ERIE, Pa. – The 17th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team fought off a sloppy offensive performance that included six fumbles and an interception to rally back for a 20-17 victory on the road at Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action Saturday from Saxon Stadium.
 
Slippery Rock avoided being upset in back-to-back weeks for the first time since 2017 to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in PSAC West games. Mercyhurst played its best game of the season and came up just short to drop to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in PSAC West games.
 
The hosting Lakers used a trick play on the first play of the day with a pitch-back on the opening kickoff that caught SRU off guard and led to a 78-yard return deep into SRU territory. Mercyhurst capitalized with a passing touchdown two plays later to lead 7-0 just 1:39 into the game.
 
Chris D'Or evened the game at 7-7 with a rushing score with 14:23 to play in the second quarter, but Mercyhurst jumped back out on top 14-7 when SRU fumbled the ball on its own 30-yard line and Jehrod Gregory scooped it up and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 10:33 to play in the half.
 
After the defense shut down Mercyhurst for the rest of the quarter, The Rock would march 68 yards on 10 plays on their final drive of the half, but had to settle for a DJ Opsatnik 30-yard field goal to send it to halftime with SRU trailing 14-10 with three turnovers in the half.
 
The Rock's offensive woes began in the first half and continued nearly all day in the wet and rainy conditions. SRU ended the day with six total fumbles, including three lost fumbles, and one interception for four total turnovers on the day.

Slippery Rock took its first lead of the game with 9:25 to play in the third quarter when Henry Litwin caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Koester to make it 17-14. The catch lifted Litwin over 3,000 career receiving yards at SRU, making him just the second player in program history to top the milestone.
 
Mercyhurst rallied back with its only real sustained offensive possession of the half with a 14-play, 69-yard drive that took 8:59 off the clock to open the fourth quarter, but the Lakers couldn't find the end zone despite having the ball with first and goal at the SRU six-yard line. Mercyhurst settled for a 21-yard field goal to tie the game at 17-17 with 5:11 to play.
 
Slippery Rock put together the decisive drive from there with Noah Grover replacing Koester at the quarterback position. Grover connected on a 21-yard pass to Max Maciejewski and Evyn Holtz rushed for 31 yards on six carries to set up a 30-yard field from Opsatnik with 1:24 to play.
 
The Rock sealed the victory when Isaiah Manning made a diving interception at midfield with 54 seconds left to end the game. Manning's interception was the third pick of the day for The Rock defense, which also got interceptions from Dalton Holt and De'Vijan Franklin.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 343-222 advantage in total offense after throwing for 248 yards and rushing for 95 yards. Mercyhurst passed for 111 yards and ran for 111 yards.
 
Holtz saw his first serious action for SRU after missing the first seven games of the season with an injury. He finished with 73 yards on 12 carries for 6.1 yards per carry and grabbed an eight-yard reception as well.
 
Koester completed 19-of-32 passes for 227 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Grover completed 1-of-2 passes for 21 yards on the final drive.
 
Litwin caught two passes for 53 yards and one touchdown. Jermaine Wynn Jr. caught six passes for 58 yards, Maciejewski caught two passes for 45 yards and Kyle Sheets caught a highlight-reel 32-yard pass over a defender.
 
Opsatnik was perfect in the kicking game, booting two 30-yard field goals and a pair of extra points to account for eight of The Rock's 20 points.
 
Chad Kuhn led the defense with two sacks and a forced fumble to go along with eight total tackles. Peyton Remish had nine stops and one tackle for loss. Selvin Haynes and Tim Vernick each had eight tackles and Holt, Manning and Franklin each recorded one interception.
 
Mercyhurst got 111 passing yards from Joe Carter, who completed 15-of-29 passes with one touchdown and three interceptions. David Alize rushed for 55 yards and Jason Armstrong caught six passes for 32 yards and one score.
 
Slippery Rock's chances at defending its PSAC title got a boost on Saturday after The Rock won as Cal U scored 14 points in the final 100 seconds to come back and beat IUP. If SRU and Cal U both win next week, The Rock's home game Nov. 6 would decide which team goes to the PSAC title game, but both teams must win next week to keep that scenario in play. If SRU, Cal U and IUP all finish with one divisional loss and are 1-1 against each other, SRU would win the tiebreaker.
 
Before The Rock can think about Cal U on Nov. 6, they must shift their focus to another road trip to Erie next Saturday with a noon kickoff at Gannon.
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock fought off a second straight upset to ensure it would not lose two games in a row for the first time since Oct. 14 and Oct. 21, 2017 … The Rock won their sixth straight game over Mercyhurst and fourth straight game at Saxon Stadium … Shawn Lutz improved to 46-12 as SRU head coach … Henry Litwin extended his SRU career record for receiving touchdowns to 37 and brought his career totals to 191 catches for 3,036 yards … he ranks No. 2 at SRU in catches and yards and becomes the second SRU player to ever top 3,000 yards (Greg Hopkins, 215 catches, 3,382 yards) … Jermaine Wynn Jr. moved up to No. 7 all-time at SRU in all-purpose yards with 3,844 yards … Chad Kuhn had 2.0 sacks to increase his career totals to 42.0 tackles for loss and 27.0 sacks … he moves up to No. 3 all-time at SRU in career sacks and No. 5 all-time in tackles for loss … Evyn Holtz saw his first real action at the running back spot after missing the first seven games of the season and led SRU with 73 rushing yards.



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