Sophomore tailback Kendrick Williams ran 21 times for 119 yards and a touchdown and redshirt senior wide receiver Ed Kiser had four catches for 133 yards to lead the ESU offense. Kiser finished the game with exactly 2,000 receiving yards going into next Saturday's season-ender at Edinboro.
Redshirt senior outside linebacker Matt Freed had 12 tackles to go over the 100-tackle mark for the third straight season and had his 23rd game with 10+ tackles in 33 career starts. He has 106 tackles this season and extended his hold on the third spot in school history with 385 career stops. Freed, record-holder Jeff Johnson and Kevin Nagle, all All-Americans, are the only three Warriors with three 100-tackle seasons.
The Warriors’ defense held Shippensburg’s Wing T rushing attack to 82 yards on 42 carries and their top rusher, Kevin Marshall, had seven carries for a loss of six yards, but Adams had a career day with 343 yards and two touchdowns.
Adams threw for every yard on a nine play, 80-yard drive in the final 2:03. He was 23-for-37 on the day and was 16-for-23 for 249 yards in the second half. Frenette (7-118) and Bryan Barley (7-138) both had more than 100 receiving yards.
ESU (3-7, 2-5) led 17-0 late in the first half before Shippensburg (4-6, 3-4) got on the board with 45 seconds left as Drew Newcomer hit a 35-yard field goal. Newcomer also scored the only points of the third quarter, making a 26-yard kick to cap a 16 play, 65-yard drive on Ship’s first possession of the second half, before Adams hit Frenette for a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors jumped out to their lead with success both on the ground (22 carries, 115 yards) and through the air (5-for-11, 106 yards) in the first half, while the defense had a crucial goal-line stand early in the second quarter.
Williams gave ESU a 7-0 lead on its opening drive with a 14-yard run to finish an efficient five play, 63-yard opening march that took just 1:44. Neither team got much going the rest of the first quarter, including a 4th-and-2 stop by the ESU defense at the 35-yard line when junior defensive end Brett Moss threw Marshall for a seven-yard loss.
Shippensburg marched inside the Warriors’ five-yard line on its next possession but came up empty. Junior safety Herschel Thornton saved a touchdown on first-and-goal, knocking Roshaan McCain out of bounds at the two-yard line, and junior linebacker Mike Bergey was in on the stop on the next three plays as Marshall came up empty on three straight cracks at the end zone.
The Warriors came out throwing after their defensive stand, as redshirt senior quarterback Matt Marshall hit Kiser with a short pass on the second snap from the five and Kiser nearly went the distance, only being tripped up by Terence Glenn at the end of a 68-yard pass play. Williams carried for 14 yards to the 13-yard line, but the Shippensburg defense held and freshman kicker Taylor Groff made a 25-yard field goal to push the margin to 10-0.
Thornton picked off Adams’ next aerial and the offense went back to work, going 76 yards in seven plays to take a 17-0 lead. Kiser’s 37-yard run on a reverse was the first key play, and Marshall scrambled and found redshirt freshman tailback Joe Klebon for a 24-yard gain on a 3rd-and-8 before sophomore tailback Eric Deery scored on a three-yard run on the next play.
Newcomer’s first field goal late in the first half completed a 54-yard drive by the Red Raiders that stalled at the ESU 18-yard line, while the second came after a time-consuming (6:52) march after Shippensburg took the opening kickoff of the second half.
ESU threatened on its only possession of the third quarter, sparked by Kiser’s diving 35-yard catch that converted a 3rd-and-15 into Shippensburg territory, but Marshall’s shot for Kiser in the end zone was deflected and intercepted by Bryan Culler at the three-yard line.
Backed up to its own end zone, Shippensburg embarked on a 10 play, 97-yard drive that made the score 17-12 on the second play of the fourth quarter. Adams converted a 3rd-and-12 with a 35-yard pass to Barley and ultimately tossed a 27-yard TD to Frenette on 3rd-and-5, as the Red Raiders were 8-for-18 on third downs in the game. Adams’ two-point conversion pass to make it a field goal game was intercepted by Freed in the end zone, and he tripped up the Warriors’ All-American linebacker near midfield as the two-point attempt went the other way.
