SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University football team reeled off 48 unanswered points to pull away for a 54-19 win over Shippensburg University Saturday night from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The victory improves The Rock to 2-0 on the year and marks the 14th straight season in which the program has won its first home game of the year. It also marked the 15th straight victory in a home night game for SRU. Shippensburg slipped to 0-2 with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock went three-and-out on the first offensive series and Shippensburg answered by marching down the field to take a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. The Red Raiders tacked on a field goal with 3:59 to play in the first quarter to lead 10-0.
 
From there, The Rock slammed the door and reeled off 48 unanswered points to blow the game open. SRU outscored Shippensburg 27-0 over the final 15:27 of the first half to lead 27-10 at the break and then tacked on two more third quarter touchdowns and a third straight second half TD to open the fourth quarter.
 
Shippensburg's offense got back on the board in the fourth quarter with a touchdown with 2:12 to play and a blocked PAT returned for two points with 1:16 left, which came after Nassir Weaver broke off a 75-yard TD run to cap the night for SRU.
 
Slippery Rock put up 616 yards of offense, topping the 600-yard mark in a game for the first time since Nov. 4, 2017 against Seton Hill. The Rock threw for 411 yards and rushed for 205 yards. Shippensburg put up 345 yards of offense with 300 passing yards and 45 rushing yards.
 
Quarterback Roland Rivers III put up his second straight exceptional effort to start the season, completing 25-of-34 passes for 369 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Through two games, he has completed 75 percent of his passes for 774 yards and 10 touchdowns with no turnovers. Andrew Koester played the majority of the fourth quarter and threw one pass, a 42-yard touchdown to Qaadir Dixon.
 
Henry Litwin and Jermaine Wynn Jr. both went for more than 100 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns for the second straight week. Litwin caught nine passes for 150 yards and two scores and Wynn grabbed seven passes for 133 yards and two scores. Dixon caught four passes for 65 yards and one highlight reel TD and Cinque Sweeting caught four passes for 57 yards.
 
Weaver finished up as the leading rusher for SRU with 77 yards after breaking a game-high 75-yarder late. Charles Snorweah rushed for 58 yards on 14 carries and DeSean Dinkins rushed for 24 yards and one touchdown.
 
The Rock defense came up with three takeaways on the night, with Brad Zaffram and Dalton Holt each recording one interception and Garrett de Bien forcing one fumble that was recovered by Wilford Clark. Zaffram finished with six tackles, one tackle for loss, four QB hurries and one pass breakup. Holt led the team with seven total tackles. Terrell Gabriel and Tim Vernick each had six stops and Chad Kuhn, Gavin Vargesko and de Bien each had one sack.
 
Shippensburg QB Brycen Mussina completed 11-of-26 passes for 157 yards with one TD and two interceptions before leaving the game in the second half. Max DeVinney completed 11-of-19 passes for 143 yards and one TD. Winston Eubanks caught six passes for 111 yards and one TD.
 
Slippery Rock will look to improve to 3-0 with another home night game set for next Saturday evening when Millersville visits for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
 
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock won its home opener for the 14th straight year and won its 15th straight home night game … The Rock are now 23-1 in home night games since 2010 and 34-9 at home under the lights since they were installed in 2003 … Roland Rivers III threw for 369 yards with four TD and no INT to mark two straight games with at least 350 passing yards, four passing TD and no turnovers … Rivers is now up to 38 passing TDs in 14 career games at SRU, good for fifth on the all-time ledger at The Rock … his 3,495 passing yards are the seventh most in program history … Henry Litwin and Jermaine Wynn Jr. both went over 100 receiving yards in the same game for the second straight week and both had two TD catches for the second straight week … Kicker Jake Chapla extended his SRU career field goal record to 41 with kicks of 48 and 23 yards … he also booted six PAT kicks to extend his career record to 172 … Chapla now has 292 career points and sits second all-time at SRU, closing in on the all-time program scoring record of 318 points … Head coach Shawn Lutz improved to 28-10.



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