SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL

September 21, 2004

FOOTBALL OPENS PSAC WESTERN DIVISION PLAY AGAINST EDINBORO ON HOMECOMING

GAME STORYLINE:

• The Shippensburg University football team returns home for its fourth home game in five weeks when it welcomes Edinboro University on Homecoming Weekend. Kickoff on Saturday, September 25 is set for 1:00 p.m., at Seth Grove Stadium in the first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division game for both teams. The game will be broadcast on Shippensburg University student radio station WSYC 88.7 FM and online at www.ship.edu/~sid/football.htm.
• Shippensburg will bring a perfect 4-0 record into the game following last week's dominating 49-27 victory over Millersville University in the Red Raidersπ first road game of the season. With the score tied 14-14 with 8:41 left in the second quarter, Ship scored three-straight touchdowns, including two from senior fullback John Kuhn, to end the half with a commanding 35-14 lead.
• Against Millersville, Kuhn rushed for a career-high 234 yards and totaled 292 all-purpose yards as he also led the team in receiving with three catches for 58 yards. For his efforts, Kuhn was named as the PSAC Western Division Offensive Player of the Week.
• Edinboroπs Lou Tepper won his 50th game as a head coach as the Fighting Scots defeated Tiffin, 48-21 on the road on Saturday. The Fighting Scots are 2-1 this season with big wins over West Virginia Tech (54-12) and Tiffin (48-21) after a season-opening loss to East Stroudsburg (20-7).
• Shippensburg enters the game as a consensus top-25 selection in all four of the Division II national polls. The Red Raiders were No. 10 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Coaches' Poll and No. 11 in the dopke.com College Sports Report Route 66 Rankings. Ship came in at No. 13 in the d2football.com Top-25 Poll and No. 22 in the National Weekly Football Gazette NCAA Division II Top-40 poll.
• The Red Raiders are currently riding a six-game winning streak that dates back to November 1, 2003 when Indiana University (Pa.) defeated Ship, 18-7.

HOMECOMING WEEKEND ALSO FEATURES HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

• Seven people, six athletes and one coach, have been named to the Shippensburg University Athletic Hall of Fame for 2004. The induction ceremony will take place Friday, September 24 as part of Shippensburgπs Homecoming festivities. The Class of 2004 will also be honored at halftime of Saturdayπs football game with Edinboro.
• John Corman π72 (Wrestling), Lynn Albright-Helsel π83 (Field Hockey), Tor Hotham π88 (Menπs Soccer), Charlie Shields π49 (Football), Alexandra Spak Meyer π93 (Softball), Brady Stauffer π91 (Menπs Swimming) and Paul Kaiser π62 (Honorary Inductee) comprise the Class of 2004.

SERIES NOTES - RAIDERS vs. SCOTS

• Shippensburg and Edinboro have met every season since 1962 as all but one game has been played in consecutive seasons. The Fighting Scots lead the overall series, 22-20-1, but Ship has won six of the last seven meetings since 1997.
• Last year, Red Raider quarterback Rick Henshaw threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Ferguson with 59 seconds remaining to give Shippensburg a 40-34 victory at Edinboro. The loss was the Fighting Scotsπ only Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division loss last season. The winning drive started after Red Raider linebacker Dan Walsh intercepted an Edinboro pass and returned it 10 yards to the Ship 40-yard line. Shippensburg battled back from an early 20-7 deficit.
• Shippensburg is 14-6 at home against Edinboro and has won four of the six meetings at Seth Grove Stadium under head coach Rocky Rees. The teams have met on Homecoming twice before with the Red Raiders winning big, 45-7 in 1991 and the Fighting Scots taking a 34-17 decision in 1993.
• Rees is 7-7 in 14 previous games against Edinboro while Fighting Scot head coach Lou Tepper has a 1-3 record against the Red Raiders with his lone victory coming in his inaugural season, 42-27 in 2000.

