Heading into the 2013 season the Shippensburg University football team has major questions to answer if it wants to return to the PSAC Championship game.
Some of those questions were answered, while others were raised as the Red team drubbed the White team, 44–0 in the Raiders’ annual Red vs. White Spring Game Saturday afternoon at Seth Grove Stadium.
Chris Lawshe and Tyriq Kershaw sparked the Red team, a team comprised of the starting defense and second-team offense, as the redshirt freshmen completed 58 percent of his passes for 402 yards and four touchdowns. Kershaw led the team with two interceptions as the defense made a strong statement against reigning Harlon Hill trophy winner, Zach Zulli.
“It’s a real privilege to be able to go against a quarterback that good and take advantage of it every single day,” Kershaw said. “In practice it’s very hard to pick him off. So today to get these two picks, it took a great deal of hard work.”
Zulli, who threw for an NCAA record 54 touchdowns in 2012, looked out of sync with his receivers throughout the game. He felt pressure all game, and finished the day 15-for-36, throwing for 149 yards and four interceptions. The poor game did not warrant any worries from head coach Mark Maciejewski.
“Zach was a little off throwing his ball today,” Maciejewski said. “When he’s off it’s going to be a struggle. There’s nothing that happened today that can’t be fixed.”
For SU, there is plenty of time to fix the problems that plagued the offense on Saturday. The Raiders have three more practices this spring before regulatory practice takes a hiatus until August.
“We need to focus on the little things, hit the weights hard and just really know this offense well,” Zulli said.
Sean Sadosky led the team with nine tackles for the Red team while Mike Goode and Brian Sourber each picked off Zulli during the contest.
Lawshe spread the ball around well throughout the game, hooking up with Jordan Harro, J.P. Wilson, Daniel Wheeler and Sharif Smith for scores. Harro led all receivers with 101 yards on seven receptions.
Returning after a stellar 2012 season, Trevor Harman hauled in six receptions for 74 yards.
Drew Newcomer looks to sure up a special teams squad that saw a changing of the guard many times in 2012. Newcomer was perfect on the day, hitting all three of his field goals (31 yards, 35 yards, 31 yards) and going 5-for-5 on extra points.
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