H.S. FOOTBALL: Shippensburg has rough division start in 50-7 loss to East Pennsboro
ENOLA >> Shippensburg did not know what to expect when it faced the defending Mid Penn Colonial Division co-champions on Friday night.
East Pennsboro was tough last year, but it was even tougher on Friday night. The Panthers came out swinging, racking up a 29-point lead by halftime, and walked away with a 50-7 victory.
The trouble started early for the Greyhounds (2-2, 1-0 MPC). East Pennsboro moved the ball down to the Hounds' 8-yard line early in the game. On third down, Wade Mills picked off a pass in the end zone and returned it all the way for an apparent touchdown. But it was called back for an illegal block in the back all the way back to Ship's 6.
Two plays later, the Panthers (3-1, 1-0 MPC) tackled Zion Ware in the end zone to get on the board with a safety.
East Pennsboro was an offensive machine. The Panthers racked up 524 yards of offense, including 340 rushing yards on a staggering 60 attempts. Three different players gained more than 100 yards – Onasis Neely finished with 152 yards on 22 carries, Kyron Dennis had 116 yards on a mere seven carries, and Tyler Mason caught three balls for 110 yards. Quarterback Kyle Purnell was also 8-for-13 for 162 yards.
Ship, on the other hand, had only 171 yards of offense, and just 29 rushing yards. Cody Gustafson was the bright spot in a lot of darkness for the Hounds. He had six catches totaling 110 yards and scored the only touchdown of the game.
Midway through the third quarter, Gustafson caught a 15-yard pass from brother Tyler Gustafson. Cody then broke through a pair of defenders and went untouched to the end zone for a 51-yard score.
East Pennsboro 50
Shippensburg 7
Shippensburg0070—7East Pennsboro1514147—50
First Quarter
EP — Safety, Zion Ware tackled in end zone, 8:43
EP — Kyron Dennis 14 run (Noah Wilk kick), 6:21
EP — Onasis Neely 1 run (kick failed), 0:49
Second Quarter
EP — Kyle Purnell 1 run (Wilk kick), 4:04
EP — Dennis 56 interception return (Wilk kick), 2:20
Third Quarter
Ship — Cody Gustafson 51 pass from Tyler Gustafson (Jackson VanHorne kick), 4:20
EP — Dennis 3 run (Wilk kick), 2:11
EP — Zach Wertz 2 pass from Purnell (Wilk kick), 0:00
Fourth Quarter
EP — Payton Morris 5 run (Wilk kick), 3:01
ShipEPFirst downs825Rushes-yards18-2960-340Passing10-24-311-17-1Passing yards147184Total yards171524Punts4-33.21-34Fumbles-lost2-00-0Penalties-yards4-305-31
Individual statistics
Rushing — Ship, Ware 8-14, Adam Houser 1-6, Ed Ocker 3-9, Noah Chavez 1-2, Cole Friese 2-1, T.Gustafson 3-(-3). EP, Neely 22-152, Dennis 7-116, Noah Alejandro 6-26, Purnell 5-25, Team 4-(22).
Passing — Ship, T.Gustafson 9-22-135-3, Carter Van Scyoc 1-2-12-0. EP, Purnell 8-13-162-1, Morris 3-4-22-0.
Receiving — Ship, C.Gustafson 6-110, Wade Mills 2-17, Houser 1-8, Aaron Ross 1-12. EP, Tyler Mason 3-110, Wertz 4-34, Jacob Stevens 2-21, Matthew Dunkleberger 1-18, Alejandro 1-1.
Interceptions — Ship, Mills. EP, Dennis, Dillon Stuter, Stevens.