SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Shippensburg will play its second consecutive home game to start the 2012 season Saturday from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium when it plays host to Slippery Rock – a team it has not faced since 2007. Both teams are currently receiving votes in the AFCA Division II poll (Shippensburg – 14, Slippery Rock – 6).
Live video coverage of the game will be provided by Shippensburg University's student television station (SUTV) and can be accessed online at
www.ship.edu/goraiders. The game will also be shown on terrestrial television on Comcast community channel 21 and campus channel 82.
A student radio broadcast of the game will be available on 88.7 FM in Shippensburg and can be accessed online at
www.wsyc.org.
Shippensburg enters the contest on a five-game winning streak that dates back to last season. It has not won six consecutive games since stringing together seven straight wins from Nov. 8, 2003 – Oct. 2, 2004.
Shippensburg returns 39 letterwinners and 23 starters from last season – including 10 on both offense and defense. The team's captains are senior running back
Mike Frenette, senior safety
Corey Hunt, senior defensive tackle
Mark Kahlil Smith and senior quarterback
Jeff Tomasetti. The team boasts 13 seniors on its roster, which in addition to the aforementioned captains, include former All-PSAC honorees
Kevin Herod,
Bobby Mullen and
Chris Restino.
The Red Raiders were picked to finish fifth in the PSAC Eastern Division preseason coaches poll released in early August. SU went 7-4 last season in which it scored 411 points and were ranked among the Top 5 PSAC teams in 18 major statistical categories.
Slippery Rock, meanwhile, was voted to finish third in the PSAC Western Division Football Coaches Preseason Poll released in early August. The Rock received two first-place votes after going 8-3 last season and winning its first PSAC Western Division championship since 2000.
Last weekend, Shippensburg held No. 19 Shepherd scoreless in the second half of Saturday afternoon's season opener from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium and reeled off 24 unanswered points to claim a come-from-behind victory in the 15th annual Great Valley Classic, 38-28 over the Rams. The win snapped a seven-game losing streak against Shepherd that dated back to 2004.
Junior
Zach Zulli threw for a career-high 392 yards – the third-highest single-game total in SU history – and completed 26-of-35 passes with four touchdowns. Nine different receivers caught at least one pass, with sophomore
Trevor Harman reeling in six catches for 105 yards and a pair of scores.
Two days earlier, Jared Buck passed for three touchdowns and ran for one and The Rock defense recorded six quarterback sacks and intercepted three passes as hosting Slippery Rock University blitzed Seton Hill University, 52-6, Thursday night in season-opening college football action at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
Series History: Shippensburg vs. Slippery Rock
Slippery Rock leads the overall series with Shippensburg 39-20-2. The Rock and IUP are the two PSAC schools that the Red Raiders have gone the longest without playing – as 2007 was the last year that SU faced either team.
The two teams have alternated wins and losses in the last six meetings. Slippery Rock won a thriller in Shippensburg in 2007, 38-34, while the Red Raiders did the same in Slippery Rock in 2006 for Rocky Rees' 100th coaching victory at Shippensburg. SU's last win at home over The Rock came in 2004, a 35-17 triumph.
From 1992-2000, Slippery Rock won nine consecutive meetings — the longest span in series history. SU has gone 12-18-1 at home against The Rock but has gone just 7-21-1 in games held at Slippery Rock.
Perhaps the most memorable meeting between the two teams came in 1979, when Shippensburg triumphed 45-14 over The Rock in front of more than 61,000 fans at Michigan Stadium. The game was one of the first to be broadcast on ESPN and highlights were aired live on ABC during their Saturday college football coverage.
Much more information will be available in the game notes, which will be posted Wednesday.
