Traditional Box Score

CALIFORNIA, Pa. – The nationally ranked Slippery Rock University football team dropped into a tie atop the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division after suffering a 48-26 defeat on the road at California University (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at Adamson Stadium.
 
The Vulcans took advantage of good field position, long passing plays and a Rock turnover to jump out to a 38-17 halftime lead and capitalized on two big SRU turnovers inside the red zone in the third quarter to maintain the advantage.
 
Slippery Rock, ranked No. 14 in this week's D2football.com national rankings and No. 19 by the American Football Coaches Association, drops to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in divisional play. California (Pa.), which received votes in this week's AFCA poll, improved to the same record and takes control of its own destiny. If both SRU and Cal were to win out, the Vulcans would own the tiebreaker and the right to host the PSAC title game Nov. 15 against the PSAC-East champion.
 
Saturday's win marked the 10th consecutive Homecoming win for the Vulcans, who have now defeated Slippery Rock three times on Homecoming during that streak.
 
The Rock turned the ball over four times in the game, twice inside the California 20-yard line to squander scoring chances and once inside their own 20-yard line to set up a Vulcan touchdown.
 
California outgained Slippery Rock 500-436 in total yardage after throwing for 326 yards and running for 174. Slippery Rock passed for 370 yards and ran for 66 net yards, a number that suffered from -42 yards due to sacks and errant snaps.
 
Zack Newsock completed a career-high 32 passes and threw for more than 300 yards for the first time in his career, finishing 32-of-54 for 368 yards and two touchdowns. He was also intercepted three times and lost a fumble in the red zone.
 
Shamar Greene was held to his lowest rushing total of the season with just 55 yards, but he got just 13 carries after The Rock was forced to throw it 58 times in the game after going down early. He also recorded career-highs of five catches for 62 yards receiving to finish with 117 all-purpose yards.
 
Julian Durden caught two passes for 42 yards and one touchdown, while also scoring The Rock's lone rushing TD, and Taishan Tucker caught four passes for 50 yards and one touchdown.
 
The Rock defensive effort was led by Marcus Martin with 10 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Isaiah Coleman also recorded 10 tackles. Admire Carter recorded four pass breakups and Bob Vernick recorded nine tackles to round out the top defensive performances.
 
California was led by James Harris, who completed 19-of-35 passes for 326 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Garry Brown was his favorite target, catching nine passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He had 105 yards and both TDs in the first half. Nick Grissom led the ground game with 121 yards and one touchdown on 21 carries.
 
Slippery Rock ran a total of 91 plays in the game to California's 75 and recorded a 28-20 advantage in total first downs, making the four turnovers hurt that much more.
 
The theme of the game was set up early after Newsock was strip-sacked on the first possession and the ensuing punt gave the Vulcans good field position to set up a 32-yard touchdown pass to Paul Butler on fourth and two to put the Vulcans up 7-0 less than four minutes in.
 
The Rock responded near the end of the first quarter, but a bad snap from deep in Cal territory stalled the drive to set up a career-long 41-yard field goal from Mike Wainauskis to make it 7-3 with 2:49 to play in the opening quarter.
 
From there, California scored 21 unanswered points to open the game up. First came a 25-yard run from Grissom on the first play of the second quarter and then Brown caught two TD passes, one from 12 yards out and another from five yards out, to make it 28-3 with 6:42 to play in the half.
 
Slippery Rock battled back again, this time with a 73-yard drive that took seven plays and ended with a 17-yard touchdown strike from Newsock to Durden to make it 28-10 with 4:48 to play in the first half.
 
The Rock defense got the hold it desperately needed on the next series, but the offense turned it right back over with the first interception of the day, setting up Cal deep in SRU territory. Roberson punched it in shortly after to make it 35-10 with 2:34 to play in the half.
 
Again, Slippery Rock responded with a long drive in a short time. Durden rushed in from two yards out to cap a nine-play, 76-yard drive to make it 35-17 with 45 seconds left before halftime.
 
That looked like it would be the halftime score, but California returned the next kickoff 74 yards deep into SRU territory to setup a short field goal as time wound down to make it 38-17 at the break.
 
Slippery Rock ran 51 plays in the first half to 42 for California, but the Vulcans outgained The Rock 322-261 through two periods.
 
The Rock looked like they would jump back into the game in the third quarter after shutting California down on the first possession of the half and then marching deep into Vulcan territory, but a misthrow from Newsock was picked off in the red zone to stall the drive.
 
On the next SRU possession, The Rock moved deep into Cal territory again, but Newsock fumbled on the eight yard line and Cal recovered to stop that drive.
 
The Rock benefited from a safety after a holding call in the end zone on California's next possession to make it 38-19, but couldn't continue the momentum after the free kick as another bad snap sailed over Newsock's head and forced The Rock to punt.
 
The Vulcans finally were able to get things going offensively at the end of the third quarter, connecting on a long pass down the sideline to set up a 23-yard field goal to make it 41-19 seven seconds into the fourth quarter.
 
Slippery Rock refused to throw in the towel, marching 75 yards in seven plays and scoring on the next possession with a touchdown pass from Newsock to Tucker to make it 41-26 with 13:19 to play.
 
The Vulcans eliminated all doubt on their next possession, using big passing plays to move down the field and scoring on a 33-yard pass to make it 48-26 with just over 10 minutes to play.
 
Newsock was intercepted just over midfield on The Rock's next possession and Cal won the possession game the rest of the way to seal the victory.
 
Slippery Rock will look to right the ship when the team returns to Michigan Stadium next weekend for the first time since 1981 to play Mercyhurst in the "Big House Battle" Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
 
NOTES: California won its 10th consecutive Homecoming game and its third over SRU during that 10-game win streak … The Rock was outgained for just the second time this season … SRU ran a season-best 51 plays in the first half … The Rock ran more than 90 plays for the fourth time this season … Shamar Greene entered the game averaging 166 yards per game on the ground and was held to 55 rushing yards… Greene did manage a career-high 62 yards receiving … Newsock threw for 300+ yards for the first time in his career … Wainauskis kicked a career-long 41-yard field goal and is now 6-of-7 in FG attempts on the year … Slippery Rock held its opponent scoreless in the third quarter for the fifth time in six games this year ... Slippery Rock will play in Michigan Stadium for the third time in history next week against Mercyhurst in the "Big House Battle" Saturday at 1 p.m.