Nov. 3, 2006

Final Stats

Indiana, Pa. - The Rock held off a last-minute rally by hosting Indiana U. of Pa. and recorded an emotional 21-17 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division victory in front of a CSTV national television audience Thursday night.

The win snapped a string of seven successive Rock losses at the hands of Indiana, but more importantly greatly enhanced The Rock's bid for its first NCAA postseason berth since 1999.

The Rock (7-3 overall, 4-2 PSAC-West) began the week ranked 12th in the Northeast Region, but should jump up a few notches with its win over Indiana, the No. 9 team in this week's regional poll.

SRU, winners of three straight games, will host the No. 7 team in the region, West Chester, in the regular-season finale at 1 p.m. on Nov. 11. A win in that game would very likely send SRU into postseason play.

The regional ramifications of Thursday's win over Indiana (7-2, 4-1) took a backseat, at least temporarily, to the fact that the victory made Dr. George Mihalik the winningest coach in Rock football history.

The taste of victory was especially sweet for Coach Mihalik since it came on a field approximately 25 miles from his hometown of Ebensburg.

Coach Mihalik now owns a 127-76-4 record in 19 seasons as The Rock's boss, one more win that the immortal N. Kerr Thompson recorded in 24 seasons (1920-42, 1945).

Thursday's game was a classic Rock-Indiana contest, if not a just a plain classic. The fact that a national TV audience had the opportunity to see the winning effort added a thick layer of icing to the cake.

The Rock win was not secure until Indiana failed to convert on a first-and-goal play from The Rock 2-yard line on the final play of the game.

The hero of the game proved to be senior strong safety Brandon Rakszawski.

"Raks" recorded his first interception of the season just inside midfield on Indiana's next-to-last possession of the game and returned it 20 yards.

But it was his tackle of Indiana wide receiver Dan Pickens at The Rock 2 on the next-to-last play of the game tha ultimately proved to be the most important. That takedown set the stage for the heart-stopping, game-ending incomplete pass attempt by the hosts.

In the end, though, it was the third of three successful extra point kicks Ryan Daniel, a former Hampton High School teammate of Rakszawski, that proved to be the play of the game.

Had Daniel not nailed that kick -- and, in the process, extended his current string of success to 28 boots -- Indiana could have kicked a field goal and tied the score on its final possession of the game rather than being forced to go for the endzone.

Offensively, the star of the night for SRU was running back Damarcus Cleckley, who rushed for two touchdowns and had 82 yards on 16 carries before being injured early in the fourth quarter.

Junior wide receiver Paul Favers also had a big night for The Rock with six pass receptions for 88 yards, including two key third-down conversions in which he simply outjumped the Indiana defender to haul in the football.

Jared Palmer recorded a team-high 10 tackles for The Rock, Cory Lacek recorded a quarterback sack (-8 yards) and Tyler Boudreau and Jim D'Amico each had one tackle for loss.

The night started off badly for The Rock, as Indiana made the most of two short-field opportunities to take a 14-0 lead at the 6:11 mark of the first period.

Indiana's first scoring drive was a six-play, 47-yard march, while the second was a four-play, 41-yard jaunt.

The Rock's fortunes quickly turned, though, as Indiana's Anthony Rodriguez fumbled a punt at the hosts 31-yard line after The Rock's third drive of the game stalled at the SRU 35-yard line.

Akeem Etheridge pounced on the loose ball and, six plays later, Cleckley converted the opportunity into points with a three-yard TD run.

Indiana's next possession resulted in a high snap from center that sailed over punter Mike Rairigh's head and forced him to drop on the loose ball at the hosts' 4-yard line.

Cleckley's one-yard run two plays later, combined with the second of Daniel's extra-point kicks, tied the score at 14-14 with 14:02 left in the second quarter.

Indiana got a 27-yard field goal by Nick Wallace with 1:07 left in the first half to take a 17-14 edge into intermission, But that would prove to be the extent of the Indiana celebration.

The Rock defense, after yielding 11 first downs and 50 yards rushing in the first half, held the hosts to only one first down in the first 27 minutes of the second half and only 59 yards rushing on 31 attempts in the game.

Indiana's Chris Morgan, the leading rusher in the PSAC with 139 yards per game and 7.7 yards per carry averages, was held to only 82 yards on 21 carries by rookie defensive coordinator Shawn Lutz's stop troop. Morgan gained 73 of his yards on 16 first-half totes.

Offensivelly, The Rock threatened to score on its first possession of the second half, but a 28-yard field goal by Daniel sailed wide left at the 9:51 mark of the third period.

The miss came two plays after what appeared to be a one-yard TD run by Travis Sarver was negated by a holding penalty on The Rock.

The next time The Rock offense had the ball, it only had to go 24 yards to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

Nate Crookshank connected with Luke Wetzel for an 11-yard TD four plays after a 29-yard punt return by Anthony Walls had set the offense up in prime real estate.

Final statistics showed Indiana with a 290-275 advantage in total yardage behind a 234-130 passing yards comparison. The Rock won the running battle by a 145-56 margin.

Crookshank completed 12 of 26 pass attempts for a season-low 130 yards and one TD and threw one interception.

Notes: Crookshank surpassed the 5000-yard mark in career passing yards on Thursday and, with 5040 yards, now ranks second behind only Randy McKavish (7734), He also ranks second behind McKavish in career career attempts (699) and career completions (389) and is tied with Chad Vogt for third place in career TD passes (35). Crookshank ranks fifth in single-season TD tosses (17) and sixth in season passing yards (1949) ... Daniel is now 99 of 104 on extra points in his career, which is good for third on SRU's all-time list. He ranks 12th in career scoring with 165 points ... Colin Golden had one pass reception for four yards Thursday and moved into a tie for eighth place on SRU's career catches chart with 100. He ranks fifth in single-season catches with 51 this fall ... Coach Mihalik needs one win to move into a tie with former Clarion coach Al Jacks for fifth place on the PSAC's all-time wins chart.