Box Score

WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The 25th ranked Slippery Rock University football team won its seventh straight season opener with a convincing 39-13 victory at the University of New Haven Saturday afternoon.
 
The Rock used a dominant effort in the second half to break the game open, scoring 25 points and holding the Chargers to just three in the final 30 minutes.
 
"We might not have come out the way we wanted," said head coach George Mihalik. "But we knew that if we could keep it close things would start to click. We got an outstanding effort from our defense in the second half, got a huge special teams play and then the offense closed it out for us."
 
New Haven scored first and used big plays to keep the game close in the first half, including a 78-yard touchdown pass, but Slippery Rock overcame the slow start with a pair of second quarter touchdowns to lead 14-10 at halftime.
 
The second half was all SRU as the visitors scored points on two of the first three possessions of the period and put up 261 total yards of offense.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 446 yards of offense that included 177 yards on the ground and 269 yards through the air. New Haven finished with 414 yards, but only managed 131 yards in the second half. The Chargers ran for 195 yards (48 in second half) and threw for 219.
 
The Rock's new starting quarterback, Youngstown State transfer Dante Nania, looked shaky at times early but got comfortable throughout the game and finished strong. He completed 32-of-54 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns. He was also intercepted twice on deep passes.
 
Shamar Greene led the ground game with 116 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries. Nania rushed for 37 yards on eight carries and Julian Durden ran for 21 yards and one touchdown on six carries.
 
Nania connected with seven different receivers in the game. His favorite target in the red zone was Taishan Tucker, who pulled down five passes for 31 yards and two touchdowns. Leroy McClain caught six passes for 43 yards, Marcus Carter pulled down five passes for 48 yards, Drew Scales caught four passes for 69 yards and Cornelius Raye caught four passes for 38 yards and one touchdown.
 
Jaimire Dutrieuille added five catches for 26 yards and Greene caught three passes for 14 yards.
 
Scales also picked up 85 yards on three kickoff returns to lead the team with 156 all-purpose yards on the day.
 
Defensively, The Rock were led by Youngstown State transfer Teven Williams with 12 tackles, including 1.5 for loss. He also broke up one pass. Avery Anderson had a big game inside and finished with 10 stops and 0.5 tackles for loss. Bob Vernick added eight stops and one tackle for loss. Derek Morgan added seven stops and Marcus Martin chipped in six tackles and 0.5 for loss.
 
Derrick Fulmore led the secondary with one interception that came in the end zone and stalled New Haven's opening drive.
 
Mike Wainauskis was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts on the day, converting from 23 yards and missing from 36 yards. He was 4-of-5 on extra point tries.
 
New Haven was led by Andre Anderson on the offensive side of the ball. He broke free for a 71-yard run early in the game and then added a 78-yard touchdown on a catch and run. Anderson wasn't able to find much success after the big plays, finishing with just nine rushing yards on eight more carries.
 
The Chargers went with a two quarterback system with Shazzon Mumphrey getting the start and playing the first half. He was relieved for most of the second half by Ajee Patterson. Mumphrey completed 6-of-14 passes for 136 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Patterson was 6-of-16 for 68 yards.
 
Slippery Rock struggled to move the ball early and New Haven capitalized late in the opening quarter with a 25-yard field goal to take the early lead.
 
The Rock responded midway through the second quarter after a poor punt gave SRU great field position to start a drive. Greene punched it in from the one-yard line to put SRU up 7-3 with 9:15 to play in the first half.
 
The lead didn't last long as New Haven connected on a 78-yard touchdown on its next series when Mumphrey hit Anderson to make it 10-7 in favor of the hosts with 7:21 to play.
 
Slippery Rock responded on its next drive with a 12-play, 68-yard march that was capped when Durden punched it in from the two-yard line to put SRU back up 14-10.
 
The Rock looked poised to add more points just before halftime, but Nania was picked off in the end zone to send it to the break at 14-10.
 
After New Haven went three and out on the opening series of the second half, Slippery Rock began to take over. The Rock put together another 12-play scoring drive, this time coming up short and settling for a Wainauskis field goal to make it 17-10 with 10:21 to play in the period.

The next SRU possession ended in a punt, but the returner for New Haven dropped the fair catch attempt and Kris Williams recovered the fumble deep in Charger territory to set Slippery Rock up for another scoring drive. Nania found Tucker on a perfectly thrown lob over the top of the defense to make it 24-10 with 6:58 to play in the third.
 
"I always tell the guys special teams plays are huge in the beginning of the season," said Mihalik. "That play really turned the momentum in our favor and gave us a big boost."
 
New Haven converted a 33-yard field goal on its next possession to cut the deficit to 24-13, but Slippery Rock would put the game out of reach on the last play of the third quarter when Nania hit Scales over the middle and he took it 57 yards to the Charger two-yard line. That set up another TD pass to Tucker on the first play of the fourth to make it 31-13 with 14:57 to play.
 
The Rock defense got on the board next when New Haven was called for a holding penalty in the end zone that resulted in a safety to make the score 33-13 with 11:54 to go.
 
The final points of the game came on another long sustained drive as Slippery Rock went 10 plays and 54 yards in 3:51 and Nania hit Raye through a small window in the defense for the score. The extra point clanged off the upright to deny SRU the chance at 40 points.
 
Slippery Rock returns home for the next two weeks for crossover action in the PSAC. East Stroudsburg visits Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Sept. 12 for a 7 p.m. kickoff that will be nationally televised as part of the NCAA's Division II Showcase Game of the Week series. Complete television listings will be available early in the week.
 
 

Notes: Slippery Rock has now won seven straight season openers and hasn't lost the first game of the season since 2008 … The Rock also picked up their first ever win over New Haven after the Chargers entered the game with a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series … it was the first time since the 1997 NCAA playoffs that the two teams met … Mihalik improved to 186-109-4 with the win … this was the 299th career game for Mihalik as head coach at SRU … Slippery Rock was the only Super Region 1 team ranked in the top-25 of the AFCA coaches poll to win its first week game … the four teams ranked higher than SRU all lost (Concord, Bloomsburg, Winston-Salem State, West Chester) … three of those teams lost to unranked opponents while West Chester lost to No. 10 Lenoir-Rhyne … Shamar Greene ran for more than 100 yards for the 12th time in his career … Cory Tucker started his 35th straight game at right tackle … Kyle Henderson started his 26th straight game and his first at left guard … Raye and Carter each pulled down career-highs in receptions and yardage … Raye's TD was the first TD catch of his career … Dutrieuille moved up to fifth on the career receptions list at SRU with 127 … Fulmore recorded his seventh career interception after leading SRU with six in 2014.