Final Statistics

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University quenched an 11-year-long thirst for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division championship and cashed a ticket to the PSAC championship game for the first time since 1974 with a hard-fought 28-21 win Saturday afternoon over visiting Mercyhurst College at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The win, which assured The Rock of at least a share of the PSAC-West, was the Green and White's sixth straight, their sixth in as many PSAC-West games and their eighth in nine games this fall.

Mercyhurst, the defending PSAC champion, fell to 3-6 overall, 1-5 against PSAC-West rivals this fall.

The division title was the first won by The Rock since it shared the PSAC-West crown with three other teams in 2000. A Rock win next week in the final PSAC-West game of the season at Gannon University in Erie will assure SRU of its first outright division title since 1999.

The Rock, who were ranked 18th in last week's American Football Coaches Association Division II national poll and 22nd in the D2Football.com poll, now holds a one-game lead over California (7-2, 5-1) in the division standings and a two-game cushion over both Edinboro (7-2, 4-2) and Indiana (6-3, 4-2).

By virtue of its 17-3 win Oct. 15 over the Vulcans, SRU holds the tiebreaker over California should the two teams finish the season with identical division records.

The PSAC championship game, billed as “The State Game,” will be played Nov. 12 at the site of the PSAC-Eastern Division representative.

Rock senior quarterback Cody Endres scored on a one-yard burst with 57 seconds left to play to convert a golden scoring opportunity into the game-winning points.

The TD run was set up by a pass interception and 59-yard return to the Mercyhurst 2-yard line by redshirt sophomore cornerback Anthony Saunders. A facemask penalty on Saunders' return moved the ball half the distance towards the goal line to set up Endres' TD burst.

The Rock win wasn't secure, though, until senior linebacker Jake Wickline recorded his second interception of the game at The Rock 7-yard line with 20 seconds left to play.

Wickline's first INT of the game and third of the season came at midfield on the opening drive of the second half.

The three interceptions recorded by The Rock defense Saturday helped the hosts overcome a 358-261 total yardage advantage enjoyed by Mercyhurst.

Endres completed 17 of 29 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns to move into fifth place on SRU's single-season passing yards chart (2,046), sixth place on SRU's single-season TD passes list (18) and ninth place on The Rock's career TD passes chart (18).

A first-year member of The Rock after transferring from Division I UConn, Endres was the sixth player in Rock history to pass for 2,000 or more yards in a season.

Endres threw two TD passes to senior wide receiver Devin Goda Saturday. They hooked up for a 12-yard TD to tie the score at 7-7 with 14:17 left in the second period and again for a 17-yard TD to put The Rock on top by a 14-7 margin with 5:15 left before halftime.

Goda finished the game with seven catches for 72 yards to move into a tie for third place on SRU's single-season receptions chart with 61 and into fourth place on the single-season receiving yards chart with 830. The TD catches were his eighth and ninth of the season and improved his career total to 15.

Senior wide receiver Kevin Sanders caught four passes for 52 yards Saturday and fellow senior wideout Geron James had four catches for 29 yards to complement Goda's performance.

The Rock gained only 66 yards on 24 rushing attempts and were led by junior LaQuinn Stephens-Howlings' 35 yards on nine carries.

Defensively, Wickline led the way for The Rock with a game- and career-high 14 tackles, including one tackle for loss, to go along with his two interceptions. Senior free safety Brandon Watters added 10 tackles and junior defensive end Jeff Thompson had nine tackles, including one quarterback sack.

Endres, Goda, James, Sanders, Watters and Wickline were included in a group of 16 Rock seniors honored prior to their final collegiate home game.

Mercyhurst's offensive attack was led by sophomore quarterback Anthony Vendemia, who completed 22 of 36 passes for 209 yards. In addition to being picked off three times, he was also sacked three times for -17 yards.

Richie Sanders rushed for a game-high 99 yards on 22 carries for Mercyhurst, which had 103 rushing yards and 255 passing yards in the game.

Hidden in those numbers was a stellar effort The Rock defense did holding the conference's top pass receiver, Lakers senior Trevor Kennedy to seven catches for 66 yards. He entered the game averaging 7.4 catches for 131 yards per game.

Kennedy caught two of Vendemia's TD tosses. His 11-yard TD catch with 0:29 left in the third period tied the score at 14-14 before his 4-yard scoring catch gave the Lakers a 21-14 lead with 8:42 left to play.

The game featured three lead changes and three ties.

Sanders scored on a one-yard run with 5:27 left to play in the first quarter to cap a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive that gave Mercyhurst a 7-0 lead. The scoring march marked the ninth time in as many games this fall the Lakers scored the first points of the game.

SRU tied the score at 7-7 with 14:17 left in the second period when Endres and Goda hooked up for their 12-yard TD, which capped an 11-play, 62-yard drive.

The Endres-to-Goda 17-yard TD toss capped a six-play, 45-yard drive and gave The Rock a 14-7 lead with 5:15 left to play before halftime.

Mercyhurst went 68 yards in 10 plays in the closing minutes of the first half to tie the score at 14-14 at the intermission. Vendemia's 11-yard TD toss to Kennedy capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive.

The guests regained the lead at 21-14 with a 13-play, 70-yard scoring drive capped by the 4-yard Vendemia-to-Kennedy TD pass with 8:42 left to play in the game.

The Rock came right back to march 69 yards in eight plays and tied the score at 21-21 on a 22-yard TD pass from Endres to redshirt freshman Ken Amos with 5:27 left.

Mercyhurst moved 28 yards in eight plays to The Rock 49 before Saunders stepped in front of a Vendemia pass at the SRU 40 and returned it 59 yards to the Lakers' 2 to set up the winning TD run by Endres.

Overshadowed by the seven TDs scored in Saturday's game were a 4-for-4 effort on extra-point kicks by The Rock's Kurt Brackman and a 3-for-3 performance by Mercyhurst's Steven Wakefield.

Notes:

Saturday's win gave The Rock a perfect 5-0 record in home games this fall … With seven tackles Saturday, senior linebacker Zach Sheridan move into 10th place on SRU's career tackles list with 294 ... Coupled with Bloomsburg's 24-21 loss to C.W. Post, The Rock's win Saturday should bump the Green and White up in the AFCA, D2Football.com and NCAA Division II Super Region One polls ... SRU was the No. 6 team in the super-region poll last week.