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Complete
Box Score
EDINBORO, PA – A change of venue certainly
was to Edinboro’s liking on Saturday. With heavy snow
Thursday night making Sox Harrison Field unplayable, the Fighting
Scots were forced to move their final home game to Frank B. Fuhrer
Field on the campus of Allegheny College. The move south, along
with the new Field Turf surface in place, made for an enjoyable
Senior Day, as Edinboro defeated Shippensburg, 54-30.
The victory evens the Boro’s record at
5-5, along with 2-3 in PSAC West action. Edinboro needs a victory
next Saturday, November 11, at Lock Haven to finish with a fourth
straight winning season. Shippensburg falls to 4-6 overall and 2-3
in league play.
Edinboro actually trailed at one point by a
21-20 margin early in the second quarter after Shippensburg
quarterback Gabe Maiocco completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Pat
Ferguson with 12:15 left in the second quarter.
But Edinboro proceeded to outscore the Red
Raiders 34-3 before a late Shippensburg touchdown pass accounted
for the final score. The Fighting Scots put up 27 points in the
second quarter and ended the half leading 47-24. The 47 points
tied the school record for points in a half. Edinboro previously
scored 47 points in the first half against West Virginia Wesleyan
in 2004.
Rich Cerro (Franklin, PA/Franklin)
started the scoring onslaught with touchdown catches of 78 and 28
yards from Trevor Harris (Waldo, OH/Marion Pleasant) on
back-to-back offensive plays. The first came after the ensuing
kickoff after Shippensburg had taken the lead. The second came
after Tom Davidson (Geneva, OH/Geneva) blocked a punt,
with Edinboro taking over at the Ship 28.
Edinboro went ahead 40-21 with 4:08 left in the
second stanza when Harris threw his fourth touchdown pass of the
half, connecting with tight end Kyle Witucki (Tarentum,
PA/Highlands) on a 12-yard scoring play. That score was set up
by a 62-yard interception return by Davidson down to the Ship 33.
Shippensburg answered with an eight-play,
48-yard drive that culminated with Jamie Reder’s 38-yard
field goal with 1:32 to play. But on this afternoon that was too
much time for Harris. He calmly directed an 11-play, 83-yard drive
that ended in a four-yard run by Houston Brown (Westerville,
OH/Westerville Central) with just two seconds remaining. Brown’s
second touchdown of the day gave Edinboro a 47-24 lead at the
half.
The second half settled into more of a
defensive battle. After a scoreless third quarter, Harris finished
his afternoon with his fifth touchdown pass, tying the school
record, covering four yards to Witucki with 11:13 left in the
game. The Red Raiders accounted for the final score with 2:08 to
play as Tim Devanney hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Chad
DiFebbo.
The two teams combined for 34 points in the
first quarter and 37 in the second. Edinboro took a 7-0 lead when
Damion Malott (Akron, OH/Akron North), one of 11 seniors
celebrating Senior Day, stepped in front of a Tony Gomez pass and
returned it 41 yards for a touchdown just 72 seconds into the
game.
Back came Shippensburg, as Howard Chavous
returned a kickoff 63 yards to the Boro 16. Aaron Dykes scored
three plays later on a five-yard run.
Edinboro went ahead 14-7 as Brown capped a
12-play, 90-yard drive with a four-yard TD run. As was the case
all day, Shippensburg’s greatest weapon was the kickoff
return. Ferguson returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a
touchdown to make it 14-14 with 6:15 left in the first quarter.
The Fighting Scots grabbed the lead at 20-14
following another Gomez interception. Jim Soltis
(Garrettsville, OH/Cardinal) accounted for this pickoff,
returning it four yards to the Ship 17. Edinboro appeared to score
on the next play on a Harris to Ryan Valasek (Natrona Heights,
PA/ Highlands) for 17 yards. The play was called back due to
an ineligible receiver downfield. It didn’t matter, as three
plays later the duo combined on a 10-yard TD aerial. Kody
Robertson’s (Columbus, OH/Hilliard Davidson) was no good,
one of two on the day that went awry.
The day featured plenty of records. Harris
completed 25 of 37 passes for a school-record 437 yards with 5
TDs. He set the season record for completions (169), is now fourth
in season attempts (275), and is third in season yards passing
with 2,194. He needs 88 yards to break the record of 2,281 yards
set by Justin Bouch in 2004.
Valasek caught 10 passes for 159 yards, tied
for the second-most receptions in a game. The senior broke the
school record receptions in a season with 57, and is now fourth in
season receiving yards with 916. Cerro set career-highs with 7
receptions for 182 yards, the 182 yards the eighth-highest
single-game total. Witucki added 4 catches for 64 yards.
Edinboro ended the afternoon with 487 total
yards, with a school-record 437 through the air. Brown, a true
freshman in just his third game at tailback, finished with 58
yards and 2 TDs on 15 carries.
Shippensburg ended the afternoon with almost as
many yards on kickoff returns as total offense. The Red Raiders
totaled 250 yards on nine returns. Meanwhile, they were limited to
271 yards in total offense, managing 58 yards on 29 rushes against
the PSAC’s second-ranked rushing defense and leading defense
in total defense.
Gomez started the game at quarterback and would
return later, but completed just 1 of 5 passes for 5 yards with a
pair of interceptions. Maiocco came off the bench to complete 10
of 20 passes for 154 yards. Ferguson caught 6 passes for 139
yards, and returned five kickoffs for 153 yards. David Richards
was the leading rusher with five carries for 44 yards.
Dave Jazenski (Erie, PA/Iroquois) and
Soltis paced the Boro defense with 10 tackles and a sack each.
Jazenski finished with 3.5 tackles for losses. The defense
accounted for three interceptions and four sacks. Davidson moved
into third place in career interceptions (14) with his second of
the season. |