QUICK HITS

• Things kept rolling along for Shippensburg on Saturday at Millersville in a 49-27 victory. The victory marks the first time since 1993 that Shippensburg has started the season with four-straight victories.
• Against Millersville, the Red Raiders totaled 513 yards in total offense, including 418 yards rushing. The defense held the Marauders to only 10 yards rushing while totaling 10 tackles for loss, five sacks and two interceptions. Senior Mike Street had an interception for the second consecutive game.
• Freshman kicker Jamie Reder continues to give Shippensburg a much-improved kicking game. On Saturday, Reder connected on all six of his extra-point attempts and is third on the team in scoring with 23 points, trailing only John Kuhn (36 points) and Pat Ferguson (24).
• With 28 points in the second quarter at Millersville on Saturday, Shippensburg increased its scoring lead to 53-7 in the second quarter this season. The Maraudersπ touchdown in the second quarter and meaningless touchdowns in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter marked the first time this season that an opponent has scored in either of those two quarters this season.
• Two-thirds of Shipπs offensive touchdown total has come on the ground this year. Six of the teamπs seven touchdowns at Millersville were via the rush and, for the season, 14 of the teamπs 21 touchdowns have been rushing. Six players have accounted for the 14 rushing touchdowns: John Kuhn (6), Tony Gomez (2), Walter Crump (2), Dante Poole (2), Andre McLaurin and Rick Henshaw.
• The Shippensburg defense continued its stingy play on third down against Millersville, limiting the Marauders to only 2-of-9 on third-down conversions. For the season, Shippensburg is holding opponents to a meager 20.4-percent (11-of-54) conversion rate on third downs.

A LOOK AT EDINBORO

• Thanks to a 38-0 lead at the half against Tiffin, Edinboro has now outscored its last two opponents, 85-0 in the first half. The Fighting Scots tied a school record with 28 points in the second quarter. Andre Burke finished with 159 yards on 21 carries with two touchdowns despite not even playing the entire first half. He entered the game ranked third in Division II in scoring and now has seven touchdowns.
• Justin Lipscomb has now caught at least one pass in 25-straight games.
• Ben Stroup blocked a Tiffin punt and returned it six yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. It marked the second straight game that Edinboro had blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown. The Fighting Scots have blocked four kicks in the first three games - two punts, a field goal and an extra point.
• Edinboro forced eight turnovers, including intercepting six passes against Tiffin QB Ryan Harpold, who had not thrown an interception in his first three games (84 passes). Chris Avery had two of the interceptions. Five of the turnovers and the blocked punt came in the first half.
• Edinboro entered the game ranked seventh in Division II in rushing defense at 43.5 yards per game and held Tiffin to 47 yards on 22 carries.
• Junior wide receiver Jeff Dinger hauled in his first career touchdown, a 10-yarder from Justin Bouch with 43 seconds left in the first. Bouch threw two touchdown passes to move into sixth place in career touchdowns with 22.
• Junior SS Tim Hyde intercepted his first pass as a Fighting Scot and led Edinboro with 11 tackles, along with recovering a fumble.

FIVE-FOR-FIVE

• A win against Edinboro on Saturday would give the Red Raiders a 5-0 start for only the fifth time in the modern era since the end of World War II in 1945. It would also mark just the second time that Ship has started with a 5-0 record under head coach Rocky Rees.
• The win at Millersville marked the third-time in 15 seasons under Rocky Rees, Shippensburg has begun the season with four-straight wins. Combine that with the two wins from the end of last season's schedule and the Red Raiders are currently riding a six-game win streak.
• Ship started the season with four consecutive wins in 1993 (6-5 final record) and 1991 (10-3). The 1991 season featured the best start to a season under Rees as the team began the year 5-0 before losing at Indiana University (Pa.), 47-0 on October 12. That year, the Red Raiders advanced to the NCAA Division II Football Championship. In 1993, Shippensburg won four-straight games to start before losing to Slippery Rock University at home, 36-7 on October 2.

KUHN NAMED PSAC WESTERN DIVISION OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Senior fullback John Kuhn posted a career-high 234 rushing yards on 25 carries and totaled 292 all-purpose yards as Shippensburg outlasted Millersville, 49-27 last week. His two touchdowns came on back-to-back carries of one and 17 yards, which broke a 14-14 tie and led Shippensburg to a 35-14 halftime lead. Furthermore, he averaged 9.4 yards per carry and 10.4 yards every time he touched the ball.
• Kuhn continues to add to the many school records he currently holds. His performance against Millersville gave him 3,738 yards and 45 touchdowns rushing for his career. He also surpassed the 4,000-yard mark in all-purpose yards as he now has 4,260 career all-purpose yards. Kuhn also extended his record for career carries (704) and games with at least 100 yards rushing (20). He set a new record for consecutive games with 100 yards rushing with 11 in 2003 and carried the ball 325 times without a fumble to also set a new record.

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