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Zulli, who finished the game with 22 completions in 41 pass attempts, collected 320 of his yards on a 19-of-34 effort in the opening half that propelled the Red Raiders to a 41-14 halftime advantage.

Zulli also showed a first-half TD on a four-yard throwback pass from running back Kevin Herod.

Behind Zulli's leadership, Shippensburg amassed 566 yards in total offense in the game, 352 passing and 214 rushing. The Red Raiders had 394 total yards (324 passing, 70 rushing) in the opening two quarters.

The Rock finished the game with 436 total yards, 223 passing and 213 rushing. SRU collected 267 of their yards (175 rushing, 92 passing) in the final two quarters when the Green and White were without their starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Jared Buck.

Buck completed six of 13 passes for 125 yards and two TDs and had one pass intercepted left the game with an injury while recovering a fumble with four minutes left to play in the first half and The Rock trailing by only a 28-14 margin.

Backup quarterback Nigel Barksdale completed 11 of 17 passes for 95 yards and one TD and ran for another score in the second half as Buck's successor.

Both of Buck's TD tosses, a 46-yard connection in the first period and a 58-yard completion in the second quarter, were to redshirt junior wide receiver John Schademan.

Schademan had six receptions for 125 yards in the game to lead The Rock receiving effort. Redshirt senior running back Akeem Satterfield rushed for 138 yards on 21 carries and scored one TD and Barksdale had 76 rushing yards on 11 carries to lead SRU's ground attack.

Junior linebacker Gary Allen and senior safety Marquis Knight each recorded nine tackles to pace The Rock defensive effort. Knight also recorded the only turnover for The Rock with a second-quarter interception, while Allen's second-quarter sack of Zulli was the only one recorded by The Rock.

Shippensburg took the opening kickoff and moved 57 yards in eight plays to take a quick 7-0 lead in the game. Zulli capped the drive with his first TD toss, a three-yard connection with Trevor Harman.

The Rock offense appeared primed to respond with a touchdown drive of its own on the ensuing possession, but that march was interrupted for 55 minutes by a lightning delay. Following the delay, The Rock moved to the Shippensburg 40-yard line before a fourth-and-five pass attempt by Buck fell incomplete.

The defenses then took center stage and held the opponents' offense in check for five consecutive drives.

Ironically, points scored by a defensive unit seemed to awaken the offensive attacks.

Shippensburg linebacker Jake Metz stepped in front of a Buck pass at The Rock 24 and returned the interception for a touchdown and a 14-7 Shippensburg lead with 2:28 left to play in the first quarter.

That set the stage for the first Buck-to-Schademan TD pass, which capped a two-play, 48-yard drive by The Rock and trimmed Shippensburg's early lead to 14-7 with 1:48 left in the first quarter.

Shippensburg marched 81 yards in nine plays on the ensuing possession to take a 21-7 lead with 13:45 remaining in the first half. The Herod-to-Zulli throwback TD pass capped the drive.

The Rock came right back 24 seconds later with its second scoring drive of the game, climaxed by the second Buck-to-Schademan TD toss on a fly pattern, to make it a 21-14 game.

Zulli connected with Jacob Baskerville for a 35-yard TD pass to push the margin to 28-13 with 4:24 left before halftime.

With Buck on The Rock sidelines, Shippensburg scored 13 unanswered points in the final four minutes to take the aforementioned 41-14 advantage into the locker room at the intermission.

The defenses again reigned over the first 11 minutes of the second half before Satterfield sprinted 56 yards up the middle of the field for a touchdown at the 0:42 mark of the third stanza to cut the Shippensburg lead to 41-21.

Less than two minutes later, Shippensburg was back on top by 27 points. Mike Frenette closed out a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a two-yard TD run that made it a 48-21 game with 10 minutes left to play in the game.

Barksdale moved The Rock 41 yards in three plays and hit junior slot receiver LaQuinn Stephens-Howling with a 21-yard TD pass, to bring the score to 48-28 with 8:45 left to play before Frenette, who rushed for 139 yards on 16 carries in the game, sprinted 70 yards for his second TD and a 55-28 margin.

The final TD of the game came on a 23-yard run by Barksdale with 0:37 left to play.

The Rock will seek to rebound from the loss at Shippensburg and record a win over visiting Gannon University next Saturday, Sept. 15, in the opening game of the PSAC-Western Division schedule.

Shippensburg, which scored 24 unanswered points in the opening week of this season to knock off then-No. 19-ranked Shepherd and handed eventual PSAC champion Kutztown its only regular-season loss last fall, travels to East Stroudsburg for a PSAC-Eastern Division game next Saturday.

Notes:

Rock junior James McCombie averaged 50 yards on six punts Saturday with a long of 60 yards … Senior kicking specialist Kurt Brackman was 5-for-5 on extra-point kicks Saturday to improve his season total to 12-of-12 … Freshman Jaimire Dutrieuille collected 226 yards on seven kickoff returns with a long of 45 and also had two punt returns for nine yards to finish the game with 235 all-purpose yards … Senior Brian Shaw averaged 64.2 yards on his kickoffs.