SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 19th ranked Slippery Rock University football team extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 20 games with a 37-25 victory over Mercyhurst Saturday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
An undermanned Rock team bounced back from their first loss of the season a week ago to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in PSAC West play. Mercyhurst drops to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in league action with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock entered the game without the services of starters Cody Conway, John Conglose, Bob Vernick and Cody Allen on the defensive side of the ball and then lost Anthony Zappone to injury in the second half to go down five total starters on the defensive side of the ball. On offense, SRU was without the services of all-time leading rusher Shamar Greene and preseason All-American center Joe LoSchiavo.
 
"I can't remember a time that we have been this banged up with so many key guys," said head coach Shawn Lutz after the game. "But, it's next man up mentality in that locker room. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We had a lot of guys step up in a big way tonight."
 
Two of those new starters led the team in a pair of categories Saturday night with true freshman Dontez Rash making his first career start at running back and senior Erik Johnson making his first career start at linebacker. Rash rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns to lead the ground attack and Johnson finished with a team-high nine total tackles and recovered one fumble.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 411-320 advantage in total offense after throwing for 310 yards and rushing for 101. Mercyhurst managed 208 passing yards and ran for 112 yards.
 
Don King III had one of his most efficient games as a starting quarterback to guide the SRU offense. He completed 29-of-38 passes for 310 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
 
Cornelius Raye was the top target, catching nine passes for 126 yards and one score. Drew Scales pulled down eight passes for 72 yards, while Leroy McClain added six catches for 49 yards and Marcus Johnson caught four passes for 47 yards and one touchdown.
 
Jake Chapla had a big night in the kicking game for The Rock, converting on field goals of 44 and 51 yards. The 51-yarder in the second quarter was the first 50+ yard field goal by a Rock kicker since 2003 and is the second longest in school history. He attempted to break the program record at the end of the first half, but just missed from 53 yards.
 
Marcus Martin broke the all-time career tackles for loss record at Slippery Rock in just the sixth game of his junior year. He had one solo sack and one tackle for loss to bring his career total to 61.0 tackles for loss, breaking the previous program record of 60.0 set by SRU Hall of Famer Matt Kinsinger. Martin also blocked a point after try that was scooped up by Kris Williams and returned 90 yards for a 2-point conversion.
 
Tony Twillie had eight tackles and one tackle for loss and Derrick Fulmore and Patrick Minenok, who made his first career start, each had seven tackles. Titus Howard had a big game, recorded one sack for a safety, picking off one pass and finishing with 1.5 sacks. Joe Phillips added two tackles for loss and Mike Kope and Zappone each had five tackles and one half-tackle for loss.
 
Mercyhurst was led by quarterback Doug Altavilla, who completed 19-of-30 pass attempts for 208 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Pierce Bauer caught two short TD passes and Danavian Clay had the third TD grab. Brad Novak led the Laker receivers with 73 receiving yards on three catches and Richie Sanders rushed for 84 yards on 19 carries.
 
Slippery Rock didn't punt the ball once in a dominant opening half in which the hosts jumped out to a 31-9 halftime advantage.
 
Dontez Rash rushed for 41 yards and one score on the opening possession to put The Rock up 7-0 just 4:30 into the game. Mercyhurst answered on its next possession, however, marching 65 yards and scoring with a TD pass to Bauer. The PAT was blocked by Martin and returned 90 yards by Williams to give SRU a 9-6 lead with 5:37 to play in the first quarter.
 
The Rock added to the lead the next offensive series, this time with an 83-yard drive that was capped by a 17-yard TD pass to Johnson to make it 16-6 with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter.
 
Mercyhurst was stopped in the red zone early in the second quarter and settled for a short field goal to make it 16-9 with 11:59 to play in the first half.
 
Slippery Rock's offense stalled inside the Mercyhurst five-yard line and turned the ball over on downs, but the defense scored points two plays later when Howard blitzed off the corner and sacked Altavilla for a safety that made it 18-9 with 6:57 to play in the second.
 
The Rock would add 13 more points in the final six minutes of the half. Chapla hit from 44-yards with 5:46 on the clock and Rash punched in his second TD of the game with 3:12 on the clock to make it 28-9. The final points of the half came when Chapla hit from 51-yards with 1:00 remaining to send it to the break 31-9.
 
Mercyhurst scored on the first possession of the second half and put up 14 points in the third quarter to cut it to 31-23, but Slippery Rock put the game away with a 38-yard TD pass to Raye early in the fourth quarter. The final points of the game came when SRU took a safety on purpose while running time off the clock late in the fourth quarter.
 
Slippery Rock will now get set for its second game in three weeks against a nationally ranked opponent with a road trip set for next Saturday at Indiana (Pa.), which was ranked No. 6 in the country before falling 31-28 at No. 15 California (Pa.) Saturday night.
 
 
NOTES: Shawn Lutz is now 5-1 in his first year as head coach … The SRU win marks the first time in the series between SRU and Mercyhurst that a team has won back-to-back games in the series … SRU now leads the all-time series 5-4 … The Rock ran their home winning streak to 20 games, the longest in the country, and have not lost at home since the final game of the 2012 season … Marcus Martin broke the SRU career record for tackles for loss with 2.0 on the night, bringing his total to 61.0 TFL and topping the former record of 60.0 set by Matt Kinsinger … Dontez Rash made his first career start at running back and had his first career 100-yard game and his first career multi-TD game … Jake Chapla hit from 44 and 51 yards on FG attempts and now has four field goals of at least 44 yards this season … his 51-yarder is the second longest in SRU history and is the first 50+ yard FG for an SRU kicker since 2003 when John Katsaouni hit the program record 52-yarder … SRU played without All-American running back Shamar Greene on offense and without Cody Conway, Bob Vernick, Cody Allen and John Conglose on defense … the game was televised nationally by ESPN 3 as part of the Sportsfever TV Package.