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EDINBORO, Pa. –  Redshirted junior running back Teddy Blakeman rushed for a career-high 145 yards and three touchdowns Saturday afternoon to lead No. 22 Slippery Rock University to a 44-20 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division football victory over hosting Edinboro University.

The win was SRU's fifth consecutive and seventh in eight overall games this fall and fourth in five PSAC-West contests.

Coupled with a 35-7 win by California (Pa.) over Gannon, The Rock's win Saturday set up a first-place showdown next Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium in Slippery Rock. Kickoff of the SRU Senior Day game is set for 1 p.m.

The Rock, who were ranked 22nd in last Tuesday's D2Football.com national poll, entered Saturday's game in Edinboro (4-4, 2-3) tied with California (6-2, 4-1) and Gannon (4-4, 3-2) for the top spot in the division standings.

Saturday's outcomes mean the winner of The Rock-California game will clinch at least a share of the division championship and head into the final week of division competition with a one-game lead.

The division winner earns a berth in the Nov. 16 PSAC Championship Game, which will be played on the home field of the Eastern Division champion.

Blakeman was one of five players who put up big numbers as part of a 637-yard Rock offensive attack in Saturday's win over Edinboro.


In the process, Barksdale, who also ran for a touchdown but threw two interceptions in the game, set the SRU single-season record for passing yards and tied the single-season TD pass record.

Barksdale improved his season yardage total to 2,790, which shattered the old mark of 2,551 set by Cody Endres in 2011, and upped his season TD toss total to 23, which matches the mark set by Nate Crookshank in 2007.

Senior wideout Ken Amos caught a career-high passes for 104 yards to lead The Rock pass receiving effort. Classmate John Schademan had five receptions for 91 yards and, in the process, became only the fourth Rock player to have 1,000 or more receiving yards in season.

Saturday's effort gave Schademan 1,012 receiving yards this season, the fifth-highest total in school history. Greg Hopkins has the top two marks with 1,283 yards in 1994 and 1,229 yards in 1993.

Redshirt freshman running back Shamar Greene ran for 92 yards on 16 carries, highlighted by a 10-yard TD run in the first quarter, to complement Blakeman's rushing effort and round out The Rock's big-number guys in Saturday's win.

The unsung heroes of the game were the members of The Rock defensive unit, who held Edinboro to only 64 rushing yards on 32 carries and stopped three Fighting Scots drives inside the SRU 25-yard line.

It could rightfully be said The Rock defense only gave up seven points Saturday. Edinboro's first touchdown came on a 69-yard punt return and its third TD came one play after the Fighting Scots recovered a Rock fumble at the SRU 5-yard line.

Edinboro finished the game with 278 yards in total offense, 214 of which came on 51 pass attempts (20 completions, one INT) by redshirt freshman quarterback Jon Girvin. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Darren Massey had eight pass receptions for 108 yards for the Fighting Scots, highlighted by a 71-yard TD reception.

The first stop by The Rock defense came on the final series of the first half with SRU holding a 24-7 lead on the scoreboard.

Edinboro, after getting the ball at The Rock 21 via a fumbled punt return, had a first-and-goal situation at the SRU 3, but was forced to settle for a 20-yard field goal attempt, which sailed wide of the left upright.


After the 71-yard Girvin-to-Massey TD pass trimmed The Rock lead to 31-13, Edinboro's offense was in position to close the deficit to two touchdowns thanks t the hosts' second interception of a Barksdale pass.

Edinboro took over possession at The Rock 38 following the INT and moved to the guests' 19. But that's where the drive ended as Kulka, an Edinboro native and graduate of General McLane High School, knocked the ball out of running back Keith Regis' hands and Rock defensive end Matt Peacock pounced on the loose pigskin at the 18.

Junior free safety Austin Miele, SRU's leading tackler this fall, led The Rock defense with 10 tackles Saturday, while Walker added nine tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback sack, and senior linebacker Gary Allen had seven stops.

The Rock offense put 17 points on the board before Edinboro's Ben Eisel broke away from a pack of wound-be tacklers and sprinted 69 yards with a punt return to account for the hosts' first points of the game.

SRU went 47 yards in nine plays the first time it had the ball, but had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by junior kicker Mike Wainauskis with 11:21 left to play in the first period.

Wainauskis, who sat out the previous two games due to injury, was also 5-of-6 on extra-point kicks in Saturday's game.

The Rock drove 54 yards in eight plays on their second possession of the game, Blakeman capping the march with a 12-yard run at the 1:42 mark of the opening stanza.

The 10-0 score stood until the only minute of the second quarter when Greene galloped 10 yards to the end zone to close out a five-play, 45-yard Rock drive.

Ben Eisel's 69-yard punt-return TD made it a 17-7 game before SRU moved 74 yards in 12 plays to push the margin to 24-7 with 4:06 left before halftime. Blakeman's two-yard TD run capped the drive.

The Rock offense got the ball to start the second half and converted the goal-line stand at the end of the first half into a 14-point turnaround by driving 73 yards in only five plays on the opening final-half possession. Barksdale cruised into the end zone from three yards out to cap the drive at the 13:50 mark of the third quarter.

The score remained 31-7 for the next six minutes before Girvin hit Massey for a 71-yard TD to trim The Rock lead to 31-13 (Simons missed the extra point) with 6:34 left in the third quarter.

SRU's offense sputtered in its next four possessions as the respective drives with Barksdale being intercepted, a Rock punt, a failed fourth-down run and a lost fumble.

Edinboro converted the fumble into points via a five-yard run by Girvin with 13:53 left to play in the game that made the score 31-20.

Undaunted, The Rock offense came right back to march 85 yards on only six plays in the next 101 seconds of action, Blakeman going the final two yards for the touchdown that gave SRU a 38-20 cushion with 12:12 remaining.

Freshman defensive back Derrick Fulmore picked off a Girvin pass in the end zone to kill a potential Edinboro scoring drive on the ensuing possession. Eleven plays and 80 yards later, The Rock offense had completed a length-of-the field march to push the advantage to 44-20 with 6:58 left to play.

Barksdale hit senior slot receiver Michael Bongivengo streaking across the back line of the end zone for a 1-yard TD pass to cap the drive and culminate the game's scoring as Wainauskis failed to tack on the extra point.

Edinboro moved to The Rock 25 on the next drive before a fourth-down pass fell incomplete. SRU then killed the final 1:55 with three running plays.

Notes: Blakeman has rushed for 12 TDs this fall, the most by a Rock running back since Akeem Satterfield had 20 in 2010 ... Barksdale now ranks second on SRU's single-season pass attempts (286, 90 shy of the school record set by Endres in 2011) and pass completions (173, 47 shy of Endres' record of 220) ... Barksdale ranks fifth in career passing yards with 4,223 ... With his five receptions Saturday, Schademan moved into a tie with Scott Whipple (1995-98) and Terry Grossetti (2006-08) for 10th place on SRU's career catches chart ... Amos moved into 10th place on SRU's single-season pass receiving yardage chart with 684 and into 12th place on SRU's career pass receiving yardage chart with 1,414 in four seasons.