Former Hempfield standout previews East Stroudsburg’s trip to Millersville
For a guy who thought he might be a punter in college, Sam Shuman is having quite the standout career.
The 2005 Hempfield grad is in his redshirt junior year at East Stroudsburg, and he’s firmly establishing himself as one of the most reliable wideouts in the PSAC.
Through nine games, Shuman leads the Warriors with 32 catches – for 548 yards and a pair of touchdown grabs as East Stroud has sprinted to a 4-2 start in the PSAC and is 7-2 overall.
Shuman, who played wideout, d-back, punted and played some quarterback for Hempfield, will be back in the area on Saturday, when East Stroud heads to Millersville for a PSAC East showdown.
MU is just 1-5 in the conference and 1-8 overall, and the Marauders will be celebrating Homecoming when Shuman makes his homecoming to Lancaster County.
I chatted with Sam via phone this week about his career at East Stroud, about the success of the Warriors’ program this season and about his trip back home to take on MU.
You can listen to the interview by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
And you can continue reading here for my MU-East Stroud preview cap …
THE GAME: East Stroudsburg (4-2 PSAC, 7-2 overall) @ Millersville (1-5 PSAC, 1-8 overall), Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium in Millersville.
HAPPY HOMECOMING: This is MU’s homecoming game.
ON THE AIR: Marauder Sports Broadcasting Network — www.millersville.edu/~athletic – with Domenic Panza and Matt Majewski on the call.
THE SERIES: East Stroud leads 34-24-1 in a series that dates back to 1948. … MU has won the last two games in a row, including a 36-24 win last year. … Marauders and Warriors have met every year since 1948, making this the 60th meeting in the series.
THE COACHES: MU’s Greg Colby is in his first season with the Marauders. … East Stroud’s Denny Douds is in his 35th season and is one of just four active coaches in Division 2 with 200 career coaching victories. His teams have won nine PSAC crowns and gone to the NCAA Division 2 playoffs three times. He is the PSAC’s longest-tenured head coach, and he’s won PSAC Coach of the Year honors three times.
ABOUT MILLERSVILLE: This is the Marauders’ final PSAC East game this season. … Looking to avoid winning just one conference game in a season for the fourth time since the PSAC split to East and West in 1960. … MU held Kutztown to 62 yards in the second half last week, but fell 26-17. … RB Cardoza Jacks rushed for 139 yards on 30 carries, and cracked the 100-yard mark for the third game in a row last Saturday against Kutztown. Three killer turnovers in three consecutive drives thwarted MU’s comeback attempt against Kutztown last Saturday. MU trailed 23-7 and made a run, but the Golden Bears held off the Marauders at the wire. … MU held Kutztown to 326 yards – the least the Marauders have allowed in a game this season. … Jacks has scored at least one TD in each of the last three games, and he’s scored five TDs in his last three games. He’s accounted for five of MU’s eight rushing TDs this season.
ABOUT EAST STROUDSBURG: Warriors scored 35 second-quarter points last Saturday in a 48-42 win over C.W. Post. … Opened the season 5-0 before falling to West Chester and Bloomsburg, who were both nationally ranked at the time of the games. … Riding a two-game winning streak. … Piled up 492 yards last Saturday against C.W. Post, when QB Tim Roken passed for 343 yards. … Passing attack averages 273.1 yards per game, second-best in the PSAC. Warriors have passed for 2,458 yards – second-most in the conference. … Averaging 33.8 points per game, fourth-best in the PSAC. … WR Jeff Giglio has a team-best seven TD catches. … WR Doug Ogden is the reigning PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week. He had eight catches for 194 yards against C.W. Post. … LB Matt Freed leads the PSAC with 105 tackles (11.7 per game).
THE PICK: I know it’s Homecoming, which should mean a super-charged crowd and a peachy-keen feeling in the house. But this East Stroud team looks pretty gnarly, especially its offense, which likes to go vertical. Sensing that the Marauders will keep this one close, but East Stroud might have a tad too much offense in the end. So I’m going Warriors, 30-14.
