GREENSBURG, Pa. – The 14th ranked Slippery Rock University football team saw its chances at an improbable fourth quarter comeback sail wide left on a 22-yard field goal attempt with one minute to play as Seton Hill University shocked The Rock and held on for a 41-38 victory Saturday at Offutt Field.
 
"We were in the red zone five times in the second half and scored 10 points," said head coach George Mihalik after the game. "That's not good enough to get it done against a team with that much talent. Our defense gave up too many big passing plays early in the game and our special teams wasn't good in any phase all day."
 
The Rock entered the game ranked 14th in the latest Division II national rankings and had won the last four meetings against Seton Hill by at least 30 points, but suffered through an uncharacteristically sloppy day with one blocked field goal, two missed short-range field goals, a blocked punt and a fumble on the goal line.
 
Despite all of those miscues and trailing by 10 points with less than six minutes to play, Slippery Rock had a chance to win the game and get out of Greensburg at 4-0.
 
After forcing the Griffin offense to a field goal try that sailed wide left with 5:24 to play, Dante Nania marched The Rock offense 80 yards in just 1:09 and Julian Durden rushed in from the one-yard line to make it 41-38 with 4:15 to play.
 
On the next Seton Hill possession Derrick Fulmore picked off a pass near midfield on third down and returned it to the Seton Hill 29-yard line with 3:13 to play.
 
Slippery Rock moved the ball down to the SHU five-yard line and had a first and goal before stalling out with two incompletions and one stuffed run to set up fourth down from the five. Mike Wainauskis came in to try the 22-yarder to tie the game, but his kick just missed left of the upright and allowed Seton Hill to take over and run out the clock.
 
The loss drops Slippery Rock to 3-1 overall and more importantly 0-1 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division play. Seton Hill improves to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in league action with the program's first-ever win over a ranked opponent.
 
Slippery Rock put up 630 yards of offense in the game and finished with a 630-526 edge in offense. The Rock threw for 414 yards and ran for 216, while Seton Hill racked up 472 yards through the air and just 54 on the ground.
 
Nania completed 28-of-50 pass attempts for 414 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. It marked the first time an SRU quarterback had thrown for more than 400 yards since the 2013 season when Nigel Barksdale threw for 425 against IUP.
 
"Our quarterback played well enough to win this game," said Mihalik after the game. "He was under pressure a lot today and made a lot of good plays to avoid the pressure and keep the offense moving."
 
Durden made his second straight start at running back for the injured Shamar Greene and had another big game, rushing 26 times for 146 yards and three touchdowns.
 
Taishan Tucker caught eight passes for a career-high 139 yards and one touchdown to lead the receivers. Jaimire Dutrieuille added six catches for 32 yards and one score and Marcus Carter pulled down five passes for 62 yards. Cornelius Raye caught four passes for 92 yards.
 
Fulmore picked off his third pass of the season and tied for the team lead with seven tackles to lead the defense. Derek Morgan and Deonte Flemings each had one interception. Marcus Martin had six tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. The Rock defense got pressure into the backfield in the second half, but recorded no sacks in the game.
 
Seton Hill was led by Christian Strong, who completed 29-of-52 passes for 472 yards, four first half touchdowns and three interceptions. Ardell Brown caught six passes for 134 yards and one score and Eric Brown added four catches for 123 yards and one touchdown.
 
The Rock opened the game by driving 75 yards and scoring with ease on the first possession of the game, but Seton Hill struck with big passing plays on the next series for what would be the theme of the game.
 
The teams traded scores to end the first quarter tied at 14-14 before Seton Hill put together back-to-back TD drives using the long ball to take a 28-14 lead in the second quarter.
 
Slippery Rock rallied with 14 unanswered points to tie the game at 28-28 at halftime.
 
The Rock took a 31-28 lead early in the third quarter on a Wainauskis field goal, but Seton Hill answered right back with another big passing play to set up a short TD run as the hosts retook the lead, 35-31 with 6:08 to play in the third. The Griffins added two field goals, one late in the third and one early in the fourth, to lead 41-31 and set up the finish.
 
Saturday proved to be a rough day for the favorites in the PSAC West as the top three vote getters in the preseason poll were all defeated in week one of the divisional schedule. Gannon was shocked at home by undefeated Clarion, Slippery Rock was upset by Seton Hill and Mercyhurst lost at home on Homecoming to Indiana.
 
The Rock entered Saturday in the early driver's seat in Super Region One, but will now have their work cut out to stay among the region's top ranked teams. SRU's next three weeks feature a road trip to Gannon next Saturday, a Homecoming date with California Oct. 10 and a road trip to Mercyhurst Oct. 17.
 
"We were on top of the region before today," said Mihalik. "We don't have to worry about that anymore. We won't be ranked next week and we won't have to worry about staying atop the region. We'll have to fight our way back up. We'll see next week how our guys respond."
 

NOTES: Slippery Rock played the majority of the game without starting center Joe LoSchiavo, who left with an injury in the first quarter … SRU lost to Seton Hill for just the second time in the series and is now 5-2 against the Griffins … Dante Nania, Julian Durden, Taishan Tucker, Cornelius Raye and Marcus Carter all went for career-highs in yardage in the game … Jaimire Dutrieuille caught his 14th career TD pass to move into a tie for ninth on the all-time list at SRU … his six catches brought his career total to 140 receptions and moved him up to third on the all-time ledger at SRU … Derrick Fulmore caught his 10th career interception to tie for 10th on the all-time list at SRU.