Game Preview - Shippensburg

West Chester University (4-1, 2-0) travels to Shippensburg to take on the Shippensburg Raiders (4-1, 1-1) on Saturday. Kickoff at Seth Grove Stadium is set for 1:00 pm.

Series History:
West Chester leads the overall series 28-11-1. In his 18 years at West Chester, Bill Zwaan is 15-4 against the Raiders, as the two schools faced each other twice in both the 2004 and 2017 seasons. Shippensburg alumnus and head coach Mark Maciejewski is in his 11th season and holds a 70-37 record.

In one of the most memorable games in West Chester football history, Golden Ram quarterback Sean McCartney made his first collegiate start and threw for 444 yards and five touchdowns to lead West Chester to a 44-43 victory in two overtimes in a nationally televised Thursday night game in 2010. The following year, West Chester laid a 52-17 loss on the Raiders, but Shippensburg returned the favor in 2012, beating West Chester 42-24 on homecoming at Farrell Stadium and continued on to the PSAC championship game and the NCAA playoffs that year.

In 2013, Shawn Leo booted a 26-yard field goal with one second left to give West Chester the thrilling victory. And in 2017, West Chester defeated Shippensburg on the road in October only to have to do it again in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Last 10 Meetings:

Year	H/A	W/L	Score	Year	H/A	W/L	Score
2011	Away	Win	52-17	2016	Home	Win	31-15
2012	Home	Loss	42-24	2017	Away	Win	37-27
2013	Away	Win	32-29	2017	Away	Win	27-6
2014	Home	Win	55-28	2018	Home	Win	28-21
2015	Away	Loss	24-11	2019	Away	Win	29-21

Last Meeting:

10/05/2019 West Chester 29 - Shippensburg 21

Since the Golden Rams passing game struggled by incurring three sacks and throwing three interceptions, it turned to the running game. Trailing 21-16 late in the third quarter, Ja'Den McKenzie (125 yards, 2 TD's) scored the final two touchdowns of the game to give West Chester the 29-21 win. Gabe Schappell also had a 67-yard touchdown catch. The Golden Ram defense was led by safety Shamar Edwards (6 tackles) and linebacker Jackson Taylor (6 tackles, 1.0 TFL).

Scouting the Opponent:

Quarterback Brycen Mussina (105 of 158, 1,388 yards, 13 TD's, 1 int) was the PSAC East Freshman of the Year in 2018 and remains as one of the top signal callers in the conference if not the nation. Despite having eligibility left, two of his top receivers from 2019 - Winston Eubanks (60 catches, 896 yards, 8 TD's) and Charles Headen III (33 catches, 342 yards, 5 TD's) - have moved on to Penn State and Southern Methodist respectively where they are seeing limited playing time. So Mussina's primary targets are freshman Ian Sheehan (26 catches, 468 yards, 5 TD's), All-American tight end David Balint (21 catches, 173 yards, 1 TD), and 5'9" Towson-transfer Kyle Evans (20 catches, 379 yards, 4 TD's). The running game is led by 5'7" Bill Williams (70 carries, 279 yads, 3 TD's), but Howard transfer Khalid Dorsey (54 carries, 214 yards, 2 TD's) and Nasai Moon (30 carries, 120 yards, 1 TD) get plenty of touches.

David Shank used to handle all of the kicking duties, but this season he is only punting and averages 39 yards per punt, while forcing 8 fair catches on 21 punts. Jaxson Montross is 21 of 24 on PAT's and 8 of 12 on field goals with a long of 50 yards. Half of his kickoffs have gone for touchbacks.

The Golden Rams need to be on the lookout for free safety Trey Paul (23 tackles, 3 int's, 4 pass breakups) who is the team's leading tackler. Also among the Raiders' 11 players with double digit tackles are linebacker Demetrius Hudson (23 tackles, 3.0 TFL), Wesley-transfer Mike Brewer (19 tackles, 4 PBU), cornerback Khi'on Smith (18 tackles, 1 int, 4 PBU), and defensive tackle Jacoby Sherard (11 tackles, 2.5 sacks).

Analysis:

These two teams are very similar. Both are 4-1. Both have played pretty poor schedules overall. Both lost to the best team they faced so far (Bentley for West Chester, Shepherd for Shippensburg). Both have defeated Edinboro and Bloomsburg, although Shippensburg did it by a combined margin of 65 poins whereas the Golden Rams needed late game touchdown drives against both of those opponents to pull out a win. Both have top scoring offenses and both dominate time of possession.

So the differences? Ship moves the ball through the air while West Chester uses the ground game. The key for the Golden Ram offense is to continue running effectively to control the clock. Defensively, West Chester leads the the country in sacks, so getting pressure on, and preferably taking down, Mussina is a must since he doesn't throw picks.

Massey Ratings is projecting a three-point Shippensburg victory.

Game Coverage:

Live Stats   Audio   Video

PSAC Site - PSAC Football Notes, Week 6

KYW Newsradio - West Chester coach aims to add to historic feat