SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The ninth ranked Slippery Rock University football team jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and never trailed in a 45-42 thrilling Homecoming victory over 16th ranked rival Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The victory improves The Rock to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division games, keeping SRU in first place in the division with its 12th consecutive PSAC West win. Indiana drops to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in PSAC West games.
 
Slippery Rock opened the scoring with a 61-yard drive on its second offensive possession after both teams punted on their opening series'. DeSean Dinkins rushed in from two yards out to put SRU up 7-0 with 10:35 to play in the first.
 
SRU added seven more points less than a minute later when Trysten McDonald intercepted IUP quarterback Quinton Maxwell and returned it five yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0 with 9:45 to play in the first.
 
Jake Chapla tacked on a 26-yard field goal with 3:54 left in the opening period to give Slippery Rock a 17-0 lead after the first quarter.
 
Indiana got on the board with a 50-yard drive that took just 1:14 and was capped by a Justice Evans 10-yard run to make it 17-7 with 14:28 to play in the first half.
 
Slippery Rock answered with a pair of touchdown drives, first scoring with a Roland Rivers III 12-yard QB keeper and then adding a 29-yard run from Dinkins on fourth down to make it 31-7 with 3:45 to play in the half.
 
IUP capitalized on a third down pass interference call on SRU in the end zone on its next series and scored on the next play when Duane Brown grabbed a two-yard shovel pass from Maxwell to make it 31-14 at halftime.
 
The Crimson Hawks got the ball to open the second half and marched 75 yards for a second straight touchdown drive, this time with Maxwell hitting Dom McNeil from eight yards out to make it 31-21 with 11:38 to play in the third.
 
Slippery Rock answered that drive in just 28 seconds when Rivers hit Jermaine Wynn Jr. for a 38-yard TD strike that put SRU out front 38-21 with 11:03 to play in the third.
 
Indiana continued its second half rally by scoring on its third straight drive with Maxwell connecting with McNeil from 17 yards out with 8:49 to play in the third to make it 38-28. The visitors closed the gap even further early in the fourth quarter when JoJo Gause caught a 17-yard TD pass on a jump-ball from Maxwell to make it 38-35 with 8:35 to play.
 
The ensuing Rock drive would put the game away as Slippery Rock put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate 7:05 off the clock. Charles Snorweah cashed in the most impressive drive of the game with a 12-yard touchdown run to put SRU up 45-35 with just 1:30 to play. Two huge plays from Rivers made that game-sealing drive a reality. Early in that possession, SRU faced a fourth and one from their own 45-yard line. Rivers took the snap under center and plunged forward for the first down on a gutsy call from SRU head coach Shawn Lutz. Later on the drive, on third and seven from the IUP 40-yard line, Rivers appeared to be headed towards a sack for a big loss, but evaded three tacklers in the backfield and escaped to find a diving Cinque Sweeting for a first down to extend the drive. Three plays later, Snorweah found pay dirt for the winning points.
 
IUP went 65 yards in 11 plays and scored on its final possession with a one-yard Maxwell TD rush, but SRU recovered the final onside kick attempt with nine seconds left to seal the victory.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 410 yards of total offense with 230 rushing yards and 180 passing yards. The Rock averaged 5.2 yards per carry on 44 attempts. Indiana put up 456 yards of total offense, with 308 of that coming in the second half. The Crimson Hawks threw for 360 yards and rushed for 96 yards.
 
Penalties were an issue for both squads with the teams combining for 24 penalties for 260 yards. SRU took 10 penalties for 125 yards and IUP took 14 penalties for 135 yards. Both teams turned the ball over one time, with each quarterback throwing one interception.
 
Snorweah paced the ground game for Slippery Rock in its most impressive rushing performance of the season. He finished with 123 rushing yards and one touchdown and added two catches for 11 yards. Dinkins rushed for 32 yards and two touchdowns and Rivers added 81 yards and one score on the ground.
 
Rivers completed 15-of-24 passes for 180 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Wynn caught six passes for 76 yards and one touchdown, Sweeting caught five passes for 84 yards and Henry Litwin was limited to two catches for nine yards.
 
The Rock defense was led by Brad Zaffram with eight total tackles, including a game-high 2.0 tackles for loss and one sack. Chad Kuhn also had 2.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack and now has a sack in all six games this season. Selvin Haynes had eight tackles and three pass breakups. Dalton Holt had seven tackles and also had one interception taken away for a flag away from the play.
 
Indiana entered the game ranked second in the nation in sacks per game, but finished with just one sack on Rivers and five total tackles for loss.
 
Maxwell completed 26-of-50 attempts for 360 yards with four touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for one score. McNeil caught 10 passes for a game-high 141 yards and two touchdowns. Brown had 44 receiving yards and one score and Gause had 63 yards and one score. Samir Bullock was the leading rusher for IUP with 71 yards. Damon Lloyd led the defense with 11 total tackles and Nick Amendola added eight stops and grabbed one interception.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to a road trip next Saturday to Edinboro University for a noon kickoff.
 
NOTES: SRU won its second straight game against IUP and improved to 5-2 in its last seven games against its biggest rival … SRU won its 12th consecutive PSAC West game … SRU improved to 26-6 in its last 32 Homecoming games and evened its Homecoming record against IUP at 7-7-1 … SRU is 6-0 to open the year for just the sixth time in program history … SRU improved to 47-7 in home games since 2010 and 34-3 in home games since 2013 ... Roland Rivers III was held under three passing TDs for the first time this season … Rivers threw one TD to bring his season total to 24, tied for the fifth most in a single-season in SRU history … he now has 24 passing TDs and five rushing TDs this season for 29 total touchdowns and just three turnovers … Rivers now has 52 career TD passes in just 18 games at SRU and needs just nine more to set the all-time program record for a career (60) … Jermaine Wynn Jr. caught one TD pass and now has at least one TD catch in every game this season … Henry Litwin was held without a TD catch for the first time this season … Jake Chapla increased his SRU records to 45 made field goals, 198 extra points and 333 total career points … he now needs 29 more points to break the all-time PSAC record for scoring by a kicker (Dan Fisher, Bloomsburg, 361 points) … Chad Kuhn had 1.0 sack in the game and has at least 1.0 sack in every game this season … Trysten McDonald's INT return for a TD was the first defensive TD of the season for SRU … Shawn Lutz improved to 32-10 as SRU head coach.



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