ERIE, Pa. – The 12th ranked Slippery Rock University football team battled through a series of injuries and fought off a tough Mercyhurst University team to improve to 6-0 with a 31-28 win on the road at Tullio Field Saturday.
 
The Rock (6-0, 3-0 PSAC West) kept pace atop of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division with No. 4 Indiana (Pa.), which improved to 6-0 with a 26-10 win over No. 16 California (Pa.) Saturday. That sets up a massive first place showdown next Saturday as the Crimson Hawks will visit Slippery Rock for the annual Homecoming game. Mercyhurst, which entered the game tied with SRU and IUP for first place in the division, drops to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in league games.
 
It took a gutsy effort from Slippery Rock as many of its offensive stars struggled with injuries Saturday. Starting right guard Ian Park missed the game. Wide receivers Marcus Johnson and Milly Raye both played, but were less than 100 percent. Quarterback Tanner Garry had to leave the game in the first half, but returned in the second half, and starting running back Isiah Neely left the game for a stint.
 
Despite the injuries, The Rock offense racked up 449 total yards with 335 passing yards and 114 rushing yards. Mercyhurst went for 392 yards, including 326 through the air and 66 on the ground. The 66 rushing yards marked a season-low for The Rock defense.
 
Garry completed 26-of-38 passes for 335 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Raye caught 10 passes for 121 yards and one TD and Johnson caught four passes for 108 yards and one score, which came from 64 yards out and accounted for the game-winning points. For the first time this season, Johnson did not return any kicks in the game. Neely rushed for 88 yards on 19 carries and caught three passes for 44 yards.
 
Dylan Stapleton caught three passes for 21 yards and a touchdown, which marked the first TD of his career at SRU. Andrew Bridgeforth caught two passes for 18 yards and one score.
 
Jake Chapla capped the scoring for SRU with a 45-yard field goal to complete a perfect day in which he was also 4-for-4 on PAT kicks.
 
Delmar Henderson finished with a team-high eight tackles to lead the SRU defense. Tim Vernick added six stops and a half-tackle for loss, as did Marcus Martin. Trey Blandford returned from injury and had one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
 
Mercyhurst was led by Doug Altavilla, who was 26-of-40 for 326 yards with two touchdowns and one rushing TD. Brad Novak caught seven passes for 85 yards and one score and Austin Hence caught five passes for 90 yards and one TD. Garrett Owens rushed for 61 yards and one score on 18 carries and caught six passes for 57 yards.
 
Slippery Rock is 6-0 to start the season for the first time since 1962 and will play one of the biggest games in Division II next Saturday when No. 4 Indiana (Pa.) visits for Homecoming. Kickoff is set for 2:05 p.m. and the game will be shown on ESPN 3, as it was selected by the NCAA as the Division II Showcase game of the week.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercyhurst went 71 yards in eight plays on the opening drive and scored the first points of the game when Owens rushed in from three yards to make it 7-0 just three minutes into the game.
 
The teams traded punts twice before Slippery Rock evened the score early in the second quarter with a school-record drive. The Rock began on their own one-yard line and capped a 99-yard drive when Garry hit Raye from 27 yards out to make it 7-7 with 13:15 to play in the second quarter.
 
Mercyhurst regained the lead just two minutes later when Hence caught a 42-yard pass to put the Lakers back on top, 14-7, with 11:03 to play in the half.
 
Slippery Rock responded two possessions later with a 55-yard drive that was capped by an eight-yard TD pass to Bridgeforth that tied the game at 14-14 with 8:34 left in the second, accounting for the final points of the opening half.
 
The Rock took their first lead of the game on the opening drive of the second half when Stapleton caught his first career TD pass from four yards out to cap a 12-play, 75-yard drive that put SRU up 21-14 with 10:49 to play in the third.
 
Mercyhurst answered late in the period to tie the game at 21-21 with 1:31 left in the third when Altavilla rushed in on fourth and goal from the one-yard line. The Lakers failed to convert on third and goal, but were awarded an extra series of downs after a pass interference call in the end zone on third down. The Rock defense stuffed three rushes on the goal line before Altavilla was ruled to have crossed the line on fourth down.
 
Slippery Rock regained the edge on its next series after a drive stalled and Chapla booted a 45-yard field goal to make it 24-21 with 11:47 left in the game.
 
The deciding points came after Mercyhurst turned the ball over on downs on the SRU 36-yard line. One play later, Garry hit Johnson over the top down the left sideline for a 64-yard TD to make it 31-21 with 8:30 to play.
 
Mercyhurst cut the deficit to one possession with a touchdown pass to Novak with 4:23 to play, but The Rock put together a long sustained drive on the final possession to put the game away.
 

NOTES: SRU head coach Shawn Lutz improved to 13-4 … SRU is 6-0 for the first time since the 1962 season (The Rock playoff teams in the 1990s would open the year on the road at a Division I opponent before their win streaks started in week two) … SRU improved to 6-4 all-time against Mercyhurst and has now won three straight against the Lakers, including two on the road in Erie … Tanner Garry has now thrown 22 TD passes in six games, moving him all the way up to fifth on the single-season ledger at SRU … Garry also went over 2,000 passing yards on the year Saturday … his 2,028 yards rank 10th all-time at SRU for a single-season … Marcus Johnson now has 700 receiving yards on the year, the 10th most in a single-season at SRU … his nine TD catches rank tied for seventh in a single-season … Johnson's 23 career TD catches rank second all-time at SRU and he moved up to eighth in career receiving yards with 1,724 … Milly Raye has now caught a pass in 33 straight games and has at least one TD catch in each game this season … Raye moved up to sixth all-time at SRU in career receiving yards with 2,121 … he is fourth all-time in catches with 160 and third in TD catches with 22 … Jake Chapla made his 17th career field goal, moving up to 10th all-time at SRU … Marcus Martin increased his NCAA Division II career record to 83.5 tackles for loss, but was held without a sack, keeping that record at 50.0 … he needs 3.5 more sacks to tie the NCAA all-division record … SRU will face its third nationally ranked opponent of the year when No. 4 Indiana (Pa.) visits next Saturday for Homecoming.
 


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