SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – In a matter of seconds, the situation for the Shepherd University football team went from desperation to opportunity to jubilation on Saturday.
Down by four points with 24 seconds remaining, quarterback Michael Hardyway connected with Carrington Nickens-Yzer on an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of a last-gasp possession to lift the Rams to a 35-32 PSAC East win over Shippensburg.
The Rams (6-3, 3-3) seemed to be on the verge of a damaging loss just moments earlier.
The Raiders had the ball on the Shepherd 22 with 2:05 left after forcing the Rams to turn the ball over on downs.
Shippensburg drained the clock to 30 seconds remaining and faced a fourth-and-15 play – instead of a possible 55-yard field goal – to get a first down that could have possibly sealed the win. But Shepherd’s Jonathan Coleman intercepted a pass from Shippensburg quarterback Roman Jensen in the end zone for a touchback.
With the ball at the Rams 20, Hardyway immediately found Nickens-Yzer racing down the right-side hashmark, hitting him with a pass at the 42-yard line. Nickens-Yzer ran through a tackle attempt and sprinted to the end zone for the score with 11 seconds remaining.
Max Barba added the kick for the 35-32 lead.
Shippensburg (3-6, 1-4) still had a chance to stay in the game. Barba’s kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Raiders the ball at their 35.
Jensen hit Marcus Sweeney with a 25-yard pass, allowing the Raiders to call timeout with 7 seconds remaining at the Shepherd 40. Sweeney caught a six-yard pass and went out of bounds with 4 seconds remaining.
Wilson Ingerski attempted a 52-yard field goal to tie the game, but it fell short, giving the Rams the win.
It ended a wild game that had Shepherd leading 28-13 at the half, only to be outscored 13-0 in the third quarter and falling behind 32-28 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Jensen found Chris Adegunle for a 71-yard pass play for a touchdown.
It stayed that way until the final seconds of the game.
Shepherd grabbed the early lead on its opening drive. Two pass plays got the Rams to the Shippensburg 16. Ian Mauldin ran the next three plays, finishing with a 1-yard score up the middle at the 11:56 mark of the quarter.
Barba hit his first of five extra points to put the Rams up 7-0.
Shippensburg answered with Jensen hitting Jermere Jones with a 13-yard TD pass with 7:04 left in the quarter for the 7-7 tie.
Shepherd stayed on the ground for its next two scores for a 21-7 lead.
Jabril Daniels broke a 63-yard run for a score with 1:22 remaining in the first quarter, before Mauldin scored from the 8 with 4:05 left in the half for the 14-point lead.
After Ingerski hit a 54-yard field goal at 1:42 to move Shippensburg to within 21-10, Hardyway engineered a quick drive to get one more score for the Rams.
The Rams moved from their 25 off a series of passes, setting up an eight-yard strike to Nickens-Yzer with :26 remaining for a 28-10 lead
Jensen moved the Raiders 34 yards in 24 seconds to set up a 48-yard field goal by Ingerski as time expired to send Shippensburg into the locker room trailing 28-13 at the half.
Shippensburg got in position to pull out the win with three straight scores in the second half.
First, Shippensburg moved to within 28-20 when Jensen teamed with Sweeney on a 10-yard score with 8:20 left in the third quarter. It was followed by Kal-El Durham’s 13-yard fumble return with 1:08 left in the period. The Raiders failed on a two-point conversion, leaving Shepherd leading 28-26.
It led to the dramatic sequence in the fourth quarter.
Shippensburg’s offense outgained Shepherd 428-401 yards.
Hardyway completed 14 of 22 passes for 203 yards for the Rams, while Nickens-Yzer had seven catches for 156 yards and the two touchdowns.
Daniels rushed for 113 yards for the Rams.
Jensen connected on 27 of 37 passes for 316 yards for the Raiders, while Sweeney had eight catches for 91 yards, and Adegunle added five grabs for 140 yards.
Coleman, Shepherd’s freshman defensive back, collected two interceptions.
