EDINBORO Fighting Scots (0-1) at SHIPPENSBURG Raiders (1-0)
Saturday, September 13, 2014 l 12:00 noon 
Seth Grove Stadium (7,700) l Shippensburg, Pa.
Radio:  WFSE 88.9 FM 
 
Edinboro Game Notes
Shippensburg Game Notes

Date:  Saturday, September 13, 201 4
Site:  Shippensburg, Pa.
Stadium:  Seth Grove Stadium
Kickoff: 12:00 noon
Next:  Saturday, September 20 vs. East Stroudsburg, 12 noon
Live Stats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/ship/football/
Video:  http://www.ship.edu/goraiders/

Series History
Series Record:  Tied at 24-24-1
Last Meeting:  2009 -- Shippensburg 24, Edinboro 14
 
Radio: WFSEFM 88.9 -- The Edinboro-Shippensburg game can be heard live on WFSE FM 88.9, with Ron Raymond on the play-by-play and Mike Fenner providing the color commentary. To access the internet broadcast go to http://wfseradio.com
Twitter updates at @BoroAthletics
 
The Game Story
After opening the 2014 campaign with a 38-24 loss at 16th-ranked Carson-Newman, Edinboro hits the highways once again as Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action gets underway.The Fighting Scots have another extended trip, making the trek across the state to play former PSAC West rival Shippensburg. The Red Raiders opened the season in impressive fashion, posting a 55-30 victory at Seton Hill.

Edinboro and Shippensburg played on a regular basis from 1962 to 2009. This will mark the first meeting between the two since then. The addition of Gannon and Mercyhurst into the PSAC moved Shippensburg into the Eastern Division. This will count as a PSAC league game, however, after the PSAC decided to count all games against PSAC competition prior to the PSAC Championship in the league standings.

The Fighting Scots returned five starters on offense and five on defense from last year's 5-6 squad, but the story in week number one was the large number of players who made their inital start. Both the offense and the defense had five players starting for the first time. That included two true freshmen and four redshirt freshman.

The offense has a definite new look under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Miller, whose resume' includes a stint as the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals. The unit welcomes back quarterback Cody Harris, who ranks among the career leaders in numerous statistical categories but played in just the first two games a year ago before suffering a season-ending injury. Edinboro averaged 35 points and 454.5 total yards in the first two games but just 19.6 points and 283.1 total yards over the final nine contests. Harris was a second team All-PSAC West selection in 2011 and '12, and WR Ben Eisel was a second-team selection a year ago.

Shippensburg finished with a 7-4 record a year ago after posting an 11-2 record and reaching the PSAC Championship game in 2012. Fourth-year head coach Mark "Mac" Maciejewski is a former defensive coordinator, but it's his offenses that really put the fear in people. In addition to putting up 55 points at Seton Hill, the Red Raiders ran off 103 plays and finished with 713 yards. That included 411 yards passing and 302 yards rushing.

Edinboro was picked to finish sixth in the PSAC West in the coaches' preseason poll for the second straight year. The Eastern Division coaches predicted that Shippensburg would finish fourth.

After facing a bruising veer option attack run by Carson-Newman, Edinboro must try to slow down a multi-faceted Shippensburg offense. Despite missing former Harlon Hill Award winner Zach Zulli, the Red Raiders' offense didn't skip a beat in the opener. The unit showcases a pair of
preseason All-American wide receivers in Trevor Harman and Sheldon Mayer. The two combined for 21 receptions and 314 yards. Blair Brooks complemented them with 133 yards rushing.

The Carson-Newman contest was the first of three Thursday games the Fighting Scots will play in 2014. Edinboro will also face local rivals Gannon and Mercyhurst on Thursday evenings. The Scots will host Gannon on Thursday, October 16 in the first Thursday night contest at Sox Harrison Stadium since 2008. A week later Edinboro will play for the first time at Erie Veterans Stadium since 1982 as Mercyhurst hosts the Scots on Thursday, October 23.

The All-Time Series
Tied at 24-24-1
This marks the first meeting between Edinboro and Shippensburg since 2009, when the Red Raiders came away with a 24-14 victory at Sox Harrison Stadium. Prior to that the two teams had met on a yearly basis since 1962. Edinboro had won the previous four meetings with Ship before the 2009 contest.

