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Shamar Greene

Football

Rock records second win of the season, 58-38 over Shippensburg

Nigel Barksdale passed for 304 yards and four TDs, John Schademan had 109 pass receiving yards and caught two TD passes and Shamar Greene rushed for 117 yards and one TD to lead SRU to victory

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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior quarterback Nigel Barksdale passed for four touchdowns and 304 yards Saturday night to lead hosting Slippery Rock University (2-0) to a 58-38 win over Shippensburg (0-2) in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference "crossover" action at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

Barksdale completed 19 of 25 pass attempts without throwing an interception or being sacked. Barksdale connected with 10 different receivers, headlined by senior wide receiver John Schademan, who caught five passes for 109 yards and two TDs (30 and 18 yards).

Combined with 465 passing yards in the season-opening win Sept. 7 at Northwood (Mich.), Saturday night's performance gave Barksdale a school-record 769 aerial stripes in back-to-back games.

Barksdale, who is tied with Gannon's Liam Nadler for the conference lead in passing yards, has thrown a PSAC-best 10 TD passes in the first two games.

Schademan had his second-consecutive triple-digit pass receiving yardage total. Schademan caught six passes for 108 yards and two TDs in the season opener and is the first Rock player to have 100 or more pass receiving yards in back-to-back games since Devin Goda had three straight triple-digit games (Weeks 3-5) in SRU's 2011 PSAC-Western Division championship season.

Redshirt freshman running back Shamar Greene rushed for a game-high 117 yards on 15 carries Saturday night, including a 61-yard TD sprint on the game's second play. Greene has gained 206 yards rushing in the first two games this fall.

Redshirt sophomore running back Brett Crenshaw, who gained 28 yards on 10 carries, scored two rushing touchdowns to complement Greene's rushing effort.

The run-pass combination propelled The Rock, who scored 51 points in their season opener, to their second consecutive 50-plus-point scoring night, a feat the Green and White have now accomplished in each of the last three seasons.

The offensive output also gave The Rock a school-record 109 points in their first two games this fall after putting up 107 points in the opening two games a year ago and 105 points in the first two games of the 2011 season.

Saturday night, Greene's TD run helped catapult The Rock to a 30-0 lead after 20 minutes of action. That proved to be too much for Shippensburg to overcome.

But the Red Raiders made it interesting as they scored 21 unanswered points to open the second-half of action and turn what was a 44-10 Rock lead into a 44-31 difference.

Senior quarterback Zach Zulli, the reigning NCAA Division II national Player of the Year, engineered Shippensburg's comeback effort. Zulli finished the game with 340 passing yards on a 32-of-65 effort with three TD tosses. Zulli was sacked four times.

Junior wide receiver Sheldon Mayer caught nine passes for 71 yards and one TD and classmate Trevor Harman had eight catches for 120 yards and one TD to lead Shippensburg's receiving effort.

The Rock ended the game with a 513-394 advantage in total offense behind a 209-yard rushing effort and Barksdale's 304 passing yards. Shippensburg gained only 41 yards on rushing attempts.

Greene's TD run capped a two-play, 73-yard Rock scoring drive on the opening possession of the game.

After The Rock defense forced Shippensburg into the first of its three consecutive three-and-out series to start the game, Crenshaw capped a nine-play, 68-yard drive with a one-yard burst across the goal line with 10:10 left to play in the first period.

Junior kicking specialist Mike Wainauskis converted SRU's third possession into points when he booted a 33-yard field goal that extended the hosts' lead to 17-0 with 6:15 left in the first stanza.

In addition to his three-pointer, Wainauskis was 7-for-7 on extra-point kicks in the game to improve his season mark to 11-for-11.

The Rock failed to convert on a fourth-and-six play at the Shippensburg 38-yard line the fourth time the Green and White had the ball Saturday night, but wasted little time converting their fifth possession into points.

Barksdale hit senior wide receiver Ken Amos on a fly pattern that resulted in a 70-yard TD connection and a 24-0 Rock lead with 0:45 left in the first period. That play capped a three-play, 76-yard march by SRU.

A 15-yard connection between Barksdale and junior tight end Julian Harrell stretched the hosts' lead to 30-0 at the 10:02 mark of the second quarter. The TD pass capped a seven-play, 59-yard drive. A try for the two-point conversion failed following the Barksdale-to-Harrell TD.

Shippensburg got on the scoreboard for the first time this fall when Zulli led the Red Raiders 63 yards in eight plays, capped off by a 15-yard TD toss to Justin Pyle at the 8:36 mark of the second quarter.

Two Rock possessions later, Crenshaw ran in from four yards out to cap an eight-play, 53-yard drive that pushed SRU's lead to 37-7.

Four plays later, the score read 44-7 in favor of The Rock as sophomore defensive back Calvin Anderson blocked a Shippensburg punt and junior linebacker Levi Sager scooped up the loose ball and ran five yards for a TD.

Shippensburg scored the final points of an action-packed first half of action as Drew Newcomer kicked a school-record 49-yard field goal with 0:05 left before halftime to make the score 44-10, SRU, heading into the intermission.

The guests, who were on the short end of a 394-140 total offensive comparison at halftime, started the second half like a house afire as they gained 181 yards and scored 21 unanswered points in their first three final-half possessions.

Having seen their 34-point halftime lead trimmed to only 13 points, The Rock eventually calmed the storm with a four-play, 45-yard scoring drive capped by the first of two Barksdale-to-Schademan TD connections. The 15-yard score pushed The Rock lead to 51-31 with 1:45 left to play in the third quarter.

Barksdale and Schademan hooked up for an 18-yard score to cap a five-play, 47- yard drive on SRU's next possession. That TD pushed the margin to 58-31 with 14:30 left to play in the game.

The game's final TD came on an 85-yard punt return by Mayer with 4:30 remaining.

Senior Preseason All-American cornerback Anthony Saunders recorded nine solo tackles to lead The Rock's defensive effort, which included four quarterback sacks for minus-45 yards and 12 tackles for loss for minus-64 yards.

SRU travels to Gannon for a noon kickoff next Saturday to open its PSAC-Western Division schedule, while Shippensburg hosts East Stroudsburg in a PSAC-Eastern Division contest.

Notes: Barksdale broke the previous school record for most yards passing in back-to-back games held by John Linhart, who threw for a total of 748 yards on consecutive weekends. Linhart passed for a school-record 502 yards Nov. 7, 1992 vs. Clarion and had the same 246-yard total the week prior to and following that effort (Oct. 31 vs. Edinboro and Nov. 14 vs. Lock Haven) … Saturday's game marked the sixth time in two seasons with The Rock that Barksdale passed for more than 239 yards in a game. That is one shy of Cody Endres' school record of seven 200-plus-yard passing games set in 2011 … The Rock are unbeaten after two games for the fourth time in the last five seasons.




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