INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University football team will open the 2022 season at home with a non-conference game against Shippensburg. Both teams feature veteran head coaches in sixth-year Head Coach John Pennington of the Yellow Jackets and 12th-year Head Coach Mark Maciejewski of the Raiders. The season opener will kickoff at noon on Saturday, Sept. 3rd.  

LAST MEETING

West Virginia State will start the 2022 season the same way it started the previous season. The only difference is the Yellow Jackets will host the Raiders this time around. In the 2021 season opener, WVSU came up short to SU on the road, 25-17.

State scored a touchdown in the first quarter and converted a field goal in the second quarter to seize a 10-0 lead. Shippensburg then tacked on two field goals right before the half to close the gap, 10-6.

The Raiders finally broke the plane at the beginning of the second half to go in front, 13-10. They added a field goal and a defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter to increase their advantage, 22-10. 

The Yellow Jackets were able to score once more with a touchdown strike to cut the deficit to five points, 22-17. Then SU ran down the clock and hit a 50-yard field goal to give the game its final score, 25-17. 

Shippensburg had 160 rushing yards compared to 45 by State in the contest. Meanwhile, WVSU passed for 205 yards compared to 125 by SU. The Raiders made three more first downs in the game and had one fewer turnover.

THE BUZZ AT STATE

The Yellow Jackets are coming off their fourth winning season in five years after going 6-5 in 2021. They return starting quarterback Donovan Riddick for his senior year under center. Riddick threw for 2,200 yards and 16 touchdowns while rushing for nearly 200 yards and four touchdowns last season. Two of his favorite targets also return in graduate student Keedrick Cunningham and junior Barry Hill. The wideout duo combined for 1,100 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns last year.

The biggest loss for the WVSU offense was in the backfield with the departure of First Team All-MEC running back Dant'e Jones. Jones graduated in the spring after he broke the school records for season and career rushing touchdowns. He provided nearly 1,000 yards of offense and 13 touchdowns in his swan song.

The WVSU defense was much improved in 2021 and only allowed an average of 20.1 points per game. West Virginia State's defensive unit gave up its fair share of yardage to opposing offenses but did a solid job of keeping them out of the endzone. State's 27 touchdowns allowed was third-lowest in the conference. 

The Yellow Jackets will be without leading tackler Payton Lunsford this season, but return a slew of stellar players in the secondary. Graduate student Ibrahim Sesay had the second-most tackles on the team from his defensive back position and led State in pass breakups. Fellow grad student Henry Houchins led WVSU in tackles for loss while making two interceptions on the season. Meanwhile, senior Christian Thompson reeled in a team-leading five interceptions in 2021.    

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS

The Raiders are coming off a 9-2 season in which they only suffered defeats to nationally-ranked teams, Shepherd and Kutztown. The biggest question for Shippensburg going into the 2022 season is who will replace starting quarterback Brycen Mussina. Mussina threw for nearly 2,500 yards last season with 21 touchdowns and only five interceptions. The four quarterbacks vying for his former spot are all freshmen without playing experience at the collegiate level. Albeit, two of the leading candidates to take over the starting QB role this season are Division I transfers. Joey McCracken transferred from the University of Maine while Sam Johnson III left Boston College to take snaps at SU.

Whoever is under center this year will have leading wide receiver Ian Sheehan to throw to. Sheehan returns for his sophomore season after he caught 47 passes for 727 yards and six touchdowns last year. Senior running back Bill Williams also returns as the leading rusher from a season ago. The run game was not Shippensburg's strong suit, however, with Williams averaging just 3.8 yards per carry on his way to 620 rushing yards and only four touchdowns.

The SU defense was stout in 2021 and only allowed an average of 20 points per game. The Raiders defense was particularly good against the run, giving up just 949 yards on the ground through 11 games. Shippensburg returns junior defensive lineman Jacoby Sherard and senior defensive back Mike Brewer, but loses their two leading tacklers in DB Trey Paul and linebacker Laron Woody to graduation. Sherard led the Raiders with 6.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss last season while Brewer had the third-most tackles on the team and trailed only Paul in interceptions with three on the year.