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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Fresh off an upset win over then-No. 14 California (Pa.) and one week before hosting now-No. 13-ranked Bloomsburg in the season finale, the Slippery Rock University football teams seeks to avoid getting caught in a “trap game” Saturday when it hosts winless Lock Haven in a 1 p.m. game at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
The Rock also seek to record their fourth consecutive victory this fall and their 24th consecutive win over Lock Haven in the all-time series and, in the process, guarantee themselves a fourth consecutive winning season.
The records: The Rock owns a 5-4 overall record and a 4-2 PSAC-West mark and are assured of finishing no lower than a tie for third place in the final division standings.
Lock Haven enters this week's game on an NCAA Division II-record 51-game losing streak that extends back to the final game of the 2007 season. The Bald Eagles are 0-9 overall, 0-6 in division action this fall.
What if: If Indiana loses to Gannon, The Rock, with a win over Lock Haven, would finish tied with IUP and the loser of the California at Mercyhurst game for second place in the division standings behind the California-Mercyhurst winner, which would then host the Nov. 10 PSAC Championship Game as the Western Division champion.
The series: SRU, which has won 30 of the last 31 meetings with Lock Haven and owns a 43-12-1 advantage in the all-time series, has not lost to the Bald Eagles since 1980. The teams battled to a 21-21 tie in 1988, the first season in which
George Mihalik served as The Rock's head coach.
Last year's game: Senior wide receiver
Devin Goda (left photo) set school records with four touchdown receptions and 275 pass receiving yards and senior quarterback
Cody Endres passed for 397 yards and four TDs in The Rock's 48-27 win in Lock Haven. Endres' passing yardage total was the second-highest ever recorded by a Rock quarterback, behind only John Linhart's school-record 502-yard performance Nov. 7, 1992 vs. Clarion. Goda broke the SRU single-game TD catches record previously held by All-America performer Greg Hopkins with three vs. Lock Haven in 1994. Goda's pass receiving yardage total bettered the previous school record of 202 set by Hopkins vs. Clarion in 1992. The Rock, who took a 34-0 lead before Lock Haven got on the scoreboard, outgained the hosts by a 564-297 margin in total yards behind a 488-yard passing attack.
The coaches: Mihalik owns a 166-102-4 (.618) career win-loss record The Rock's head coach and is 23-0-1 against Lock Haven. He is SRU's all-time leader in career wins and ranks third among active PSAC coaches, fifth on the conference's all-time wins chart and sixth among active NCAA D-II head coaches. Mihalik has compiled a 23-0-1 win-loss record vs. Lock Haven since being named as SRU's head coach in 1988 and is 12-0 against the Bald Eagles in games played in Slippery Rock.
John Allen is looking for his first win as Lock Haven's head coach. He has suffered 19 losses in two seasons as the Bald Eagles' boss and is 0-1 against The Rock.
Rock stats and stars: The Rock rank seventh in the PSAC in scoring offense (33.7 points per game) and 11th in scoring defense (31.2 ppg). Their offensive attack revolves around junior quarterback
Nigel Barksdale, who earned PSAC-West “Offensive Athlete of the Week” honors last Saturday with a 402-yard total offense performance. Barksdale has passed for 1,237 yards and 10 TDs and rushed for 462 yards and six TDs this fall.
LaQuinn Stephens-Howling (right photo) is SRU's top receiver with 30 catches for 400 yards and five TDs.
Ken Amos has caught 27 passes for 483 yards and one TD.
Gary Allen leads The Rock in tackles with 72, followed by
Quindell Dean with 67.
Isaiah Coleman and
Anthony Saunders each have three interceptions, while
Jeff Thompson has recorded 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 quarterback sacks.
James McCombie ranks third in the PSAC with a 41.1 yards per punt average.
Kurt Brackman has been successful on 37 of 40 extra-point kick attempts and is 4-of-5 on field goals with a long of 28 yards.
Bite's as bad as his Bark: Barksdale became only the sixth player in Rock history to pass for 200 or more yards in four games when he threw for a season-high 283 yards in last week's win at California. He was the third Rock QB to throw for 200 or more yards four times in the same season. If he throws for 200 or more yards this week, Barksdale will join only Endres as Rock QBs with five or more 200-yard passing efforts in a season. Endres had seven 200-plus-yard passing efforts last fall in leading The Rock to a PSAC runner-up finish.
It's worth noting that, even though he's only started four games, Barksdale ranks 11th in the PSAC with a 154.6 passing ypg average. Barksdale has averaged 260 passing ypg in his four starts, a rate that would rank as the fifth-best in the conference if his totals did not include games in which he came off the bench.
Scouting the Bald Eagles: Lock Haven averages a conference-low 7.8 points per game on offense and ranks 13th in scoring defense with a 33.8 ppg allowance rate. The Bald Eagles' offensive attack is led by quarterback Jarred Kratzer (1,265 passing yards, 5 TDs; 1 rushing TD) and running back Brandon Brader (466 rushing yards, 2 TDs). Jesse Hoover (14 receptions, 221 yards) has caught a team-high three TD passes this fall. Defensively, James Goins has a team-high 56 tackles, George Christas has made 55 tackles and a team-high three INT, Ryan Good has 52 tackles and Tashawn Bunch has 50 tackles.
Special guests: On hand this week to help root The Rock on to victory will be members of SRU's 1972, 1973 and 1974 PSAC championship teams coached by Bob DiSpirito (left photo). Mihalik was the starting quarterback on the 1972 and 1973 teams and served as a graduate assistant coach on the 1974 Rock staff.
The Rock compiled a 25-5-2 cumulative record (8-2-1, 8-2 and 9-1-1 in the respective seasons) from 1972-74 with a 14-0-2 (5-0-1, 5-0 and 4-0-1) mark in PSAC-Western Division competition.
The Green and White beat West Chester in each of the 1972 (29-27 in Slippery Rock), 1973 (28-14 in West Chester) and 1974 (20-7 in Slippery Rock) PSAC championship games.
The DiSpirito-led Rock had an unbeaten streak of 15 (13-0-2) games spread across the three seasons with the only blemishes being 7-7 ties with Edinboro in both 1972 and 1974. SRU won 16 consecutive games played in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the 1972-74 seasons and was 250-2 in in-state games during that time period.
Up next: The Rock close out their 2012 schedule with a 1 p.m. home game Nov. 10 vs. Bloomsburg, which enters this week's action with an 8-1 record and is currently in line for a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
