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INDIANA, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University football team used a smothering defensive effort to roll to a 31-21 victory over bitter rival Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday in a crucial Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game at George P. Miller Stadium.
 
The Rock's defense forced four interceptions and recorded eight sacks in the game, controlling the line of scrimmage from start to finish.
 
The win is crucial in terms of keeping the NCAA playoff hopes alive for Slippery Rock, which improves to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in divisional play. California was victorious Saturday, which means the Vulcans must lose each of their next two games and SRU must win each week to give The Rock a shot to play in the PSAC title game.
 
Even if Slippery Rock doesn't advance to the PSAC title game, The Rock will have a convincing argument to earn an at large bid into the NCAA playoffs if they can finish the season at 9-2 with big road wins at East Stroudsburg and Indiana (Pa.) on their resume. The Crimson Hawks saw their chances at the postseason dwindle significantly Saturday, falling to 5-3 overall and 4-3 in divisional play.
 
Coincidentally enough, the win gave Slippery Rock head coach George Mihalik career win No. 182 and moved him into a tie with former IUP coach Frank Cignetti, who the field at Miller Stadium is named after, for fourth on the PSAC all-time wins ledger by head coaches.
 
The final score of Saturday's game wasn't exactly indicative of how the game was played, as penalties by Slippery Rock in the first half directly led to all 14 points scored by Indiana before the break. Without those costly penalties, the margin could have been significantly larger.
 
In addition to the dominant defensive effort, Slippery Rock's offense shredded the No. 1 rushing defense in the PSAC and the No. 2 rushing defense in the nation to the tune of 234 yards on the ground. The Crimson Hawks were allowing just 53.3 rushing yards per game entering Saturday, but saw that number surpassed less than four minutes into the game when Shamar Greene broke a 65-yard touchdown run that put him over 1,000 yards on the season.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 376 yards of offense after adding 142 yards through the air on just 14 pass attempts. The Rock was outgained 387-376, with Indiana throwing for 361 yards and being held to just 26 yards rushing and 0.9 yards per carry.
 
Greene finished the game with 128 rushing yards and one TD on 21 carries and also added three catches for 59 yards. He went over 1,000 yards on the season for the first time in his career and is the first SRU back since Akeem Satterfield in 2010 to surpass 1,000 yards. Greene was joined in the backfield Saturday by Julian Durden, serving in the change of pace roll for an injured Teddy Blakeman, and Durden had a career-day as well. He ran for 80 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries and added a seven-yard touchdown reception.
 
Jared Buck managed the game effectively from the quarterback position, completing 10-of-14 pass attempts for 142 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He did lose one fumble early in the game, but Indiana was unable to convert the turnover into points.
 
Melvin German returned to full health and imposed his will in the second half, finishing the game with four catches for 52 yards and one touchdown to lead the SRU receivers.
 
While the offense did its job and put points on the board, Saturday's game was won in the trenches with a dominant effort from The Rock's defensive line, which got to Indiana quarterback Chase Haslett on nearly every drop back and sacked him eight times.
 
Marcus Martin and Joe Phillips had the best games of their careers to lead the effort. Martin finished with 3.5 sacks for a loss of 29 yards and added multiple uncredited quarterback hurries. Phillips registered 3.0 sacks for a loss of 17 yards, 4.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and recorded an interception.
 
Devin Ghafoor, making his first start at cornerback for the injured Admire Carter, was outstanding in covering arguably the best receiver in the league in Drew Carswell from IUP. Ghafoor led the team with 11 tackles, including nine solo, had one interception and one pass breakup.
 
Carswell had 110 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the first half, but was completely shutdown the second half, finishing with just one catch for eight yards. He also had a reception ripped away from him by Derrick Fulmore, which ended up in the hands of Austin Miele for the fourth interception of the day.
 
Miele, Phillips, Ghafoor and Fulmore all recorded an interception on the day. Miele added 10 tackles and Fulmore added nine tackles.
 
