Shippensburg wins sixth straight Little Brown Jug
It might have felt like a game of missed opportunities for Shippensburg football fans.
But regardless of how many points the Greyhounds could’ve scored with such a dominating offensive performance, they did more than enough to claim their sixth-straight Little Brown Jug victory with a 17-3 defeat of Big Spring.
"This game is obviously huge; both towns come out for it," Ship senior Cameron Tinner said. "But there was a lot on the line tonight. We had a division championship on the line, a home playoff game on the line, and the LBJ, which is something we look forward to all season."
Tinner and the Greyhounds (9-1, 6-1 MPC) can check all of those boxes off, as they earned a share of the Mid Penn Colonial Division with Waynesboro.
There was also another big feat for Shippensburg in its defeat of Big Spring (6-4, 4-3 MPC). Adam Houser became the first Greyhound running back to surpass 1,000 yards on the ground since 2012. He finished with 137 yards on 22 carries, putting him at 1,024 for the year.
"I could never do it without my line; you can never forget about that," Houser said. "I had a slow start during the beginning of the season, but it really started to pick up during the second half. It feels amazing, especially getting the 'W' for the LBJ."
Despite outgaining the Bulldogs, 235-121, in the first half, Shippensburg went into the locker room with only a 7-0 lead. The Big Spring defense stopped three Ship fourth-down tries.
"(Our defense) has played that way all year," Bulldog coach Cory Hoffman said. "They're aggressive, and they're smart football players. They know where they need to be, and they like to hit when they get there. I'm proud of the way the defense played."
Shippensburg turned up the heat in the second half, though. On its first drive of the third quarter, a 43-yard gem from Carter Van Scyoc to Cody Gustafson got the Hounds into the red zone, and Jackson Van Horne capitalized with a 28-yard field goal.
Just over five minutes later, Shippensburg put the final nail in Big Spring with an 23-yard touchdown pass from Van Scyoc to Gustafson.
But it was the Greyhound defense that deserved the most recognition. Other than a Bulldog field goal with two seconds on the clock, Ship's defense was nearly unstoppable.
"I thought our kids played well defensively," Ship coach Eric Foust said. "Up front, we played well, and that was the best defensive game of the year. We hit them. They got up, but we hit them a lot. It was a good game."
Tinner said, "Truthfully, I didn't expect that. All week long, we heard run-run-run with (Ryan) Adams (19 carries, 125 yards) and (Jaret) Petty (12-23). Obviously you want to pack the box, you still have to respect the passing game. (Adams) broke off a couple long runs, but we defended the run well. We did our jobs."
Shippensburg 17, Big Spring 3
Shippensburg _ 7 _ 0 _ 10 _ 0 _ — _ 17
Big Spring _ 0 _ 0 _ 0 _ 3 _ — _ 3
First Quarter
S — Adam Houser 18 rush (Jackson VanHorne kick), 8:34
Third Quarter
S — VanHorne 28 field goal, 6:52
S — Cody Gustafson 23 pass from Carter Van Scyoc (VanHorne kick), 1:31
BS — Noah Keiter 38 field goal, 0:02
Team Statistics
_ Ship _ BiS
First downs _ 20 _ 11
Rushes-yards _ 45-212 _ 33-148
Passing _ 8-15-0 _ 8-21-1
Passing yards _ 177 _ 105
Total yards _ 389 _ 253
Punts _ 2-29.5 _ 5-39.2
Fumbles-lost _ 0-0 _ 0-0
Penalties-yards _ 6-53 _ 12-138
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Ship, Adam Houser 22-137, Philip Torres 10-40, Cameron Tinner 4-30, Carter Van Scyoc 5-5, Noah Chavez 4-0; BiS, Ryan Adams 19-125, Jaret Petty 12-23, Keiter 1-0, Nick Black 1-0.
Passing — Ship, Van Scyoc 7-14-145-0, Cody Gustafson 1-1-32-0; BiS, Petty 8-20-105-1, Black 0-1-0-0.
Receiving — Ship, Gustafson 3-110, Tyler McSherry 2-14, Clayton Stine 1-32, Houser 1-16, Chavez 1-5; BiS, Joey Yaukey 3-34, Zack Hasco 2-30, Peyton Bechtold 1-25, Nick Black 1-11, Keiter 1-5.
Interceptions — Ship, Gustafson.