ERIE, Pa. –  Junior quarterback Tyson Bagent (Martinsburg, W.Va./Martinsburg) completed 29-of-37 passes for 363 yards and five touchdowns to lead Shepherd to a 56-26 win over Gannon in football action at Gannon on Saturday. 

Gannon took a 6-0 lead when Kory Curtis tossed an 11-yard scoring pass to Alex Whittaker with 13:18 left in the first quarter. 

Shepherd answered back when Bagent fired a 10-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Greg Leonard (Lusby, Md./Patuxent/Clarion) with 11:08 left in the first quarter. Senior kicker Hayden August-Scriven (North Potomac, Md./Quince Orchard) added the extra point. 

Bagent teamed with freshman wide receiver Ryan Beach (Frederick, Md./Northwest) on an eight-yard scoring play with 5:15 left in the first quarter to give the Rams a 14-6 lead. 

Shepherd took 21-6 lead when Bagent fired an 11-yard scoring pass to junior tight end Brian Walker (Clarksburg, Md./Clarksburg) with 2:00 left in the first quarter. 

Eric Scarpino connected on a 45-yard field goal for Gannon with 14:00 left in the second quarter to make it 21-9. 

Bagent tossed a five-yard scoring pass to graduate student fullback Michael McCook (Hagerstown, Md./South Hagerstown) with 9:34 left in the second period to up the lead to 28-9.

Bagent and McCook teamed on a four-yard scoring pass with 37 seconds left in the half to give the Rams a 35-9 lead going into the break. 

Gannon opened the second half scoring with a 25-yard field goal from Scarpino with 8:31 left in the third quarter. 

Shepherd answered back when sophomore running back Ronnie Brown (Baltimore, Md./Dundalk) raced 58 yards for a score to up the lead to 42-12 with 7:46 remaining in the third quarter.

The Golden Knights got a 17-yard scoring pass from Curtis to Sam East with 4:36 left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 42-19. 

Junior running back Ty Hebron (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) scored on a 12-yard scoring run with 13:36 remaining to increase the Shepherd lead. 

Curtis and Whittaker teamed on a 23-yard scoring pass for the Golden Knights with 11:18 left. 

Redshirt-sophomore running back Avaughn Holley (Pomfret, Md./McDonough) scored on a 10-yard jaunt with 5:15 remaining to complete the scoring. 

Curtis was 22-of-37 for 266 yards and three scores for Gannon. 

Beach had eight receptions for 82 yards for the Rams. Graduate student wide receiver Josh Gontarek (New Market, Md/Linganore/Shippensburg) added four catches for 108 yards. Sam East had seven catches for 76 yards for the Golden Knights. 

Brown had eight carries for 72 yards to lead the ground game. Holley added 69 yards on 12 carries. Melvin Blanks had seven carries for 25 yards to pace Gannon. 

Shepherd amassed 583 yards of total offense, while Gannon had 333. 

Sophomore defensive lineman Malik Holloway (Baltimore, Md./Douglass) with six tackles, including a sack. Junior defensive end Kyle Smith (Sterling, Va./Dominion) added five stops with a pair of tackles-for-loss. Chris Farnsworth and MaLik Bridgeman each had eight tackles for the Golden Knights.

The Rams return to action on Saturday when they travel to Indiana (Pa.) for a 2 p.m. contest.