ESU’s ensuing possession came to a halt at the 34-yard line and senior Greg Knauss’ punt just got into the end zone for a touchback. The defense came up with a stop after Shippensburg drove to the ESU 41, but the Warriors ended up punting the ball back to the Red Raiders with 2:03 remaining.
Adams hit Barley for three straight big plays – 13, 19 and 30 yards – to quickly move Shippensburg to the ESU 18-yard line on its final drive. Adams’ next pass was incomplete and he was sacked by Freed and redshirt junior defensive tackle Cody Berry to bring up 3rd-and-21. The Red Raiders got some of the yardage back on a 14-yard pass to Jacob Baskerville, and then found the go-ahead touchdown when Frenette broke open, hauled in Adams’ pass at the two-yard line and got the ball across the plane of the end zone before it was stripped away.
The Warriors’ last shot ended with a pair of incomplete passes and Shippensburg’s second interception of the game, as Bryan Culler came down with a jump ball inside the ESU 15-yard line with three seconds left on the clock.
ESU recognized its 14 seniors before kickoff – a class that helped the Warriors to a 20-12 record over the past three seasons entering the game, including last year’s trip to the NCAA Playoffs – and will finish the 2010 season next Saturday at Edinboro.
Game Notes
* ESU announced its seniors wearing its traditional red jerseys, then came onto the field before kickoff in black jerseys for the first time in school history.
*It was also the first football game since the dedication of Gregory-Douds Field at Eiler-Martin Stadium following last Saturday’s win over Cheyney.
* The game marked the 12th and final meeting between ESU head coach Denny Douds and Shippensburg’s Rocky Rees, who announced his retirement effective at the end of the season earlier this year
* Douds (37 seasons) holds PSAC records with 229 career wins and 385 games coached; Rees (21 seasons) moved into a tie for fifth on the PSAC list with his 233rd game on the sidelines
* Shippensburg is now 27-17-2 in the all-time series with ESU. Douds is 3-9-1 against the Red Raiders, with seven of the 12 non-ties decided by seven points or less.
* Shippensburg is the defending PSAC champion, a title that will end after next Saturday’s State Game between Bloomsburg and Mercyhurst. Both teams received a first place vote in the PSAC East preseason poll but started the 2010 season 1-6 – Shippensburg played the 4th-toughest schedule in Division II through the first seven weeks, while ESU played the 10th-toughest.
* Kiser is the 9th ESU player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. Sam Shuman hit the mark last season and eight of the nine receivers have achieved the feat since 1997.
* R-Sr. WR Jeff Giglio enters next Saturday’s game with 1,887 career receiving yards.
* Kiser had four catches for 133 yards for the second straight week. He had six catches for 148 yards the week before against Cheyney and has 14 catches for 414 yards in the last three weeks.
* Marshall was 9-for-20 for 185 yards passing and had a net -6 yards rushing. His streak of 23 straight games with a TD pass came to an end, which began at Millersville in week 10 of the 2008 season. ESU has at least one TD pass in 95 of its 99 games since 2002.
* Marshall moved into 3rd in school history in career total offense (6,978), passing Jeremy Palm.
* He enters the final game of his career with 6,350 passing yards – 41 behind Palm for 4th in school history, and 311 behind Bret Comp for 3rd.
* Williams ran for 100 yards for the second time in three games and has 339 yards and 8 TDs in that span. His 7 rushing TDs over the past two weeks were the most in a two-game stretch in school history.
* Freed (12), Jr. LB Mike Bergey (11), R-Jr. LB Taylor Cave (10) and Sr. OLB Mark Kalo (8) were the Warriors’ top four tacklers against Shippensburg’s Wing T
* Thornton had 7 tackles and his third interception of the season
* Freed was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 1st team for the third straight season earlier this week and can become the first two-time Academic All-America selection in ESU football history
* Groff tied ESU’s school record with his 15th field goal of the season and has made at least one field goal in every game. His 15-for-20 performance is tied with Ed Detwiler (1991) and Matt Seagreaves (1994) for the most made field goals in a single season, and he already holds the mark for field goals by a freshman.
* Groff has 82 points this season, 3rd-most by a kicker at ESU after Mark Brubaker (116, 2005) and Greg Knauss (85, 2008). He is 37-for-39 on extra points and leads PSAC kickers with 8.2 points per game.
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