The Last Meeting
2009 -- Shippensburg 24, Edinboro 14 
After playing to a scoreless tie over the first 30 minutes, Shippensburg ran off 24 straight
points in just over 15 minutes in the second half to go on top 24-0. The Red Raiders then held off an Edinboro rally engineered by Trevor Harris, as the Fighting Scots quarterback threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final five minutes. Harris completed 25 of 46 passes for 241 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs. The ground game managed 113 yards. Shippensburg rode the duo of Kevin Marshall (16 att.-98 yards) and Kevin Herod (18 att.-58 yards-2 TDs) to 187 yards rushing, and quarterback Chad DiFebbo was efficient through the air, completing 9 of 11 passes for 112 yards. On defense, Dan Skelton led the Boro with a game-high 14 tackles, two for losses. Josh Simmons led SU with 13 tackles, a tackle for a loss, an interception, and a forced fumble.

The Coaches
Scott Browning (Ohio State '81) took over as Edinboro's 13th head coach on January 5, 2006, and in his first six seasons he tied the record for most wins by a coach during that period. Browning is in his ninth season with a 54-36 record, and is in his 29th season as a member of the Edinboro staff. With last year's season-opening 35-34 win over Walsh, he became the third coach at Edinboro to reach 50 wins, joining Tom Hollman and Bill Mc- Donald. The win over Clarion was his 54th, tying him with McDonald for second in career victories. Browning was certainly no stranger to Fighting Scot football when he was hired as head coach, serving as an assistant coach for the previous twenty years. While at Edinboro he has coached the offensive linemen, defensive backs and running backs, along with serving as the offensive coordinator. Browning became the first head coach at Edinboro to debut with a win since McDonald in 1969 when the Fighting Scots opened the 2006 season with a 28-14 win at West Chester. He went on to lead Edinboro to a 6-5 finish, the most wins ever by a first-year coach. That was followed by a 7-4 finish in 2007. His next two Fighting Scot editions recorded a school-record tying nine wins. In 2008 Edinboro ended the year at 9-2 and was ranked 20th in the final AFCA Top 25. The Fighting Scots had a 9-4 record in 2009, making the NCAA playoffs for the first time in his tenure. Edinboro would end the year 24th in the AFCA poll. The Boro posted back-to-back 7-4 finishes in 2010 and 2011. The 4-6 finish in 2012 represented Browning's first losing season as head coach.

Mike "Mac" Maciejewski (Shippensburg '92) (pronounced muh-CHESS-key) was named the head coach at his alma mater on December 8, 2010, replacing long-time mentor Rocky Rees. Now in his fourth season as head coach, he has enjoyedrecord-setting success. His record of 25-10 over the first three years represents the most wins in the 109 years of football at Shippensburg. He has overseen back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2002-04 while setting 116 school records in the process. In 2012, Maciejewski was named the Shippensburg AFCA Division II Region I Coach of the Year and the PSAC Eastern Division Coach of the Year after leading Shippensburg to an 11-2 finish. The Red Raiders reached the second round of the NCAA playoffs, winning their first NCAA postseason game since 1991, a 58-20 win over Bloomsburg. Shippensburg also played in the PSAC Championship game. That squad was spearheaded by 2012 Harlon Hill trophy winner Zach Zulli. In his other two seasons the Red Raiders have finished with 7-4 records. All told, Maciejewski is now in his 14th season at Shippensburg. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1995 and 1996. After stints at James Madison and Saint Francis, he returned to coach the SU secondary from 2000-02 before serving as the defensive coordinator from 2003- 04. From 2006-10, Maciejewski was named Shippensburg's assistant head coach and was once again charged with leading the secondary. As a defensive lineman from 1989-92, Maciejewski was one of the most intimidating players in Red Raider football history and is one of just three players in program history to receive All- PSAC First Team honors in three consecutive seasons at the same position. Maciejewski finished his playing career with 23 sacks (one shy of the school record) and 28 tackles for loss as a nose guard. He earned Football Gazette and Associated Press Third Team All-America honors in 1991 and '92, respectively. He was elected to the Shippensburg University Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2010.

Browning Comments ... on the Fighting Scots
"Other than the fact we came up short on the scoreboard there were some positive aspects. We got the long-distance travel under our belts, which was important given the many new faces. It's important to do the things to prepare to play every week. I thought the special teams did some good things. O'Sha Jackson had the long kickoff return. Connor Hollenbeck did a nice job punting. Paul Petrusky was the lone snapper for the first time. Paul Ortiz hit the field goal right before the half and made all his PATs. There were some positives there. Defensively we had four takeaways. We forced them to do some things they didn't want to do. I thought our defense played extremely hard and physical. Offensively, we had no turnovers, which was good to see. We had the long drive right before the half where we kicked the field goal and had to overcome a 2nd and 21. We feel like the mistakes we made are correctable."

Browning Comments ... on the Eagles
"Offensively Shippensburg is very explosive. They ran 103 plays for over 700 yards. Mac does a great job with the defense. Ship has always been very
tough to beat at their stadium. This game counting as a league game makes it even more important."