Northern upsets undefeated Shippensburg, 17-16

Prior to Friday's Mid Penn Colonial football clash with Northern York, the Shippensburg Greyhounds were rolling.

But the momentum from a 7-0 start can only get you so far. Shippensburg was shut out in the second half and Northern York eliminated a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes to claim a 17-16 victory thanks to a field goal with 18 seconds to play, spoiling Shippensburg's undefeated season.

With just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Shippensburg defense forced the Polar Bears to punt at their own 42-yard line, but the punt was fumbled, and Northern's Kyle Swartz recovered on the Ship 10-yard line. A 2-yard pass from Northern quarterback Curtis Robison to Josh Fekete put the Polar Bears within two points with the clock winding down.

Shippensburg (7-1, 4-1 MPC) was forced to punt after going three-and-out on the next drive, and it was time for Northern running back Jake Coover to go to work. Coover worked his way down the field, along with a 7-yard pass from Robison to Fekete, put Northern (5-3, 3-2 MPC) in field goal position.

A 35-yard field goal by Aidan Alves was up and in, with 18 seconds on the clock, to earn the win.

“I was just along for the ride,” Northern coach Bill Miller said. “Obviously coming in, they’re going to think they they are going to do what they need to do, but if you let a team hang around, they become better and that’s what we did tonight.”

“It is such a great feeling,” Coover said. “Now we have a chance at playoffs and competing. We had to pick up the pace in the second half and score points when we needed them.”

On paper, Shippensburg had the clear advantage, outgaining the Polar Bears 394-147, but had three trips inside the Northern 30 that resulted in a turnover, rather than points on the board.

Robison put up just 71 yards in the first half, while he also claimed the top rusher title with 31 total yards on the ground - encompassing more than half of Northern’s total 53 rushing yards.

Shippensburg’s Adam Houser had a nice start to the game, putting up 130 rushing yards on 22 carries in the first half alone, then put up an additional 61 yards in the second half.

Ship QB Carter Van Scyoc threw for 188 total yards, as top receiver Cody Gustafson had 119 yards on seven catches.

“We wanted to use different ways to put pressure on him that other people haven’t tried,” Miller said. “We take a look at how they are blocking and how we can put our defense in to take advantage, and we were able to a couple of times.”

Shippensburg coach Eric Foust declined to talk to a GameTimePA.com reporter about the game.

“You got what you wanted, a tight divisional race,” Foust said.

The Hounds are now in a three-way tie for first place in the Mid Penn Colonial with Big Spring and Waynesboro.

Northern York 17, Shippensburg 16

Shippensburg _ 13 _ 3 _ 0 _ 0 _ — _ 16

Northern York _ 0 _ 7 _ 0 _ 10 _ — _ 17

First Quarter

S — Carter Van Scyoc 1 run (Jackson VanHorne kick), 8:38

S — Cody Gustafson 63 pass from Van Scyoc (pass failed), 2:35

Second Quarter

S — VanHorne 14 field goal, 9:04

N — Joey Razzano 59 pass from Curtis Robison (Aidan Alves kick), 7:25

Fourth Quarter

N — Josh Fekete 2 pass from Robison (Alves kick), 3:40

N — Alvez 35 field goal, 0:18.9

Team Statistics

_ Ship_ Nor

First downs _ 20 _ 9

Rushes-yards _ 50-206 _ 21-53

Passing _ 12-20-1 _ 8-18- 0

Passing yards _ 188 _ 112

Total yards _ 394 _ 147

Punts _ 2-30.5 _ 5-37.2

Fumbles-lost _ 2-1 _ 0-0

Penalties-yards _ 3-26 _ 1-15

Individual Statistics

Rushing — S; Adam Houser 33-191, Phillip Torres 4-11, Noah Chavez 4-10, Van Scyoc 9- (-6); NY, Robinson 10-31, Jake Coover 7-17, Kyle Swartz 3-7, Fekete 1- (-2).

Passing — S, Van Scyoc 12-20-1-188; Nor, Robinson 8-18-0-112.

Receiving — S, Cody Gustafson 7-119, Clayton Stine 3-42, Houser 1-26, Tyler McSherry 1-1; NY, Joey Razzano 3-71, Dylan Baxter 2-18, Fekete 2-17, Omar Hosni 1-1.

Interceptions — NY, Antonio Lodvoici.