Brown

Shepherd University had only one penalty and did little wrong in its quick visit to the northeast to begin its 2022 football season.

Its offensive line gave quarterback Tyson Bagent ample protection as he threw for five scores and 394 yards. And the resupplied defense allowed very little to Southern Connecticut State University, as the highly ranked Rams trounced the Owls, 48-7, in the season opener for both teams.

The Owls, coming off a 4-6 season a year ago, could not get a first down as Shepherd scored the first couple of its seven touchdowns.

Leading 14-0 after one quarter, Shepherd smoothly moved to a 27-0 lead by halftime — already with 313 yards of total offense and 16-1 advantage in first downs.

Cook

A defense, that had eight new starters from the highly successful 2021 team, barely budged in blunting the Owls with an energetic pass rush and a run-stopping front seven. The Owls had 29 yards of total offense after two periods.

Bagent had already completed 20 passes by halftime. He repeatedly found Ryan Beach, Marlon Cook and versatile back Ronnie Brown to extend drives that led to those three scoring touchdowns.

Beach scored three times and both Cook and Brown scored twice as the Rams thrived with the protection Bagent received from his newly formed offensive interior, made from Joey Fisher, Adam Stilley, Ty Lucas, Chandler Brown and Wyatt Pellicano.

On defense, first-year starter Dewayne Grantham had eight tackles and two pass interceptions, while Kevin Couser and Keyshawn Hailey had six tackles each. Kyle Smith pressured the trio of Owl quarterbacks from the first play onward. He had two sacks and returning starter Malik Holloway had the team’s other sack.

Shepherd had a runaway 34-0 lead before the Owls could score.

Bagent

Almost every Ram scoring drive — and there were seven of them — featured a lengthy run or pass. Many yards were piled up on runs, after catching short passes. Brown had 113 rushing yards on just 10 carries. His backups — Avaughn Holley and Blake Hartman — ground through the middle of the Owl defense when Brown was not present.

Ceding only 210 yards of total offense to the Owls, meant Shepherd was in constant control and always staring toward the Southern Connecticut State end zone.

Playing nearly a penalty-free game added to Shepherd’s smoothness and confident approach to its opener.

Coming back to Ram Stadium to see {span}PennWest Edinboro{/span} of its own PSAC at noon tomorrow gives the Rams another chance to sharpen their skills and cohesiveness, before facing league powers California University of Pennsylvania and Kutztown University on back-to-back Saturdays.

Beach

Grantham