MANSFIELD – Gary Raupers threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns in his college debut as Mansfield sprint football cruised past defending club national champion Sacred Heart in an exhibition contest at Karl Van Norman Field on Saturday.
 
Saturday's game counted toward Sacred Heart's regular season schedule, but was a tune-up for the Mountaineers who host Penn next weekend in its season opener. Sacred Heart won the National Club Football Association (NCFA) title last season.
 
The Mountaineer defense forced a pair of turnovers on Sacred Heart's opening drives with Max Johnson forcing and recovering a fumble and Dajuan Buie picking off a pass. SHU's third drive ended in a punt with Quin Henry returning the ball 34 yards down to the Pioneer's 23-yard line.
 
Quarterback Adam Hutchinson's 13-yard rush put Mansfield on the SHU 7-yard line with first and goal. Hutchison connected with D.J. McLean in the endzone to give Mansfield the 7-0 advantage.
 
Sacred Heart ended its next drive on a missed field goal and the Mountaineers countered with quarterback Gary Raupers finding McLean on a 40-yard strike to extend the lead to 14-0.
 
In the second half, the Pioneers cut their deficit to 14-3 on a made 43-yard field goal.
 
Raupers opened the fourth quarter with a 33-yard pass to Saville Pope and ended the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Henry. The extra point was blocked, but Mansfield held a 20-3 advantage.
 
The Pioneers answered with a Michael Conento 1-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive to pull within 10 points.
 
Later in the fourth, Raupers connected on his third touchdown pass of the day, finding Vaughn Hines from 16 yards out to give the Mountaineers a more comfortable lead at 26-10. SHU again blocked the extra point following the score.
 
Mansfield totaled 20 first downs for 440 yards of offense in the game. 312 of those offensive yards came through the air with just one sack allowed.
 
Pope led the receiving corps, pulling down five catches for 94 yards with McLean recording four catches for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jayden Walker led Mansfield on the ground attack with 16 attempts for 66 yards. Walker also had four catches for 39 yards.
 
The Mountaineer defense forced six turnovers including four interceptions and a pair of fumbles and allowed just 174 yards of total offense.
 
Brandon Allen had a team-best four solo tackles, an interception, and a pass break-up. Ryan Ritter and Levi Krebs each recorded sacks against an offensive line that was under no weight restriction like in sprint football.
 
Buie, Kayin Berger, and Bryton Barna also recorded interceptions in the win.
Mansfield hosts Penn in its season-opener at Karl Van Norman Field on Saturday, Sept. 15 as part of the Light Up Mansfield Again (LUMA) and Salute the Troops festivities.