Game notes  |  Live Stats  |  Live Audio  |  Live Video


Saturday's kickoff at Seth Grove Stadium is set for 1 p.m.

On the air: The game will be audio broadcast live by WLER-FM 97.7 in Butler and will also be available on the World Wide Web via the “Listen Live” links at www.rockathletics.com or by clicking on the link above.

Shippensburg University's sports information office will also stream a live video broadcast of the game at the link above.

Lunch with Coach Mihalik: The first of a series of "Lunch with Coach Mihalik" events will be held during the noon lunch hour Wednesday in Weisenfluh Dining Hall on the SRU campus. Rock Head Football Coach George Mihalik will meet with fans and local media representatives to review last week's win over Seton Hill and preview this week's game vs. Shippensburg. No advance reservations are required. Attendees will purchase their own meals from the Weisenfluh a la carte menu and gather in a conference room for lunch, followed by Coach Mihalik's remarks. For more information, contact the SRU Sports Information Office at 724.738.2777.

Last week: While The Rock was rolling past Seton Hill in their season opener, Shippensburg recorded a come-from-behind, 38-28 win over 19th-ranked Shepherd (W. Va.) in Shippensburg. The Red Raiders scored 24 unanswered points to erase a 28-14 deficit and record the victory.

National rankings: Both The Rock and Shippensburg received votes in the American Football Coaches Association Division II national poll released Sept. 3.

The series: SRU holds a 39-20-2 advantage in the all-time series against the Red Raiders. The teams have not met since 2007. The Rock won the latest meeting (Oct. 27, 2007) by a 38-34 margin in Shippensburg to give the teams an even split in their last eight meetings (2000-07). From 2000-07, The Rock won nine consecutive meetings with the Red  Raiders.

Last meeting: A 17-yard touchdown pass from Nate Crookshank to Paul Favers with two seconds left to play accounted for the winning margin in the 2007 game in Shippensburg. That was the third TD scored in the final 90 seconds of action. Favers returned a kickoff 68 yards for a touchdown with 1:18 remaining to put SRU on top by a 31-27 score, only to see Shippensburg return the ensuing kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown and a 34-31 advantage. Crookshank then led The Rock on a nine-play, 74-yard drive that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

The coaches: 25-year Rock head coach George Mihalik takes a 162-98-4 career record into the game. That win total ranked third among active Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference head coaches, fifth on the PSAC's all-time wins list and sixth among active NCAA Division II head coaches.  Mihalik is 13-6-1 all-time against Shippensburg.

Across the field, second-year Shippensburg head coach Mark Maciejewski owns an 8-4 record. This will be Maciejewski's first game against The Rock as head coach, but he was an assistant coach for 10 seasons under former Red Raiders boss Rocky Rees before being named head coach in 2011. During his time as an assistant coach, Shippensburg had a 4-3 record against The Rock.

Players to watch: Jared Buck completed 11 of 14 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth TD and Akeem Satterfield rushed for 112 yards and one TD to lead The Rock offensive attack in the win over Seton Hill. Buck completed passes to eight different receivers, led by Michael Bongivengo, who had three receptions for 19 yards including a 10-yard TD, and Ken Amos, who had two catches for 34 yards including a 28-yard TD. Josh Gardner also had a TD reception, while Brett Crenshaw ran for the final Rock TD. Defensively, Anthony Saunders returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown to lead The Rock effort. Isaiah Coleman and Aaron Moul each added an INT. Quindell Dean made a team-high seven tackles including 1.5 tackles for loss (-4 yards), Jeff Thompson had five tackles including 2.5 quarterback sacks and Tony Papley also had six tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 QB sacks. Kurt Brackman was a perfect 7-for-7 on extra-point kicks and booted a 26-yard field goal.

Zach Zulli completed 26 of 35 passes for 392 yards and four TDs, Trevor Harman caught six passes for 105 yards and two TDs and Bryan Barley had four receptions for 99 yards and one TD to lead Shippensburg's offensive attack. Kyle Kush added three catches for 71 yards and Jacob Baskerville had three catches for 48 yards and one TD. Mike Frenette had a team-high 41 rushing yards on 16 carries. Defensively, Mike Goode made a team-high eight tackles, Jake Metz had 2.5 tackles for loss and Dainen Green recorded 1.5 QB sacks. Michael Lloyd was 5-for-5 on extra-point kicks and booted a 40-yard field goal.

Aerial assaults ahead: The Zulli-led aerial attack is the first of four The Rock faces in consecutive weeks that showed in their opening-week games the ability to put up big yardage numbers. Next week, SRU hosts a Gannon attack led by Liam Nadler, who threw for a conference-best 420 yards and four TDs in an opening-week win. The following week (Sept. 22), The Rock travels to Mercyhurst to face an attack led by Anthony Vendemia, who passed for 264 yards and four TDs in a Week 1 loss. Two weeks later (Sept. 29), Kevin Morton, who passed for 409 yards and six TDs last week, leads defending PSAC champion Kutztown into Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Zulli, Nadler and Morton each earned PSAC “Offensive Player of the Week” awards for their Week 1 efforts.

Road warriors: Mihalik-coached Rock teams own an impressive 68-57-4 (.543) record in road games. That mark will be severely tested this fall as The Rock have road games at  Shippensburg (7-4 record in 2011), Mercyhurst (4-7), Indiana (7-3), Clarion (3-8) and California (10-3).

The Rock vs. the PSAC-East: The Rock, members of the PSAC's Western Division, own a 31-16-1 all-time record against PSAC-Eastern Division teams since 1988 when Mihalik assumed the head coaching reins. The Rock has won 13 of its last 19 games against PSAC-East teams. The Rock also faces a stiff challenge in trying to maintain that level of success this fall as their three PSAC “crossover” games are against Shippensburg, Kutztown and Bloomsburg, the last three teams to win a PSAC-East championship and two of the last three teams to win the PSAC title game.

Next up: The Rock open their PSAC-Western Division schedule with a 6 p.m. home game Sept. 15 vs. Gannon University. SRU seeks to snap a two-game losing streak in the series vs. the Golden Knights and avenge last year's 33-27 loss in Erie that ultimately cost The Rock a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

By Bob McComas
Sports Information Director