SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University football team wrapped up a sweep of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division with a convincing 48-7 win over Gannon University Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The win improves Slippery Rock to 9-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in PSAC West play, marking the first time The Rock has swept the division since a 6-0 mark in 1999. Gannon drops to 2-8 overall and finishes PSAC West play with a 2-5 record.
 
Slippery Rock put up three points on the first possession of the game before Gannon marched 75 yards to take a 7-3 lead on its first possession early in the first quarter. From there, it was all SRU. Gannon tallied negative 22 yards over its next six drives to close the first half and SRU built a 27-7 lead by the break.
 


The Rock poured it on with 14 more points in the third quarter before pulling the starters late in the period. Gannon's best chance at points was a short field goal attempt, but that was blocked by Mark Carter early in the third.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 506 yards of total offense with a balanced attack of 259 rushing yards and 247 passing yards. The Rock also didn't turn the ball over at all, despite fumbling it three times. Gannon managed 154 passing yards and 49 rushing yards on 41 carries, just one year after the Golden Knights rushed for 399 yards in a tight loss to SRU during the 2017 season.
 
The key for the SRU defense entering the game was to slow down Marcus Jones, who set a PSAC record with 354 rushing yards and four TD against SRU last year. Jones entered the day having rushed for at least 133 yards in each of the last five weeks for a total of 967 yards and 193.4 yards per game. The Rock defense slammed the door on Jones and held him to a season-low 16 total yards on 15 carries.
 
On the other side of the field, Gannon's primary goal was to stop Slippery Rock standout running back Wes Hills, who had rushed for more than 200 yards in back-to-back games entering this week. That task proved more challenging, as Hills rushed for 108 yards and two TD in the first quarter alone and finished up with 207 rushing yards and three TD on just 17 carries for an average of 12.2 yards per carry. Hills becomes the first SRU running back since at least 2002 to rush for more than 200 yards in three straight games and in the process topped the 1,000-yard mark for the season, despite missing basically three full games (played two snaps at Shippensburg). His season total now stands at 1,113 yards.
 
Roland Rivers III improved to 8-0 as the starting quarterback after another solid day in which he completed 16-of-24 passes for 181 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions on a cold, windy and rainy day where passing was difficult. Taylor King played the fourth quarter and was strong in relief, completing 4-of-7 passes for 66 yards.
 
SRU had a total of 10 players catch at least one pass in the game, led by Jermaine Wynn Jr. with four catches for 62 yards and one TD. Mike Merhaut caught three passes for 57 yards and extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch to 20. Kwis Montinard caught two passes for 50 yards and Dakota Clanagan caught the other TD pass from five yards out to close the first half scoring.
 
The Rock defense caused troubles for the Gannon offense all day and finished the game with 15 tackles for loss, four sacks, three forced fumbles and two turnovers. Kyle Hall recorded his 10th career interception and Terrell Gabriel picked up a fumble that was forced by Tim Soave and returned it 57 yards for the final TD of the game late in the fourth quarter, marking his second defensive TD of the year. Soave finished with two sacks, while Brad Zaffram added 1.5 sacks and Zach Bader chipped in a half-sack. Tim Vernick finished with a game-high nine total tackles, while Trysten McDonald finished with seven tackles, 2.5 TFL and one forced fumble.
 
Jake Chapla was 2-for-3 in field goal attempts with makes from 26 and 40 yards and a miss from 42 on a day where kicking was difficult. He also made all six of his PAT kicks and booted four kickoffs for touchbacks. Chapla is now just one field goal shy of tying the SRU career record of 35.
 
Gannon was paced by its third string quarterback, Cody Callaway, who rushed for 34 yards and a touchdown and threw for 154 yards with one interception. Richard Makowski caught two passes for 75 yards, including a 56 yard pass early in the third quarter that set up the short field goal that was blocked.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to hosting the PSAC Championship game next Saturday when undefeated and 11th ranked West Chester will visit Mihalik-Thompson Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
 

NOTES: Slippery Rock finished off a 7-0 sweep of the PSAC West, marking the first sweep of the division for SRU since the 1999 season (6-0) … The Rock won their fifth straight game against Gannon to improve to 8-6 in the all-time series … SRU improved to 44-6 in its last 50 home games and 31-2 at home since the beginning of the 2013 season … Wes Hills ran for 207 yards and three TD in less than three quarters of work for his third straight 200-yard rushing effort … no other player at SRU at least since 2002 (when SRU game-by-game box scores are available from) has rushed for 200 yards in three straight games … Hills also went over 1,000 yards on the year and is now at 1,113 yards, despite missing basically three full games … if you take out the two snaps he played at Shippensburg, Hills is averaging 158.3 rushing yards per game in the seven games he's played more than two plays in this year … he has rushed for 661 yards and eight touchdowns in the last three weeks and has now scored at least one TD in every game he has played, except the Shippensburg game he left after the second play … Roland Rivers III improved to 8-0 as the SRU starting QB … he has thrown for 1,987 yards and 21 TDs with 6 INT in just eight games … Rivers ranks 6th at SRU in single-season TD passes, is up to 11th in single-season passing yards and ranks ninth in single-season total offense (2,424 yards) … Mike Merhaut caught three passes to extend his current streak of games with at least one catch to 20 … Jake Chapla made two field goals to bring his season total to a career-high 12, which ties for fourth all-time at SRU … he also brought his career tally to 34, just one shy of tying CJ Bahr and Morgan Anderson for the career record for made field goals (35) … Chapla has now made 145 career PATs and is now 16 shy of the career record of 161 … Kye Hall recorded his 10th career interception to move up to a tie for 11th all-time at SRU, one shy of moving into a tie for ninth … SRU will host No. 11 West Chester for the PSAC title next Saturday … it marks the fifth PSAC championship game SRU will have played in since 2011, the most in the PSAC.
 
 
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