ERIE, Pa. – The 21st ranked Slippery Rock University football team improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action with a thrilling 49-45 victory on the road at Gannon University Saturday from McConnell Family Stadium.
 
Gannon (1-3, 0-1 PSAC West) scored with a 76-yard rush from Marc Jones to take a 45-42 lead with just 2:38 to play on what marked the fifth lead change of the second half in a back-and-forth shootout. It wouldn't be the final lead change, however, as Tanner Garry connected with Marcus Johnson on a perfectly thrown 73-yard TD pass down the left sideline on the next SRU possession to put The Rock up 49-45 with 1:36 to play.
 
After the final kickoff trickled out of bounds at the one-yard line, Gannon was set up for its last chance at its own 35-yard line. A pair of big plays moved the ball down to the SRU 29-yard line and set up a fourth-and-two with 40 seconds to play. The Golden Knights rushed for 399 yards in the game with Jones rushing for a PSAC record 354 yards and 13.1 yards per carry, but couldn't come up with the most important two yards of the day. The Rock defense stuffed Jones one yard short of the first down to seal the victory.
 
Slippery Rock racked up 597 yards of total offense with 518 of it coming through the air and 79 of it coming on the ground. Gannon finished with 585 yards of total offense after rushing for 399 yards and throwing for 186 yards.
 
It was a great day to have the initials MJ, as Gannon's Jones and Slippery Rock's Johnson accounted for 10 total touchdowns and 768 all-purpose yards, each scoring five times. Jones broke the league record for rushing and the Gannon all-purpose yardage record to finish with 449 all-purpose yards, four rushing TDs and one receiving TD. Johnson caught 10 passes for 183 yards and tied his own SRU record with four TD catches. He also returned a kickoff 88 yards for a TD and finished the game with 319 all-purpose yards.
 
Tanner Garry had the second-best statistical day in Slippery Rock history for a quarterback, completing 33-of-51 passes for 518 yards, five TD and no interceptions.
 
Garry connected with seven different receivers, including three that went for more than 100 yards, marking the first time that has happened for an SRU trio of receivers in more than four years. Milly Raye caught 11 passes for 125 yards and one touchdown and extended his streak to 31 straight games with a reception. Andrew Bridgeforth caught six passes for a career-high 115 yards, including two crucial long catches down the sideline that kept drives alive in the second half. Bridgeforth also forced the only turnover of the game with a special teams tackle in the fourth quarter that led to an SRU field goal.
 
Isiah Neely rushed for 42 yards and one touchdown and Chacar Berry added 47 rushing yards as the two backs split the team's carries.
 
Tavarus Sample led the SRU defense with 10 total tackles and came up with the fumble that was forced by Bridgeforth on the kickoff return. Delmar Henderson and Trysten McDonald each had seven tackles and McDonald finished with 3.0 tackles for loss. Tim Soave and Sean Doran combined on the lone sack of the day for the SRU defense after Gannon attempted just 20 passes. Marcus Martin finished with a half-tackle for loss to extend his NCAA Division II record to 80.0 TFL, but was held without a sack for the first time this season.
 
Gannon leaned heavily on Jones, who accounted for most of the offense on the day. Quarterback Jimmy Keefe completed 10-of-19 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for one score, which came on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to end the first half. Jones was the leading receiver as well with four catches for 95 yards and one score. Nico Law accounted for the other receiving TD for Gannon and finished with three grabs for 61 yards.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to next Saturday's home game against No. 5 California (Pa.), the defending PSAC champion. Both teams enter the game with perfect 4-0 records and 1-0 marks in the PSAC West and both were tested in high-scoring affairs this week. Cal edged Seton Hill (0-4) by a 44-41 score after finding the winning TD with just 18 seconds left. Kickoff from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium is set for 6 p.m next Saturday. Details about the Salute to Military and First Responders events that will surround the game will be announced Monday.
 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Slippery Rock scored the first points of the game with a TD pass from Garry to Raye on the opening possession of the game, but had the PAT blocked to lead 6-0. Gannon marched down the field with a 75-yard drive, all of it coming on the ground, to take the lead 7-6 less than five minutes into the game. It marked the first time all season that SRU had trailed in a game.
 
