Hill

In its only other game touched by any rain, the Rams couldn’t score a touchdown and fell to conference rival Kutztown University.

This time, the rain quit before game time and the Rams made the pass catches of Barry Hill (eight receptions, 118 yards and a TD) and Jeremiah Taylor (seven catches, 104 yards and a TD) definitive enough to quell for the time being the potential rise of what has been the long buried Bald Eagles — winners of a combined four games in the three previous seasons.

Hill and Taylor were the most favored receivers of quarterback Seth Morgan, who completed 25-of-36 throws without an interception for 301 yards and two TDs.

Only tagged three times for 30 yards in penalties and with a 33:14 to 26:46 advantage in time of possession the Rams constantly kept moving in the right direction.

Morgan

Shepherd’s 17-3 lead by halftime was instrumental in mostly muting Lock Haven University’s five sacks against Morgan in the second half.

The Bald Eagles had to use reserve quarterback Kyle Zajack in the whole of the second half because starter Danny Sanchez, who completed seven of his first eight passes, was injured late in the second quarter. Zajack was intercepted three times as Shepherd had Dewayne Grantham, Christian McDowell, Naeem Alexander and Gianni Gamble intercept passes. Sanchez had been intercepted once.

Chandler Baker’s 98-yard kickoff return score was Lock Haven’s only TD, as the Bald Eagle record dipped to 3-3 overall.

With the game tied at 3-3, Shepherd stunned the host team with an 88-yard scoring drive quickly culminated by a Morgan-to-Hill scoring pass/run that went for 53 yards, most of it chewed up by Hill’s run-after-the-catch.

Leading, 10-3, the Rams quickly used McDowell’s interception to score again on Jordan Barnett’s short run that brought a 17-3 lead at the half.

Taylor

With the first possession of the third period the Rams drove 82 yards — mostly on Taylor’s reception/run that carried all the way to the Bald Eagle 10. Taylor’s diving end zone catch brought the surging Rams to a 24-3 lead.

Shepherd will hit the Pennsylvania roads again this week when they travel to Millersville, now 3-3 overall, to play the Marauders at 2 p.m. on Saturday in another PSAC game.

Kutztown continues with its one-game lead over Shepherd in the race to see which East Division team will represent that section in the conference championship game to be played on November 11.