Division II Playoff Bracket

WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The seventh seeded Slippery Rock University football team scored touchdowns on its first seven offensive possessions and rolled to a convincing 59-20 win on the road at sixth seeded University of New Haven Saturday in the second round of the NCAA playoffs.
 
Slippery Rock improves to 11-2 on the year and advances to the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs. The Rock will travel to No. 1 seed Notre Dame (Ohio) for the regional final next Saturday, Dec. 1, after the Falcons held off Hillsdale for a 19-14 win Saturday. New Haven becomes the second team from the Northeast-10 Conference to be knocked out of the playoffs by SRU and finishes its season with a 9-3 overall record.
 
The New Haven offense used nearly half of the first quarter clock on its opening possession before turning the ball over on downs. Slippery Rock wasted little time in jumping out to a lead it would never relinquish. Wes Hills rushed in from three yards out with 3:08 to play in the first and the rout was on.
 
Slippery Rock would score on all five of its offensive possessions in the opening half, including a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mike Merhaut with just six seconds left after SRU got the ball back inside of one minute to play with good field position after a big return from Jermaine Wynn Jr. That tally sent the game to halftime with SRU leading 35-10.
 
The Rock poured it on with a 39-yard TD run from Hills on the first possession of the second half and New Haven could never manage to get back into the game.
 
Slippery Rock put up 526 yards of total offense with a perfectly balanced attack that included 263 rushing and passing yards. New Haven managed 379 yards of total offense with 108 rushing yards and 271 passing yards.
 
Hills put together arguably his most dominant performance of the season to lead the ground attack. He rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns on just 23 carries for an average of 8.2 yards per carry before being pulled late in the third quarter. Braden Fochtman took over at running back and rushed for 41 yards and one score.
 
Roland Rivers III had struggled in each of the last two weeks, but bounced back in a big way Saturday with a near flawless performance in leading the offense. He completed 18-of-24 passes for 249 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing for 34 yards.
 
Rivers III completed passes to seven different players, led by Henry Litwin with five catches for 88 yards and one touchdown. Merhaut caught four passes for 57 yards and one score. Wynn caught four passes for 54 yards, Aramis Alexander caught three balls for 35 yards and one score and Dakota Clanagan caught two passes, including a 20-yard TD.
 
Wynn and Mark Carter were dynamic in the return game, setting up SRU with excellent field position all day. Carter averaged 42 yards on kickoff returns and Wynn added 69 yards on three punt returns.
 
The Rock defense was paced by Tim Vernick with six total stops and one pass breakup. Brad Zaffram and Tyree Spearman each recorded five tackles and a pass breakup and Eric Glover-Williams recorded four tackles and picked off one pass, which he returned 46 yards.
 
Jake Chapla was perfect on the day, making eight extra points and his only field goal attempt from 32 yards.
 
New Haven was led by quarterback Ajee Patterson with 271 passing yards and two rushing touchdowns to go along with 32 yards on the ground.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to the regional final, which will mark the second time in the last four years SRU has advanced to the regional title game. Game time and more information about the game, including potential fan buses, will be available early next week.
 
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock wins its second road playoff game in program history after entering this year at 0-6 in Division II playoff road games … SRU improves to 7-6 all-time in Division II playoff games … The Rock's 11 wins this year are the third most in program history behind two 12-2 seasons … SRU is the only No. 7 seed in the DII playoffs to reach the quarterfinals this year … the next lowest seed in the third round is a No. 3 seed … (all four No. 1 seeds advanced, two No. 2 seeds, one No. 3 seed and No. 7 SRU) … Wes Hills rushed for 188 yards to bring his season total to 1,560 yards in just 10 full games .. he moved all the way up to No. 2 on the SRU single-season ledger and is now just 41 yards shy of the single-season rushing record of 1,601 yards (LaMonte Coleman in 1994) … Hills has rushed for 167 or more yards in five of the last six games … Hills now has 16 rushing TD, the fifth most at SRU for a single-season … Roland Rivers III increased his season totals to 2,544 passing yards and 27 TD to move up to sixth in yards and fourth in TD passes on the SRU single-season ledgers … Jake Chapla extended his single-season record for made field goals to 16 and his career record to 38 made field goals … his 11 points give him 112 points this year and 270 career points, moving him up to third all-time in career scoring in SRU history … he also becomes the all-time scoring leader in program history for a kicker, topping Morgan Anderson's 266 points … SRU did not punt one time in the game Saturday.



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