Shippensburg University’s football team struggled to move the ball Saturday, losing an away game at East Stroudsburg 41-17.
The offense only put up 169 total yards and committed three turnovers, compared to 310 yards for East Stroudsburg.
The result puts the Raiders at 2-7 on the year.
The first drive of the game resulted in East Stroudsburg throwing an interception to sophomore DJ Jackson, but the Raiders’ offense turned it back over almost immediately. Freshman quarterback Sam Stoner’s first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Warriors’ defender Jahmere Crumpton.
The Raiders kept it relatively close throughout the first half, with Shippensburg’s sophomore backup quarterback Evan Falco throwing a 22-yard touchdown pass to freshman Karim Bryce to reduce the deficit to 14-10, which remained the score at halftime.
The third quarter has been problematic for the Raiders all season, and that continued against the Warriors. Stoner and Falco both threw an interception, and the defense gave up three scoring drives. East Stroudsburg picked up a touchdown and two field goals to make it 27-10 entering the fourth.
East Stroudsburg scored on its first two drives of the fourth quarter to make it 41-10. Shippensburg’s final drive resulted in freshman third-string QB Jack Reed throwing his first touchdown pass as a Raider, an 8-yard strike to sophomore Alex Rufe to make it 41-17.
Falco ended up being the leading passer on the day for Shippensburg, completing five of seven passes for 56 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Redshirt sophomore Tanner Hess led the running backs with 33 yards on 12 carries, and junior Redd Douglas had 30 receiving yards on three catches to top the receivers.
Graduate Evan Townsend-Henry starred on defense for the Raiders, racking up a career-high 13 tackles. Redshirt junior Ray Jones had the second-most with nine, also a career-high.
Next up on the Shippensburg football schedule is the homecoming game against Lock Haven. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium.
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