Ship overcomes tough Greencastle defense in 27-0 win
Greencastle-Antrim's defense knew it was going to have its hands full with Shippensburg on Friday night.
So the Blue Devils game-planned for it. They ran blitzes, they double-covered the area's best wide receiver, and they constantly got pressure on Greyhounds quarterback Carter Van Scyoc.
Despite finishing with four sacks and three tackles for a loss, Greencastle's defense simply wasn't enough to stop the well-oiled machine that is the undefeated Shippensburg Greyhounds, who walked away with a 27-0 victory.
"They're a good team, and they're gonna score points," G-A coach Chuck Tinninis said. "They're not 7-0 for not being good, but I think our kids were fired up, and they played aggressive. There were multiple things we were doing well at shutting them down."
Greencastle (1-6, 1-3 MPC) held Cody Gustafson to a mere three catches, but no matter. The Greyhounds (7-0, 4-0 MPC) switched gears, running the ball 43 times. Adam Houser amassed 190 yards on the ground, and fullback Phil Torres backed him up with a 63-yard performance.
"They really took a lot of Cody away from us," Ship coach Eric Foust said. "If they're going to do that, that's fine because we'll just give the ball to Adam and Phil. They both ran hard and recklessly, and that's the most aggressive I've seen Adam run the ball ever."
Houser said, "Offensively, I feel like I had a pretty good game, but that was mostly because of my O-line. They were so good tonight, and I couldn't thank them enough."
All four of Ship's scores came on the ground. Houser had a highlight-worthy 57-yard score on the third play of the third quarter, while Noah Chavez and Van Scyoc punched in short touchdowns. Cameron Tinner had a single carry and scored a three-yard touchdown with it.
Shippensburg also showed off its defensive prowess to gain an early lead.
The Blue Devils moved the ball fairly well in the first half, and were even within striking distance of the end zone twice in the second quarter. But Greencastle fumbled once at the Ship 21 and again at the Ship 35. Colby Holtry and Denny Santana-Encarnacion recovered the fumbles for the Hounds.
"I just saw (Dylan) Jumper rip it out of the kid's hands, and I hopped on it," Holtry said. "Those were pretty big in the game. Those kind of stops are game-changers, I think."
Tinninis said, "I thought we played hard for four quarters, but we have to score. Our drives are stalling, even when we didn't fumble. We did have some success moving the ball, though, and the offensive line, overall, played a pretty good game."
Demetrius Burton continues to be the spark for G-A's offense. He finished with 130 yards on 17 carries.
Shippensburg 27, Greencastle 0
Shippensburg _ 7 _ 7 _ 6 _ 7 _ — _ 27
Greencastle _ 0 _ 0 _ 0 _ 0 _ — _ 0
First Quarter
Ship — Noah Chavez 6 run (Jackson VanHorne kick), 5:28
Second Quarter
Ship — Carter Van Scyoc 1 run (VanHorne kick), 1:08
Third Quarter
Ship — Adam Houser 57 run (pass failed), 10:13
Fourth Quarter
Ship — Cameron Tinner 3 run (VanHorne kick), 4:40
Team Statistics
_ Ship _ GA
First downs _ 18 _ 8
Rushes-yards _ 43-236 _ 37-222
Passing _ 5-10-1 _ 4-7-0
Passing yards _ 80 _ 15
Total yards _ 316 _ 237
Punts _ 1-30 _ 3-29
Fumbles-lost _ 0-0 _ 3-2
Penalties-yards _ 1-10 _ 3-35
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Ship, Houser 19-190, Phil Torres 12-63, Tinner 1-3, Chavez 3-3, Van Scyoc 8-(-23); GA, Demetrius Burton 17-130, Cade McDowell 9-64, Kyrin Zimmerman 4-28, Tanner Bain 1-0.
Passing — Ship, Van Scyoc 5-10-80-1; GA, McDowell 4-7-15-0.
Receiving — Ship, Cody Gustafson 3-61, Tyler McSherry 1-13, Clayton Stine 1-6; GA, Zimmerman 2-7, Antwoine Carter 1-4, Mike Budner 1-4.
Interceptions — GA, Tanner Bain.