Nov. 1, 2007
Final Stats
Lock Haven, Pa. - Senior quarterback Nate Crookshank threw three first-half touchdown passes Thursday night to propel The Rock to a methodical 27-11 win over hosting Lock Haven in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.
Crookshank connected with Joshua Prigorac for a 22-yard TD on the opening drive of the game, then hooked up with Paul Favers for a 43-yard score and Frank Cremonese for a four-yard score.
Behind those scoring tosses, SRU held a 20-0 halftime lead en route to their eighth win in 10 games and third in five PSAC-West games this fall.
The Rock will look to ring win win No. 9 and, in the process, put itself in position to earn an NCAA playoff berth next Saturday when it travels to division rival Edinboro for a 1 p.m. game.
SRU (7-2 overall, 3-2 PSAC-W) is currently ranked seventh in the Northeast Regional poll; the top six teams at the end of regular-season play earn playoff berths.
The Rock amassed 348 yards in total offense in the first half and finished the game with 528 total yards (318 rushing, 210 passing). That marked the ninth time in 10 games this fall that the Green and White had 400 or more yards in total offense.
The only team to hold The Rock shy of the 400-yard milestone was California, which allowed SRU "only" 347 yards a week ago.
Lock Haven (0-9 overall, 0-4 PSAC-W), meanwhile, was held to only 44 yards in the first half and finished the game with 241 yards.
The Rock defense recorded six quarterback sacks for -45 yards, led by three sacks for -25 yards by Cory Lacek. Tyler Boudreau (-6 yards), Clint Forsha (-8 yards) and Marty Kern (-6 yards) each had one sack. Kern also recovered a fumble.
A.J. Saunders recorded his team-high fourth interception of the season and broke up a total of three passes to round out The Rock's defensive gems.
Offensively, Crookshank completed 15 of 26 passes for 192 yards in the opening 30 minutes of action and finished the game 17-of-32 for 210 yards with two interceptions.
Favers had five catches for 91 yards, Prigorac had three catches for 54 yards, Colin Golden had three catches for 31 yards and Terry Grossetti made four catches for 24 yards.
Corey Manfull gained 108 yards on 13 carries, all in the first half of action, while Damarcus Cleckley picked up 84 yards on 15 carries, including a two-yard TD run on SRU's initial second-half possession, and Ryan Lehmeier added 53 yards on 13 carries.
The Rock marched 81 yards in seven plays on the game's opening drive, which was capped off by the Crookshank-to-Prigorac scoring play with 12:25 left in the first period.
Two Rock possessions later, SRU went 69 yards in five plays, capped off by the Crookshank-to-Favers TD pass with 1:46 left in the opening stanza.
SRU had its longest scoring drive of the night on its fifth possession of the game as it marched 90 yards in 13 plays before Crookshank and Cremonese put the punctuation mark on the effort with 5:04 left before halftime.
Lock Haven got its first points of the game on the first drive of the second half with a 39-yard field goal before SRU responded with an 11-play, 59-yard scoring drive to push the advantage to 27-3. Cleckley capped the drive with a two-yard run with 7:59 left in the third period.
Lock Haven made the final score respectable with a scoring drive in the closing minutes of the game.
Notes:
Manfull became the 22nd player in Rock history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season. His 1,086-yard total this fall is the 17th highest total in school history.
Crookshank's three TD tosses Thursday gives him 19 for the season, which equals his career-high total of a year ago. He can set a new school record with three more TDs next week; John Linhart threw for 21 TDs in 1992.
Favers' TD catch marked the ninth time in as many games played this fall that the former Pittsburgh Perry Traditional Academy star has scored at least one TD. He did not play in the Week 6 game at East Stroudsburg.
Favers moved into seventh place on SRU's career pass receiving yardage chart. He now has has 1,480 yards and needs 59 yards to move into sixth place (Jeremy Rock, 1538 yards from 1993-96).
Thursday's win was The Rock's 19th straight over Lock Haven and gives SRU a 39-12-1 advantage in the all-time series. The Bald Eagles have not beaten SRU since 1980, when LHU eked out a 29-26 victory.
