The Shepherd Rams headed out to Glenville State this past Saturday undefeated and looking to make a statement to all of the American Football Coaches Association voters that they were better than their ninth ranking indicated. The Rams made this statement game by dominating Glenville State by a final score of 45–19.
Redshirt-freshman running back Jabre Lolley was the shining star of the afternoon for the Rams. The Delaware native rushed 17 times for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While Lolley had the flashy afternoon putting points on the scoreboard, sophomore running back Allen Cross was the workhorse on the ground as he rushed 22 times for 99 yards on the day. The Rams offense was on target this week as they racked up 390 total yards on the afternoon. It looks like the insertion of redshirt-freshman quarterback Jeff Ziemba has made defense play more honest.
Once again this week, redshirt-freshman Jeff Ziemba got the nod as the starting quarterback and just as he did against Notre Dame College, Ziemba played some very solid, sound football. Ziemba was 15 for 24 passes for 180 yards to go along with one touchdown pass on the afternoon. Since the Rams have plugged in Ziemba as their starter, he has gone 31 for 48 passes for 306 yards and three touchdown passes. The key stat for Ziemba is that he has not turned the ball over once since becoming the starter, which seemed to be the Achilles’ heel for junior Trae Tinsman.
While the offense was playing pretty well, the Rams’ defense was in dominating form. Glenville State’s offense was held to an anemic 237 total yards of offense. The Pioneers had 137 rushing yards on the day to become the first team to rush for over 100 yards against the Rams this season. That’s a streak the defense will no doubt be upset to see end, but a football season is a grind and they will gladly take the win.
Senior free safety Corey Washington had an absolutely stellar performance against the Pioneers as he had an interception, his second of the season, in the second quarter that was returned for a touchdown. The northern Virginia native forced a fumble early in the third quarter as well.
The Rams’ defense was on target on the afternoon as they forced three turnovers and only gave up 95 yards of passing. Senior linebacker Dominique Dixon had a great time against the Pioneers as he led the Rams’ defense with 11 tackles and had one forced fumble. No offense this season has been able to get into a groove against the Rams’ suffocating defense and it seems like they aren’t going to slow down as the Rams make a run at the postseason.
With the victory, Shepherd moves to 8–0, 7–0 in Mountain East Conference action on the 2013 season. Shepherd has not lost a regular season game since October of last year. Glenville State falls to 4–5, 4–4 in MEC action and is essentially eliminated from post-season consideration. The Rams will play their last home game of the season next Saturday as they go up against West Virginia State. You can listen to the game live on 89.7 WSHC “The Voice of Shepherd” at 11:55 a.m. with a noon kickoff.
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