Raiders though got the ball back at their own 17-yard line and marched down the field with quarterback Zach Zulli completing a two-yard scoring pass to Bryan Barley for the game winning points. A key play on the drive was a holding call on Bloomsburg on a third-and-10 play when Zulli's pass had gone incomplete.
 
Bloomsburg had one last play, but Kelly's pass was incomplete ending the game.
 
“We played very well on all sides of the ball in the second half, and that was the only way we were going to be able to bring this back,” head coach Danny Hale said.  “We did everything we needed to do and created turnovers against a team that doesn't turn the ball over very much.”
 
Junior running back Franklyn Quiteh (Tobyhanna/Pocono Mountain West) finished with 31 carries for 268 yards and four scores, while Kelly was 11-for-27 passing for 158 yards and a touchdown. Dickerson finished with five catches for 108 yards and one score.
 
Defensively, Jarrett Pidgeon (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) had 13 tackles, while Terrell Oglesby (Philadelphia/Northeast Catholic) had a career-high eight tackles. Both seniors brought down an interception as Pidgeon took his 39 yards for a touchdown.
 
“We're all tough kids here and we pride ourselves in not quitting,” Pidgeon said.  “Looking ahead, we just need to play every game like we did in the second half today. Games like this are the reason we come to Bloomsburg.”

For Shippensburg, Zulli finished 35-for-60 with two interceptions for 496 yards and seven touchdowns and also rushed for 80 yards. Trevor Harman caught seven passes for 172 yards and three scores.
 
Quiteh opened the second half with a season-long 67-yard touchdown run, moving him into fifth place in the PSAC in career rushing yards to pass former Red Raider John Kuhn and pulling the Huskies to within 35-14 with 14:13 left in the third quarter.  Later in the game, Quiteh moved into fourth place passing IUP's Michael Mann.  Quiteh has rushed for 4,825 yards in over three seasons in the maroon and gold.
 
Pidgeon answered the Quiteh run with a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown the following possession to bring the game to 35-21 just 1:39 into the third quarter. The two touchdowns equaled the number of third period scores allowed by Shippensburg all season entering Saturday.
 
After a trade of punts and a missed field goal opportunity for Shippensburg, the Red Raiders were able to increase their lead to 42-21 on a 45-yard scoring pass from Zulli to Trevor Harman with 3:21 to go in the third.
 
The Huskies, though, answered that score with a long, 14-play, 83-yard drive, mainly on the legs of Quiteh. The junior carried 10 of the 14 plays and went the final nine yards for the score to make it 42-28 with 12:29 to play.
 
On the next possession, sophomore linebacker Justin Shirk (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) forced a Red Raider fumbled at their own 43 with Bloomsburg's DJ Robinson (Sinking Spring/Conrad Weiser) recovering.  After a two-yard run by Quiteh, Kelly hit Dickerson for 12 yards to the Shippensburg 29-yard line.  Quiteh then went the final 29 yards for his third score to make it 42-35.
 
After a trade of punts, the Red Raiders took over at their own 41-yard line with 6:23 to play.  Moving the ball into Bloomsburg territory Zulli was brought down by senior defensive end Larry Webster (Hagerstown, MD/Elkton), who forced a fumble with Shirk recovering giving the Huskies the ball back and setting up Kelly's game-tying throw to Dickerson.
 
“We came out in the second half and did exactly what we needed to do,” Quiteh said.  “Coach Hale told us at halftime that our character was going to be tested and we would be faced with adversity, and we kept our heads in the game and put points on the board.”
 
The comeback was needed after the Huskies found themselves in a 14-0 hole before their offense even stepped on the field.  Shippensburg used the opening kickoff to get on the board first with a 39-yard TD pass from Zulli t Harman.  Bloomsburg then fumbled the kickoff to give the Red Raiders the ball deep in Huskies territory.  They scored on the first play of the drive on an 18-yard pass to running back Mike Frenette to take a 14-point advantage less than three minutes into the game.
 
Shirk gave the Huskies with some defensive momentum to lead to the first BU score of the day.  Shirk rushed up the middle on a fourth-and-short and made a strong hit on Zulli to force a bad pass and an SU turnover on downs.
 
Bloomsburg went six plays, 79 yards to score its first touchdown of the game off a 13-yard run by Quiteh.  Kelly ran a season-long 26 yards on the drive and had some great receiving efforts by Dickerson and senior tight end Dylan Manni (Bensalem/Bensalem) to move the Huskies downfield.
 
Webster forced Shippensburg's first punt of the day late in the first quarter with a big sack up the middle on third down, giving him a team-high 10.5 sacks for the season.
 
On its opening play of the second quarter, Shippensburg tossed a 63-yard touchdown pass to extend the Raider lead to 28-7.  Following a Kelly interception, the Raiders then took it 13 plays for 87 yards with Zulli throwing a two-yard touchdown to lead 35-7.
 
Oglesby stepped up for the Huskies defense with his team-leading third interception of the season, ending a Shippensburg school-record streak of 200 consecutive passes without an interception for Zulli. The Huskies though could not take advantage of the turnover and turned the ball over on the final play of the half when Kelly was intercepted deep in Shippensburg territory.
 
“They're a very effective football team, and we just made too many mistakes today,” Hale said.  “This was a big physical game and it takes a lot out of you.  Right now we will lick our wounds, but there is still a lot of season left.  If we finish the season off well beginning with next week at home, we could have a great shot at the postseason.”
 
The Huskies return home next week for their final home game of the regular season.  They host West Chester at Danny  Hale Field at Redman Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 3 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.