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Quarterback Steven Hugney ran for two touchdowns and passed for one as the Shenandoah University football team defeated Ferrum College 20-0 on Saturday at Shentel Stadium in the ODAC opener for both teams.
Quarterback Steven Hugney ran for two touchdowns and passed for one as the Shenandoah University football team defeated Ferrum College 20-0 on Saturday at Shentel Stadium in the ODAC opener for both teams.
WINCHESTER — There’s a first time for everything, and the Shenandoah University football team hopes it is just getting started with its historic achievements.
The Hornets improved to 4-0 in for the first time in program history and also earned two shutouts in a season for the first time by shutting out Ferrum College 20-0 on a rainy Homecoming Saturday afternoon at Shentel Stadium in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
“We don’t have a huge history,” SU head coach Scott Yoder said. “Some of the schools we play have been playing football for 100-plus years, and we’ve only done it [continuously] since 2000.
“We get to write our own history. Only the second team ever to be 3-0, the first team ever to be 4-0, and now we need to go find a way to be 5-0. We’ve gotten to where we are by just having a good week of practice and taking it one day at a time.”
SU took the lead just 1 minute and 46 seconds in against Ferrum (0-4) on a 25-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Steven Hugney, who accounted for all three touchdowns by completing 16 of 24 passes for 144 yards and one TD and rushing seven times for 56 yards and two TDs. He lost 13 yards on two sacks.
SU’s defense took the field for the first time after Hugney’s initial TD, and it never felt like the Hornets were going to lose that lead in front of the crowd of 2,822. Ferrum punted on all five of its first-half possessions and gained only 88 yards (44 rushing and passing) as the Hornets built a 14-0 lead. The best the Panthers could manage was advancing to the SU 32 on their third possession before a holding call set them back.
SU’s game plan was to bottle up running back Zac Smiley, and he was held to nine carries for 14 yards in the first half and 14 carries for 28 yards overall. Sophomore running back Monzelle Campbell (12 carries, 53 yards) was Ferrum’s most effective weapon, occasionally finding space on the edges with his speed.
The Hornets stifled freshman quarterback Jesper Korkalainen (15 of 25 for 148 yards) and kept his receivers in front of them, with the largest pass play going for 21 yards. Korkalainen was making his first start.
“We felt like we could make them one-dimensional,” said Yoder, whose team shut out North Carolina Wesleyan 45-0 in its only other game at Shentel Stadium this year. “I didn’t think they could throw it up and down the field. I think we controlled the run game and the line of scrimmage. We thought that would be in our favor, and I think that played out today.”
Ferrum did apply some pressure on the Hornets in the second half, but SU’s defense stood tall each time.
With the score 14-0, Ferrum took over at its own 28 and drove 74 yards to the Hornets 8-yard line with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Freshman linebacker Matt Conroy (eight tackles) stopped Smiley for a gain of one yard on third-and-2.
Korkalainen then came up under center for fourth down, took the snap and tried to push forward, but his momentum was stopped almost immediately on a play in which defensive lineman Jordan Rice and Ethan Brown were each credited for making the tackle. The refs came out to measure, but the ball was several inches short of a first down and SU took over.
“[Defensive coordinator Kalvin] Oliver was preaching to us all week that they only go under center for two plays, and one was a quarterback sneak,” Rice said. “We all understood the situation. We pinched the inside and I came off the edge. I just went for his hips, because everybody was leaning forward. If I could have picked him up, I would have, but I just tried to pull him back.”
Hugney’s 10-yard TD run extended SU’s lead to 20-0 five seconds into the fourth quarter (Scott Martin had his first missed kick of the year on the extra point after converting 15 extra points and three goals).
The Panthers would possess the ball twice more inside the Hornets’ red zone, but both possessions ended in turnovers. On the first, strong safety Quante Redd (eight tackles) leveled Ryan Downer and sent his feet off the turf after Downer caught a slant on a pass from the SU 15, and Conroy recovered the fumble at the 10.
Hugney was intercepted three plays later and the ball was returned 10 yards to the Hornet 15. But in a play befitting the Hornets’ mission, cornerback Keyshawn Wilder came from the right side to knock the ball away from Smiley on a third-and-3 play from the 8, and free safety Ahvyon Boothe (eight tackles) recovered the fumble with 5:05 left. That wound up being Ferrum’s last offensive play of the game.
“We all preach giving our 100 percent all the time,” Rice said. “[Getting those turnovers] is just coming out and proving how good we actually are.”
SU’s offense wasn’t too bad either. On the Hornets’ first drive, Hugney got the ball out quick for three completions on SU’s first five plays, moving the ball 49 yards in the process.
But the Hornets came into the game wanting to run the ball, and it was Hugney who sparked the rushing attack in the first half. On the team’s first rushing attempt, he pulled the ball back from Markell Jackson (10 carries for 97 yards) and curled around a defender before sprinting through an opening in the middle of the field on a read-option play for the first TD.
Hugney would continue to have success on sprint option and designed runs the rest of the half (he led SU with five carries for 54 yards at halftime). He also had a two-yard TD pass to Caleb Reedy on a slant in the back of the end zone to cap a nine-play, 78-yard drive after pulling the ball away from running back Rashadeen Byrd Jr. with 1:50 left in the first half. Reedy left his feet to stretch and make the catch.
In the second half, Hugney scored the only touchdown after he faked handing off to Byrd coming in motion from the slot on the right side.
“We had [option runs] in store if it was raining really hard,” Hugney said. “We ran it once and it worked, and we just kept going with it even though the conditions were not as bad as expected.”
Yoder said Hugney made some good reads with his runs.
“A couple of those were good calls, and we didn’t think we’d get the post-snap read that we did, so Stevie kept it, which is what he’s supposed to do,” Yoder said. “He’s a good open-field runner. I don’t like to see him take a lot of hits, but he’s a competitor and he’s going to get the yards that are there. I thought the second-half touchdown was a really good call by the offensive staff and really well done.”
Ferrum had every reason to be wary of Byrd in the second half.
The graduate student and school all-time rushing touchdown leader was not on the team’s depth chart this week for physical health reasons. But he ran 18 times for 131 yards on Saturday, including 14 times for 109 yards in the second half with SU leaning on its running game. Hugney attempted only five passes in the second half for SU, which finished with a 434-256 edge in total yards and a 290-108 edge in rushing yards.
“About midway through the bye week, we held him back in practice a little bit because he had a little bit of soreness because he’s old, that’s what I joke with him about,” Yoder said. “I thought Byrd was the key. I thought his patience is what really what kind of sprung the run game. I thought he made some really nice cuts.”
Next up for the Hornets is a fellow 4-0 team in Bridgewater, who the Hornets will face next week on the road.
“Once this week is over, it’s over,” Rice said. “We’re on to the next one. One-and-oh next week.”
SU was also led on Saturday by linebacker Ben Burgan, who had a game-high 11 tackles and a pass breakup.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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