Sept. 1, 2006

Final Stats

Youngstown, Ohio - Nate Crookshank passed for 194 yards and two touchdowns Wednesday night to pace a 282-yard offensive attack in The Rock's season-opening, 51-21, loss at Youngstown State.

Crookshank completed 15 of 22 passes without throwing an interception. He connected with Colin Golden for a five-yard TD in the final minute of the first period that tied the score at 7-7 and hooked up with Luke Wetzel for an eight-yard score in the final minute of the second period.

The Crookshank-to-Wetzel scoring pass sent The Rock into intermission down by two touchdowns, 28-14.

Travis Sarver ran 29 yards for a TD on SRU's opening possession of the second half to trim YSU's lead to only seven (28-21).

YSU, the No. 3-ranked team in the Football Gazette Division I-AA preseason poll and No. 7 team in The Sports Network's initial ranking, collected 23 unanswered points to close out the scoring.

Paul Favers (65 yards) and Golden (35 yards) each had four receptions for The Rock (an NCAA Division II competitor), while Wetzel had three receptions for 35 yards and Terry Grossetti two catches for 21 yards.

Sarver finished the game with 66 yards on 19 carries.

Defensively, The Rock effort was led by Seth Randall's nine tackles, Jared Palmer added seven and Brandon Rakszawski six, including one tackle for loss (-2 yards).

The Rock effort was plagued by a pair of lost fumbles, each of which brought an end to an optimistic drive.

SRU was also hindered throughout the game by poor field position. The best starting position The Rock had for a drive was its own 38-yard line on its first possession of the second half.

That drive culminated in Sarver's 29-yard TD run.

The Rock offense marched 86 yards in 13 plays for its first touchdown (Crookshank to Golden pass) and drove 80 yards in 13 plays for its second TD (Crookshank to Wetzel pass).

SRU returns to action on Sept. 9, when it will visit Millersville for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference "crossover" game. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

The Rock opens its home schedule the following week (Sept. 16) vs. Mansfield in another PSAC "crossover" game. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. on Bob DiSpirito Field at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.