Nov. 5, 2005

Final Stats

Clarion, Pa. - Josh Kniess rushed 38 times for a career-high 273 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night to lead The Rock to a 28-10 win over hosting Clarion in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.

The win in the season finale was SRU's fifth in seven games and gave The Rock a final record of 5-5 overall, 4-2 in PSAC-West action.

The Rock finished the conference season tied for third place with Indiana U. of Pa. behind co-champions California U. of Pa. and Edinboro.

Clarion closed out the season with 3-7, 1-5 records.

Kniess scored on runs of 49, 4 and 44 yards.

Nate Crookshank ran eight yards for The Rock's first TD and was 12 of 22 passing for 132 yards.

The Rock outgained Clarion by a 429-274 margin.

Defensively, The Rock effort was led by Jared Palmer's team-high eight tackles (five solo, three assisted), which included 1.5 tackles for loss (-2 yards), while Jerome Whiting and Clinton Forsha had seven tackles each.

Cory Lacek recorded two quarterback sacks in four total tackles to tie the school record for single-season QBS with 12.

Notes on Kniess: Kniess finished the night with 305 all-purpose yards ... Kniess' previous career-high rushing effort was 210 vs. Millersville on Oct. 15 ... Kniess' attempts total at Clarion was only nine shy of the SRu school record ... Kniess finished his collegiate career as SRU's all-time leader in both all-purpose yards (5,148) and rushing attempts (775) ... He ranks second in career TDs (46), third in career rushing yards (3,527), tied for fourth in single-season TDs (16) and seventh in single-season rushing (1,270) ... Kniess scored 33 of his career TDs and gained 2,453 of his career rushing yards in his final two seasons ... He scored 17 TDs and rushed for 1,183 yards in 2004 ... Kniess is the seventh player in Rock history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in back-to-back seasons and the eighth to rush for more than 1,000 yards twice during their career ... Kniess rushed for 100 or more yards in each of his final seven games this fall to finish his career with 16 100-plus-yard rushing efforts ... Kniess scored two or more TDs in six of the last seven games ... He gained 1139 yards and scored 15 of his 16 TDs in the final seven games this fall and had a per-game rushing average during that span of 162.7 yards.

Other notes: Nate Crookshank will enter the 2006 season ranked sixth on SRU's career passing attempts (461) and career pass completions (239) charts and seventh on the career passing yardage chart (3,091) ... His 2005 total of 120 displaced his previous season total of 119 as the 10th highest in school history, while his 231 pass attempts this fall ranks 11th in Rock history ... Crookshank ranks eighth in career TD passes (18) ... The PSAC sack leader, Cory Lacek tied the SRU single-season QBS record with 12 this fall ... Ryan Daniel was 4 for 4 on extra points at Clarion to finish the season with 32 makes in 33 attempts ... Daniel is 64 of 68 in his collegiate career ... Saturday's win was The Rock's fifth in the final seven games this fall and gave SRU a 5-5 record, thus averting a third successive losing season ... The Rock, after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason PSAC-West coaches poll, finished the season tied for third with Indiana at 4-2 ... The Rock's 2005 schedule ranked as the toughest in the PSAC in terms of opponents' winning percentage ... Rock foes finished the season with a 64-42 record and a .604 winning percentage ... Five of The Rock's 2005 foes won seven or more games, led by perfect 11-0 marks for Shepherd and Bloomsburg, the top two teams in the latest NCAA Northeast Regional poll ... Saturday's win was the eighth in the last nine meetings vs. Clarion ... Saturday's win was the first in five road games this fall for The Rock and gives SRU a 55-43-4 (.559) road record in Dr. George Mihalik's 18 seasons as head coach ... Mihalik now owns a 120-73-4 (.619) career record and needs only five more wins to become SRU's winningest coach.