LOCK HAVEN There were those moments, some good and others not so good.
The latter moments proved too costly Saturday afternoon and the Lock Haven football team dropped its 47th consecutive game and established a new NCAA Division II record after a 49-6 defeat to Shippensburg at Jack Stadium.
"We just made too many critical mistakes, especially down in the red zone," said Lock Haven head coach John Allen. "I think part of our mistakes are due to frustration. I think Shippensburg did some things that kind of upset the guys, but you have to play through those things. That is part of the game."
The Red Raiders wasted no time jumping on top and scored on the second play from scrimmage. Shippensburg quarterback Zach Zulli found Bryan Barley wide open at the right sideline and hit him in stride.
Barley outraced the LHU secondary to complete the 89-yard touchdown reception.
"They picked on a freshman a little bit and the safety didn't get over the top like he should have," said Allen. "When that happened, it created an explosive play. Those are some of the things we have to work hard to get better at."
Shippensburg scored on its second possession, a 10-play, 89-yard drive that culminated with a 27-yard pass from Zulli to Jacob Baskerville. Michael Lloyd added the PAT for a 14-0 lead with three minutes left in the opening quarter.
Trailing by the 14-point spread, the Bald Eagles (0-5, 0-3 PSAC West) came up with a fumble recovery by Marc Olivo on the Shippensburg 6 that turned into a total disaster for the Bald Eagles.
Two runs by Brandon Brader moved the ball to the 3, but with emotions running high, the Bald Eagles were assessed back-to-back personal foul penalties, pushing them back to the 33.
Lock Haven attempted a 45-yard field goal off the foot of Noah Heimer, but the kick was wide right and the Raiders maintained their 14-point lead.
"You can't allow what they are doing affect the tempo of the game as to what you want to do," said Allen. "Personal foul penalties will take you out field goal range and that happened to us once and later out of a touchdown opportunity. We just had too many of those mistakes this week against a good football team that probably cost us about 21 points. They'll grow and learn from those mistakes so we just have to keep plugging away."
On Shippenburg's next possession, Raymond Mosby made possibly the biggest individual defensive play of the day when he drilled a Red Raiders receiver, the ball popped up in the air and Mosby grabbed it for an interception.
Lock Haven quarterback Jarrett Kratzer engineered an efficient 35-yard drive and finished it with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Hoover.
Kratzer finished 11 of 22 for 147 yards and the one score.
"I thought he played well today for the most part," said Allen. "There were a couple of plays where he got out of the pocket a little bit instead of staying in there and settling down. For the most part, he stayed in there and that was a nice pass he threw for the touchdown."
The PAT failed, but with seven minutes left in the first half the Bald Eagles trailed, 14-6.
The Raiders promptly answered the Lock Haven score with a pair of touchdowns to take a 28-6 lead to halftime.
"Those two scores really hurt us, especially the one near the end of the half," said Allen. "It was just a blown coverage by a young kid. If he does what he is supposed to do which is stay home and play his coverage, he would be sitting right there for the play. Again those are some of the things we have to continue to grow with. We have some young kids playing some crucial situations and we know they are going to make mistakes. Unfortunately those critical mistakes hurt us today."
The Raiders scored three more touchdowns in the second half to set the final.
