Shenandoah University opened up its 2014 football season with a 20-0 shutout victory over Gallaudet University Sunday afternoon.
It is the first shutout of the Scott Yoder era for the Hornets (1-0) and represents the third victory over Gallaudet (0-1) in four lifetime meetings.
Playing on the field in which the program registered its first-ever win, on September 16, 2000, Shenandoah pitched its first shutout since blanking Catholic 12-0 on September 3, 2005.
The shutout is the third in program history as SU held fellow start up program Averett off the board in 2000.
The Hornet defense, which held GU to just 114 yards in total offense, received all of the offense it would need following the initial SU drive of the contest.
Taking the ball following a Bison punt, Shenandoah drove 48 yards in nine plays before stalling at the Gallaudet 15.
Freshman kicker Jacob Newton, playing in his first collegiate contest, calmly drilled a 32-yard field goal at that point and the Hornets had all of the points they would need for the victory.
Newton made it 6-0 at the 13:13 mark of the second with a 21-yarder from the right hash. Shenandoah had looked to be in prime position to score a touchdown, taking over on the Bison 5 following a botched punt snap, but a fumbled snap on third down forced the field goal try.
Leading by that 6-0 score at the break, SU clinched the game with a dominating third quarter.
Kye Hopkins scored on a pair of 1-yard runs, the first at 10:45 and the second at 4:20, to extend the victors lead to 20-0.
Now with plenty of breathing room, the defense became focused on pitching the shutout. Yoder’s unit held Gallaudet to just 10 total yards in the third quarter and was able to register a pair of sacks.
The Hornets coasted home in the fourth, eventually running out the clock deep in Bison territory after forcing Gallaudet to turn the ball over on downs on its final two possessions.
Quarterback Drew Ferguson led the offense with 55 yards rushing and another 76 on the ground with Cedrick Delaney chipping in 47 yards rushing and 20 receiving.
Jake Shaffer had a team-high nine stops with Michael Messick adding eight.
Ian Griffin, Javonte Rose and Taylor Slaughenhoupt had sacks.
Shenandoah opens its home slate on Saturday night at 7 p.m. with a non-league contest against Frostburg State.
Notes: Today’s game was a rescheduled contest from last night due to lightning in Washington, D.C… It is the program’s first-ever win in a non-Saturday game… After warming up Saturday in road whites, SU wore its red, alternate uniforms Sunday… It was just the second time the team did not wear white on the road and ups its record to 2-0 when the home team wears white…
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