Game Replay

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Slippery Rock University football team jumped out to a 28-0 lead and never looked back in posting a 42-21 win on the road at Kentucky State University Saturday at Alumni Stadium.
 
The Rock (1-0) picked up a win in their season opener for the ninth straight year in what was the first meeting between the two teams. Kentucky State (0-1) will travel to Slippery Rock for week one of the 2018 season.
 
Saturday's game was just the fourth time in the last seven years that Slippery Rock played on a grass field and the first time in nearly four years. After heavy rains in the area earlier this week, the wet and muddy field conditions slowed the ground game of both teams. It didn't impact the passing game for The Rock, however, as SRU put up 403 yards through the air.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 487-245 edge in total offense after also rushing for 84 yards. Kentucky State managed 168 passing yards and 77 rushing yards on 41 carries, an average of 1.9 yards per carry.
 
Marcus Martin spearheaded that defensive effort that clogged up the running game. He set a school record for a single-game with 6.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 of which came against the run and 1.0 of which came in the form of a sack. He entered the game ranked ninth in Division II history in career tackles for loss, but his 6.0 bring his career tally to 72.0 and move him all the way up to third. He now needs just 5.0 tackles for loss to tie the Division II record.
 
The Rock finished with a total of 15 tackles for loss and four sacks. Zach Bader and Trysten McDonald each recorded 2.0 tackles for loss and Tavarus Sample, making his debut on the defensive side of the ball, finished with 11 tackles. Dylan Whiteman forced one fumble, which was recovered by Mason DeHart.
 
Offensively, quarterback Tanner Garry proved the coaches made the right call coming out of camp when they named him the starter. Garry finished the game 22-of-34 for 390 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
 
His top target was Marcus Johnson, who finished just six yards shy of his own single-game school record that he set in the final game of 2016. Johnson grabbed 12 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.
 
Milly Raye also grabbed seven passes for 132 yards and one score, which came after a highlight reel spin move between two defenders. The other touchdown pass went to tight end Brian McNally from seven yards out.
 

FB: Here's the full play from the beginning of Milly Raye's Spin-o-Rama TD that we think should be on @SportsCenter #SCtop10 tonight pic.twitter.com/N9dZqfluVc

— Rock Athletics (@Rock_Athletics) September 3, 2017

Isiah Neely paced the ground attack for SRU with 14 carries for 54 yards and one touchdown. Chacar Berry added nine carries for 18 yards.
 
In addition to the defensive numbers listed above, The Rock got an all-around solid effort from its all freshmen linebacking crew. Tim Vernick made 10 tackles, including nine solo, and recorded one sack in his first collegiate game. Whiteman finished with seven tackles to go along with the forced fumble and McDonald tallied six solo stops on top of the two tackles for loss.
 
Zach Bader and Tim Soave both recorded one solo sack and Khadir Roberts recorded 1.5 tackles for loss.
 
Kentucky State was paced by quarterback Paul Campbell, who was 22-of-33 for 168 yards with one touchdown. He also added a rushing score.  The passing TD went to Demetrius Anderson, who finished with 10 grabs for 74 yards.
 
Brett Sylve returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and finished the game with 35 rushing yards as well.
 
Slippery Rock, which received votes in the Division II preseason national poll, will return home next week to host West Chester, which also received votes, in the opener at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
1st – 11:26 – SRU: Johnson 3-yd TD pass from Garry (Jake Chapla PAT) – 7-0
2nd – 11:02 – SRU: McNally 7-yd TD pass from Garry (Chapla) – 14-0
2nd – 4:42 – SRU: Johnson 47-yd TD pass from Garry (Chapla) – 21-0
3rd – 10:10 – SRU: Neely 5-yd TD run (Chapla) – 28-0
3rd – 4:08 – KSU: Anderson 4-yd pass from Campbell (Warren failed) – 28-6
4th – 13:00 – KSU: Campbell 4-yd run (2pt conversion good) – 28-14
4th – 10:28 – SRU: Johnson 48-yd pass from Garry (Chapla) – 35-14
4th – 8:23 – SRU: Milly Raye 57-yd pass from Garry (Chapla) – 42-14
4th – 8:07 – KSU: Sylve 93-yd kickoff return (Mahireyaa) – 42-21
 
Notes: Slippery Rock won its season opener for the ninth straight year … head coach Shawn Lutz improves to 8-4 on his career … Marcus Martin broke the SRU single-game record for tackles for loss with 6.0 on the day, breaking the former record of 5.0 (Martin at Shepherd in 2015 and Jeremy George vs. Cal U in 1998) … Martin now has 72.0 tackles for loss in his career, moving him up to a tie for third all-time in Division II … he needs just 5.0 more tackles for loss to tie the DII record … Martin also had one sack, bringing his career tally to 41.5, moving him up to fifth on the all-time Division II list, just 5.0 sacks shy of tying the record … Marcus Johnson's 12 catches was a career-high and his 231 receiving yards are just shy of his own school record of 237 that he set in the last game of 2016 … Johnson now has 468 yards and seven TD catches in his last two games alone … With Milly Raye finishing with 132 receiving yards, it marks the first time since Nov. 9, 2013 that SRU had two receivers over 100 yards in the same game … Raye now has 1,610 career receiving yards, moving him up to 8th all-time at SRU … Johnson now has 17 career TD grabs, moving up to sixth all-time at SRU … Raye has 16, ranking seventh … Tanner Garry made his first collegiate start and played his first full game at QB since 2011 when he was a senior at Fort Cherry High School … His 5 TD passes mark just the third time an SRU QB has passed for five or more TDs in a game in the last three years (Dante Nania vs. West Chester in 2015 and Don King III vs. ESU in 2016) … SRU played on grass for the first time since the final game of 2013 and just the fourth time since 2010.



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