EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Shepherd University (5-3, 2-3 PSAC East) dropped a 31-7 decision to #22 East Stroudsburg (7-1, 4-0 PSAC East) in PSAC East football action at East Stroudsburg on Saturday afternoon.
East Stroudsburg took a 3-0 lead with 11:30 left in the first quarter on a 21-yard field goal by Ty Quintois.
Cade Sawyer scored on a one-yard run with 5:42 left in the first quarter to up the lead to 10-0.
The Warriors added a pair of second-quarter scores to take a 24-0 advantage into halftime. Ajani Walker scored on a two-yard run with 1:55 left, and Matt Machalik fired a 23-yard scoring toss to Sawyer with 1:30 remaining.
Shepherd opened the second half scoring when graduate student quarterback
Michael Hardyway (Winchester, Cal./Oceanside/Bucknell) teamed with senior wide receiver
Carrington Nickens-Yzer (Clifton, Va./Centreville) on a 56-yard scoring strike with 3:52 left in the third quarter.
East Stroudsburg added a one-yard scoring run by Machalik with 12:48 left in the fourth quarter to wrap up the scoring.
Hardyway completed 12-of-23 passes for 158 yards for the Rams. Machalik connected on 11-of-19 passes for 125 yards for the Warriors.
Nickens-Yzer led the Shepherd receivers with three receptions for 70 yards. Elijah Ford had four catches for 54 yards to lead the Warriors.
Sophomore running back
Jabril Daniels (Cumberland, Md./Fort Hill) had five carries for 21 yards for the Rams. Deante Crawford had 11 carries for 60 yards to lead East Stroudsburg.
Shepherd had 169 yards of total offense while East Stroudsburg totaled 369 yards.
The Shepherd defense was led by sophomore defensive back
D'Myo Hunter (Culpeper, Va./Blue Ridge School) and redshirt sophomore linebacker
Malachi Barnes (Windsor Mill, Md./Milford Mill Academy. Hunter had eight tackles (four solos), while Barnes had eight stops (five solos) and an interception. Mason Smith had eight tackles to lead East Stroudsburg.
The Rams return to action on Saturday when they travel to Shippensburg for a 1 p.m. contest.
