ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University football team, behind more record-breaking performances from redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Boylan and senior free safety Colin Kimball, concluded the 2014 regular season with a 42-21 victory over visiting Shippensburg University on a cold and snowy Saturday afternoon at Tullio Field. The Lakers finished the season with seven straight victories and a third-straight winning season, ending with a 7-4 overall record. The Raiders finished with a 6-5 overall mark.

Boylan again took dead aim at the Laker record book on Saturday and ended up breaking a number of single-season marks after completing 26-of-38 for 409 yards and five touchdowns against the Shippensburg defense. With another 20 yards on the ground, Boylan finished with 429 yards of total offense on Saturday to give him a new Mercyhurst single-season mark of 3,105 yards of total offense, which broke the previous record of 3,070 set by Matt Kissell in 1999. His five touchdowns passing gave him 29 on the season, also breaking the previous record of 27 held by Kissell in 1999 and duplicated by Mitch Phillis in 2007.

He also broke the single-season record with his fifth 300-yard passing game of the season, again knocking Kissell from the top spot.

But, despite all of Boylan's accolades on Saturday, the highlight of the afternoon, and the turning point of the game, was a record-breaking play by Kimball midway through the third quarter.

On a 3rd-and-12 play for Shippensburg from the Mercyhurst 19-yard line, Kimball picked off quarterback Chris Lawshe at the Laker goal line, with Mercyhurst only ahead by seven points. The senior, playing in his final collegiate game, weaved his way through would-be tacklers and used excellent blocking - most notably from seniors Garrett Wild and Michael Foster - to return the interception 100 yards to the Shippensburg endzone and to extend the Laker lead to 28-14 with 8:45 left in the third quarter.

The 100-yard return for a touchdown was the longest return in school history, surpassing an 85-yard return by Casey Williams against Grand Valley State in 2000. It also tied Brian Haberstock's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Brockport State in 1988, for Mercyhurst's longest play in school history. At the time, Kimball's pick six, tied him with Jim Sturm (1981-84) with 14 career interceptions.

However, Kimball was not done, as later in the third quarter, the free safety broke the career interception mark when he picked off Lawshe for the second time in the game. It was Kimball's fifth interception in the last three games. He also broke the school record for most interception return yards in a game (120), in a season (184), and in a career (335).

The other touchdowns belonged to Boylan, who hooked up with redshirt senior R.J. Miller twice, redshirt junior fullback Donny Holl twice, and junior wide receiver Dylan Bongiorni.

Shippensburg took a 7-0 lead with exactly seven minutes to play in the opening quarter when Lawshe found Mike Brown in the endzone from 23 yards away. Michael Lloyd added the point after, capping off an 11-play, 80-yard drive.

The Lakers answered with 12:48 left in the first half when Boylan connected with Holl on a three-yard strike. Sophomore Dylan Kondis added the point after to tie the contest at 7-7. But, Lawshe called his own number and scored on a two-yard burst into the endzone with 7:28 left in the opening half to put the visitors back in front by seven, 14-7.

After that, it was all Mercyhurst.

Boylan and Bongiorni connected on a 37-yard touchdown with 3:04 left in the first half to tie the contest at 14-14 and the teams went to the locker room for halftime. The touchdown reception was the first of Bongiorni's career.

Mercyhurst outscored Shippensburg 21-0 in the third quarter to take a 35-14 advantage after three quarters. Kimball's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown was sandwiched between a pair of touchdown passes by Boylan to Miller - the first from 21 yards out and the second from eight.

Then, on the very first play of the fourth quarter, the Lakers tacked on their fifth unanswered touchdown when Boylan found Holl in the right flat from a yard out.

Shippensburg added a touchdown with 7:36 left in regulation when Raiders' backup quarterback Ryan Zapoticky hooked up with Jordan Harro on a 12-yard score.

Mercyhurst outgained Shippensburg, 473-457, despite running 30 fewer plays than the Raiders. The Lakers, playing without the services of running back Brandon Brown-Dukes, were limited to just 64 yards rushing compared to 116 yards for Shippensburg. The rushing total for the Raiders was 134 yards fewer than their season average.

Drew Robinson led the Lakers with 38 yards rushing on 14 carries while Boylan had 20 yards on six totes. Blair Brooks led the Raiders with 53 yards on 10 carries.

Lawshe completed 20-of-39 for 240 yards and a score but was picked off three times by the Laker defense - twice by Kimball and once by senior Deonte Huggins. Zapoticky finished 11-of-17 for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Redshirt senior Stephen Yarbrough hauled in six passes for 165 yards while Miller had a team-high nine catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Sheldon Mayer led Shippensburg with 14 catches for 198 yards.

Defensively, Kimball got help from redshirt senior Michael Foster, who collected a career-high 16 tackles (15 solo) in his final collegiate game.

Mercyhurst finished the regular season with a 7-4 record after an 0-4 start and, had it not have been for a rule change by the PSAC over the summer, the Lakers would have played for the PSAC Championship on Saturday as it had the best record (6-1) against divisional opponents. However, this year was the first year that crossovers counted in the conference standings, and the Lakers' conference mark was 6-3, one-game behind Slippery Rock and Gannon in the west standings.

Mercyhurst honored its graduating seniors before the game and its senior cheerleaders at halftime.