Haslett finished the game 26-of-50 for 361 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. Carswell caught eight passes for 118 yards and two scores and Walt Pegues caught five passes for 118 yards and one TD, a garbage time 63-yarder with just over a minute to play.
 
It looked as if the game would be a runaway for Slippery Rock after The Rock scored the first 17 points of the day, but Indiana capitalized on crucial penalties by the SRU defense toward the end of the half to cut the deficit to 17-14 and keep the game close.
 
The first scoring play of the day came less than four minutes in when Greene broke through the line against the blitz and went untouched 65 yards for a score, the longest run of his career. The PAT by Mike Wainauskis made it 7-0 with 11:32 to play in the first.
 
Slippery Rock added to the lead early in the second quarter with an eight play, 80-yard drive that took just 2:37 and was capped by an 11-yard TD run by Durden to make it 14-0 with 12:24 to play in the half.
 
After an interception deep in Indiana territory, Wainauskis added to the lead when he kicked his eighth field goal of the year, this one from 20 yards out, to make it 17-0 with 10:34 to play in the half.
 
Indiana's first points of the day came after a drive stalled near midfield, but Slippery Rock took two penalties on the punt, an offsides and a personal foul, that kept the drive going and moved the ball into Rock territory. Haslett hit Carswell from 20 yards out on a third and 15 to make it 17-7 with 5:15 to play before halftime.
 
The next Indiana possession, Slippery Rock stopped the Hawks on a third down near midfield, but a holding call on the defense away from the play kept the drive alive. Haslett hit Carswell with just under a minute to play to make it 17-14 at the break.
 
From there, The Rock defense took over the game, allowing just one catch by Carswell the rest of the way and not allowing any more points until a deep ball with just over a minute to play when the outcome was already decided.
 
German added to the Slippery Rock lead with 7:00 to play in the third quarter with a 25-yard TD pass from Buck to make it 24-14.
 
The Rock put the game away with its longest drive of the season to start the fourth quarter, holding the ball for more than seven minutes and completing a 16-play, 72-yard drive that took 7:08 off the clock and was capped by a seven-yard TD pass to Durden. That made the score 31-14 with 6:31 to play and effectively ended the game.
 
Saturday's win was a bounce back for Slippery Rock after dropping its last two games after starting the year at 5-0.  The win is the second in a row for SRU over its archrival and the first win on the road at Indiana since the 2006 season.
 
Slippery Rock will look to continue its momentum and keep its perfect home record in tact next Saturday when Edinboro visits Mihalik-Thompson Stadium for a 1 p.m. game.
 
 
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock head coach George Mihalik tied former IUP coach Frank Cignetti for fourth on the PSAC all-time wins ledger with 182 wins, ironically on the field named after Cignetti against a team coached by his son, Curt Cignetti … Slippery Rock returned to the plan that gave it success on offense early in the year, running the ball 52 times and throwing it just 14 times … The Rock ran for 234 yards on the PSAC's No. 1 and NCAA Division II's No. 2 rushing defense … IUP was allowing just 53.3 yards per game on the ground entering Saturday … Shamar Greene had another huge game, going for 128 rushing yards and 59 receiving yards for 187 all-purpose yards … Greene went over the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his career and has 1,071 yards on 151 carries (7.1 yards per carry) so far this year … He is the first SRU back to go for more than 1,000 yards in a season since Akeem Satterfield ran for 1,352 yards in 2010 … Mike Wainauskis improved to 8-of-9 on field goal attempts this year … SRU scored on a 65 yard run, the 13th TD play that went for 30 or more yards this season … Greene's 65-yd TD run was his third of at least 50 yards this year and is the longest run of his career … Andrew Huska had his best game punting for SRU, averaging 42 yards per kick on seven punts … SRU played without starters Kirk Nypaver (RG), Admire Carter (CB) and Bob Vernick (MLB/LS) … Garrett MacFarland handled the long snapping duties … Fulmore recorded his team-leading fourth INT … Martin increased his season sack total to 9.5.