SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – Junior quarterback Tyson Bagent (Martinsburg, W.Va./Martinsburg) completed 32-of-45 passes for 447 yards and four touchdowns to lead #8/9 Shepherd (10-1) to a 55-0 win over Clarion (0-10) in football action at Ram Stadium on Saturday.
Shepherd took a 7-0 lead when sophomore running back Ronnie Brown (Baltimore, Md./Dundalk) scored on a 15-yard run with 7:08 left in the first quarter. Senior kicker Hayden August-Scriven (North Potomac, Md./Quince Orchard) added the extra point.
August-Scriven connected on a 20-yard field goal with11:54 left in the second quarter to up the lead to 10-0.
Bagent teamed with Brown on a 39-yard scoring pass with 6:16 left in the second quarter.
Shepherd took a 24-0 lead into the break as Bagent teamed with graduate student wide receiver Josh Gontarek (New Market, Md./Linganore/Shippensburg) on a nine-yard scoring strike with 14 seconds left in the half.
Shepherd opened up the second half scoring when redshirt-freshman defensive back Devon Lynch (Springfield, Va./Robert E. Lee) blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety with 13:42 left in the third quarter.
Junior running back Ty Hebron (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) scored on a two-yard plunge with 8:20 left in the quarter.
The Rams added a safety minutes later on an errant snap for a punt.
Bagent teamed with Beach on a 17-yard scoring pass with 3:25 left in the quarter.
Bagent fired a 32-yard scoring pass to graduate student Alex Wetzel (Keedysville, Md./Boonsboro) with 14:53 left in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt-freshman wide receiver Malakai Brown (Martinsburg, W.Va./Martinsburg) blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown to complete the scoring with 13:24 left.
Zech Sanderson completed 8-of-16 passes for 53 yards for Clarion.
Hebron had 10 carries for 60 yards and a score to lead the Shepherd ground game. Khalil Owens had 10 carries for 18 yards to pace the Golden Eagles.
Beach had nine catches for 140 yards and a score to lead the Rams. Jimmy Johnson had three receptions for 37 yards to pace Clarion.
Shepherd amassed 623 yards of total offense while limiting Clarion to 119 total yards.
Senior linebacker Chrys Lane (Baltimore, Md./Dundalk) led the Rams with six tackles. He added a pair of tackles-for-loss. Graduate student defensive lineman Ricky Robinson (Mathias, W.Va./East Hardy), graduate student linebacker Kendall Duckworth (Naples, Fla./Lely/Kansas), and sophomore defensive end Malik Holloway (Baltimore, Md./Dundalk) each added five stops. Kareem Hamdan had a game-high 19 tackles (17 solos) for the Golden Eagles.
The Rams await work on postseason pairings. The NCAA Division II Football Selection Show will air this Sunday, November 14 at 5:00 PM ET on NCAA.com. The link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com.