Both defenses settled in the rest of the opening quarter and no more points would be scored until early in the second quarter, when the shootout really began. Slippery Rock scored on three-straight drives and Gannon scored on two straight drives, including one with just eight seconds left in the first half to send it to the break with SRU leading 27-20.
 
Gannon kept that momentum going early in the third with its third straight scoring drive, but missed the PAT for the second time in the game to keep SRU in front 27-26. The first lead change of the second half came when the Golden Knights scored on their fourth straight possession, a 24-yard TD pass to Law, that made the score 32-27 after a failed 2-point try.
 
Slippery Rock wasted no time in answering when Johnson took the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a TD to make it 33-32 in favor of SRU after The Rock's 2-point try failed.
 
Gannon answered the call again, this time with a 51-yard TD reception by Jones that made it 38-33 with 14:48 to play in the fourth after another 2-point try failed.
 
Slippery Rock answered right back when Garry connected with Johnson for the third time in the game, this time from 16 yards out, to make it 39-38 in favor of SRU with 12:02 to play. The 2-point try was unsuccessful again for The Rock.
 
Gannon fumbled the next kickoff after Bridgeforth forced the ball loose and Sample covered it on the Gannon 27-yard line. The Rock offense stalled, but Jake Chapla booted a 43-yard field goal to extend the lead to 42-38 with 10:11 to play.
 
Both teams punted on their next possessions before Gannon got the ball back with just under three minutes to go. The Golden Knights needed just one play as Jones broke free for 76 yards for his fifth TD of the game, putting Gannon up 45-42 with 2:38 to play.
 
Four plays later, Garry hit Johnson in stride down the left sideline for a 73-yard TD that would prove to be the game-winning points after The Rock defense held on fourth and two with 40 seconds left on their own 29-yard line.
 

NOTES: Shawn Lutz improves to 11-4 as SRU's head coach … SRU won its fourth straight game over Gannon to improve to 7-6 in the all-time series … Tanner Garry's 518 passing yards are the second most in a game in SRU history, trailing only the 527 yards for Don King III last year against East Stroudsburg on Nov. 12, 2016 … the four receiving TD for Marcus Johnson ties his own school record for a single game after he also had four against ESU last year … that record is also a tie with Devin Goda, who had four TD against Lock Haven in 2011 … the 25 passing first downs for SRU against Gannon is a new single-game school record, topping the 22 against Lock Haven last season … SRU had three receivers (Marcus Johnson, Milly Raye, Andrew Bridgeforth) with more than 100 receiving yards in a game for the first time since Sept. 7, 2013 at Northwood (Ken Amos, Jaimire Dutrieuille, John Schademan) … Marcus Johnson's two kickoff return TDs this season are the first time an SRU player has had more than one in a season since DJ Flick had three in 2000 … Marcus Martin had a half-tackle for loss to bring his Division II career record up to 80.0 TFL … he was held without a sack for the first time in a game this season and remains 6.5 sacks off the NCAA all-division record of 53.5 … The six catches for 115 yards are both career-highs for Andrew Bridgeforth … Tanner Garry is up to 10th on the SRU single-season TD ledger with 16 TD passes after just four games … Marcus Johnson's 8 receiving TDs are tied for 8th on the single-season ledger at SRU … Milly Raye now has 141 catches for 1,918 yards and 20 TD in his career … he ranks fourth all-time at SRU in catches, seventh in yards and tied for fourth in TDs … Johnson now has 1,556 yards and 22 TD catches in his career to rank 11th in yardage and second in TD catches on the career ledger …  Jake Chapla made his 14th career field goal (13th all-time at SRU) and has now made 60 career PAT kicks (10th all-time at SRU) … The 399 rushing yards allowed by SRU are the most allowed by an SRU defense in a game since IUP ran for 388 in 2012 … the SRU defense allowed just 907 rushing yards in 11 total games last year … Gannon rushed for 44 percent of that total Saturday.
 


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