SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University football team saw its 20-game home winning streak come to an end on Homecoming after Edinboro scored on an untimed down on the last play of the game to earn a 37-35 win Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The Rock rallied back from a 31-13 deficit in the second half and took a 35-31 lead with 57 seconds to play, but Edinboro marched down the field to have a chance at the win. On the final timed play of the game, SRU was called for pass interference, the 15th penalty of the day on The Rock, giving Edinboro one untimed down from the two-yard line. The Scots scored on that chance to register the 37-35 win.
 
The most crucial call of the 15 penalties that went against The Rock Saturday was neither of the pass interference calls that came on Edinboro's game-winning drive, but instead was a call in the first half when Rock cornerback Titus Howard was ejected for targeting. With SRU already playing down one starter in the secondary, Edinboro's offense capitalized and scored two timely passing touchdowns on Howard's side of the field to extend a lead in the opening half. At halftime, the officials overturned the call and ruled that Howard's hit was a legal play, but the damage was done.
 
Compounding the issues for the hosts was Slippery Rock starting quarterback Don King III leaving the game late in the first half with a head injury. Early in the second half a late hit out of bounds that was flagged injured backup Nathaniel Musselman, forcing The Rock to burn the redshirt of a second true freshman quarterback and bring in Augustus Necastro for nearly the entire second half.
 
Necastro didn't flinch under the pressure of playing for the first time in his college career and led The Rock to an incredible comeback. Trailing 31-13 with 11 minutes to play in the third quarter, Necastro orchestrated three touchdown drives after going 17-of-22 for 187 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. The final TD pass to Marcus Johnson came with just 57 seconds to play and put The Rock up 35-31, completing a 22-0 run.
 
Edinboro managed just 267 yards of total offense in the game and was intercepted five times, but got one special teams touchdown and the offense rallied on the final drive to seal the win.

The Fighting Scots are now 7-1 overall and 4-1 in PSAC West play, while Slippery Rock drops its second straight game to fall to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in league games. The loss was the first at home since the final game of the 2012 season for The Rock and was the first home loss for the senior class.
 
Edinboro entered the game with one of the top ranked offenses in the country, but struggled to find consistency Saturday as The Rock defense held the Scots to just 267 total yards on 81 plays (3.3 yards per play) and held QB Jake Sisson, who was averaging more than 350 passing yards per game, to just 248 yards on 28-of-62 attempts. Sisson threw 34 incomplete passes and was intercepted five times.
 
Kyle Hall, starting for the injured Kevin Green at safety, had three of those five interceptions to tie a school record for a single-game. Bob Vernick and Derrick Fulmore had the other two. Cody Conway had three tackles for loss, a half sack and three QB hurries in the game. Anthony Zappone added nine tackles, 1.5 for loss and three QB hurries. Tony Twillie II had one sack and Marcus Martin had a half sack and two QB hurries.
 
Necastro was just one Rock offensive player that stepped up in a backup role Saturday. Isiah Neely, starting for the injured Shamar Greene, rushed for 135 yards and one touchdown.  He also caught five passes for 69 yards. In addition to Greene and both the first and second string quarterbacks, Slippery Rock also played without All-American center Joe LoSchiavo, who left the game early in the first quarter.
 
Drew Scales caught eight passes for 78 yards and one touchdown, topping 100 career receptions in the process. Marcus Johnson pulled down four passes for 55 yards and one score. Leroy McClain caught six passes for 32 yards and Cornelius Raye caught two passes for 26 yards and one score.
 
Edinboro managed 19 rushing yards on 19 carries in the game for a total of 267, while Slippery Rock put up 442 yards of offense on 287 passing yards and 155 rushing yards.
 
The loss for Slippery Rock gives the team three losses on the year and likely ends the chance of reaching the NCAA postseason tournament for the fourth consecutive season. The Rock will close the year with a road game at Clarion Oct. 29 and back-to-back home games Nov. 5 and Nov. 12.
 
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock had won the last six games in the series against Edinboro … the 15 penalties is the most against SRU this season … Three different QBs took snaps for SRU in the game after starter Don King III and backup Nathaniel Musselman were both injured … Augustus Necastro, who had planned to redshirt, is the only other QB on the roster and was forced to play and burn the redshirt … SRU played without all-time leading rusher Shamar Greene and All-American center Joe LoSchiavo … Cody Conway's 3.0 tackles for loss give him 36.5 for his career and move him into 11th all-time at SRU … Derrick Fulmore's interception was his 13th and moves him into a tie for sixth all-time at SRU … Kyle Hall's three interceptions in the game tied an SRU record for a single-game, a feat that has happened four times now in program history … Marcus Martin increased his SRU and PSAC career record to 39.0 sacks and increased his SRU record to 61.5 tackles for loss … Drew Scales now has 107 career catches, moving up to 10th all-time at SRU … Cornelius Raye caught his 14th career TD pass, moving up to 10th all-time at SRU … SRU saw its streak of 20 consecutive home wins come to an end after The Rock had won every home game since the beginning of the 2013 season ... it is the first loss for SRU on Homecoming since 2008.