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MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The nationally ranked Slippery Rock University football team overcame first half penalty woes to defeat Millersville University 46-17 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference divisional play Saturday evening at Biemesderfer Stadium.
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improves to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in PSAC-West games and remains in a tie atop the division standings with Gannon, which beat Kutztown at home Saturday, and Clarion, which beat Cheyney Saturday.
 
Slippery Rock, ranked No. 18 by D2Football.com and No. 25 by the American Football Coaches Association, was the superior team in nearly every facet of the game Saturday night, but penalties kept multiple Marauder drives going in the first half and allowed the opportunistic hosts to stay in the game. The Rock was called for 13 penalties that accounted for 95 yards, while Millersville was whistled for seven penalties for 56 yards.
 
Slippery Rock racked up 351 yards of offense in the first half and finished the game with an advantage of 609-290 in total yardage after recording 247 passing yards and 362 yards on the ground. Millersville was held to 217 yards through the air and 73 rushing yards.
 
The defense, which struggled with multiple offside calls in the opening quarter, eventually cleaned things up and pitched a shutout for the final three quarters.
 
Millersville scored on its first offensive play from scrimmage and put up all 17 of its points in the first quarter, but still trailed 21-17 after the opening period. From there, The Rock added 12 points in the second quarter to lead 33-17 at halftime and six points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth quarter.
 
In what is becoming a weekly theme, running back Shamar Greene led the offense with another monster night. He rushed for a career-high 238 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries, becoming the first SRU running back to go for more than 200 yards in a single game since Akeem Satterfield ran for 271 yards against C.W. Post in 2010. It marks his third consecutive game with more than 150 yards rushing and he has now totaled 619 yards on 60 carries through three games for an average of 206.3 yards per game and 10.3 yards per carry.
 
Zack Newsock set a career-high for completions and completion percentage in his third game as the starter, finishing 30-of-44 (68%) for 247 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
 
Melvin German had his first breakout game in the receiving corps, catching five passes for 86 yards and one touchdown. Julian Harrell added four catches for 37 yards and one touchdown and Taishan Tucker caught three passes for 35 yards. Jaimire Dutrieuille led all receivers in catches with seven for 24 yards.
 
Teddy Blakeman ran for 75 yards and a touchdown, the 21st touchdown he has accounted for in 14 games as a member of The Rock. Julian Durden added 33 yards on five carries and Brett Crenshaw also carried it four times for 16 yards.
 
Bob Vernick led The Rock's defense in tackles with 13 total, including a team-high six solo stops. Cody Conway recorded 12 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one pass breakup. Austin Miele registered six tackles, Marcus Martin recorded a solo sack, his fifth of the year, and finished with 2.0 tackles for loss.
 
Slippery Rock's defense caused eight pass breakups, recorded three quarterback hurries, forced a safety and recorded one interception by Derrick Fulmore, his team-leading third of the year.
 
Millersville was led by quarterback Matt Misley, who completed 21-of-45 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also led the team in rushing with 12 carries for 66 yards and was the only Marauder to rush for more than 29 yards on the ground.
 
Kevin Wiggins recorded game-highs of seven catches for 88 yards and one touchdown to lead the Millersville receivers.
 
The Maruaders were led by PJ Santos on defense with 12 tackles, including a game-high 11 solo stops. Rasheed Johnson and Reggie Slatton each added 11 tackles and TJ Richardson recorded on interception.
 
Millersville took advantage of a poor punt on Slippery Rock's opening drive and a defensive penalty to score on its first play from scrimmage, a 28 yard pass from Misley to David Coates just 1:04 into the game.
 
The Rock responded my marching down the field 69 yards in five plays to tie the game with a six-yard pass from Newsock to Harrell just 2:07 into the game. Slippery Rock had short fields most of the night as Millersville elected for short kickoffs to keep the ball away from Rock returner Drew Scales, the top kick returner in the PSAC through two weeks.
 
Millersville again took advantage of defensive penalties on its next drive and regained the lead, 10-7, with a career-high 46-yard field goal from Evan Stahl with 10:48 to play in the opening quarter.
 
Slippery Rock wasted little time in responding, this time with a five play, 63-yard drive that took just 41 seconds and was capped by a six-yard TD run from Greene to make it 14-10 just 4:53 into the game. Greene ran for 64 yards on his first four carries in the first five minutes. His score at 10:48 of the first would put SRU out front for good.
 
Blakeman added to the lead with 6:48 to play in the opening quarter with a four-yard TD run to make it 21-10.
 
Millersville fought back with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a TD pass from Misley to Wiggins to make it 21-17 with 2:48 to play in the first quarter. Those would be the final points of the game for the Marauders, as The Rock defense posted a shutout for the final 47:48 of the game.
 
Mike Wainauskis added to the lead early in the second quarter with a career-high 36-yard field goal to make it 24-17 with 14:19 to play in the first half.
 
Things calmed down from there, with neither team able to move into the red zone for most of the rest of the half before Millersville was forced into a safety after a high snap went over the punter's head and had to be cleared out of the end zone with 1:28 to play, making the score 26-17.
 
Slippery Rock took advantage of the short field after the safety and increased the lead to 33-17 before halftime when Newsock hit a wide-open German in the end zone from 27 yards out with 45 seconds left in the half.
 
Millersville couldn't muster any offense in the second half and Slippery Rock added a 36-yard TD run from Greene with 7:00 left in the third quarter, after which the PAT was blocked, and a 22-yard TD run from Greene with 5:34 left in the fourth quarter.
 
Slippery Rock wraps up a short two game road swing and now turns its attention to returning home to Mihalik-Thompson Stadium for a 2 p.m. Homecoming kickoff against Seton Hill next Saturday, Sept. 27.
 
 
 
Notes: Shamar Greene has finished each of the first three games with more than 180 yards rushing … he has averaged 10.3 yards per carry in each of the first three games … Greene leads the PSAC in rushing with 619 yards (206.3 per game) through three games … Slippery Rock improves to 16-4-1 all-time against Millersville and 8-2 on the road … SRU head coach George Mihalik improves to 11-2 all-time against Millersville … Zack Newsock completed a career-high 30 passes … Teddy Blakeman ran for his 19th rushing touchdown in 14 games at SRU … Blakeman has run for at least one TD in each game this season and in 11 of his 14 games at SRU … The offense went for a season-high 609 yards and has gone for 475 or more in 13 of 15 games since the beginning of the 2013 season, more than 500 yards in 11 of 15 and more than 600 yards in six of those games … Slippery Rock has not scored first in any game yet this season … SRU has run more than 90 plays twice and more than 80 plays three times in three games this year.