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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 20th ranked Slippery Rock University football team scored on the opening kickoff and led wire-to-wire in a 31-17 win over Mercyhurst University Saturday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock bounced back from their first loss of the season to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in PSAC West games. Mercyhurst drops a fourth straight game after opening the season with a pair of wins to slip to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in PSAC West action.
 
Slippery Rock needed just 13 seconds to take the lead for good Saturday night when Jawon Hall took the opening kickoff 97 yards for the first return touchdown of the season to put The Rock out front 7-0.
 
DJ Opsatnik kicked a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter and Noah Grover connected with Kyle Sheets on a 16-yard touchdown midway through the second as SRU opened up a 17-0 lead.
 
Mercyhurst stopped the bleeding and got on the board with a field goal from Brian Alsobrooks to send it to halftime with SRU leading 17-3.
 
The Lakers managed just 72 total yards of offense in the first half, but came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, taking the opening possession 83 yards and scoring on a short touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 17-10 with 11:24 to play in the third.

Slippery Rock responded with its own long drive, going 67 yards on 12 plays and scoring with a 16-yard TD pass from Grover to Hall to make it 24-10 with 6:11 to play in the third.
 
Mercyhurst connected on a deep pass down the middle on the next series and punched in a one-yard touchdown run to answer the SRU drive and cut the margin to 24-17 with 3:51 to play in the third.
 
The Rock defense slammed the door from there, coming up with two interceptions in the fourth quarter and not allowing any more points. The offense put the game away with a six-yard TD pass from Grover to Max Maciejewski with 11:08 to play.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 403-273 advantage in total yards with a balanced offensive attack. The Rock ran for 200 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per carry on 44 carries while also throwing for 203 yards. Mercyhurst was limited to just 31 rushing yards on 19 carries for 1.9 yards per carry. The Lakers threw for 242 yards on 45 attempts, which marked the most passing yards allowed by SRU this season.
 
Grover finished the game an efficient 24-of-30 for 203 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He connected with 10 different receivers in the game, including six players that grabbed at least two passes.
 
Hall finished with three catches for 28 yards and one score to go along with 116 kickoff return yards, a 97-yard kick return TD and a 10-yard rush for 154 all-purpose yards. Sheets caught six passes for 70 yards and one touchdown and Maciejewski caught four passes for 14 yards and one score. Cohen Russell added three catches for 46 yards and finished with 110 all-purpose yards with 52 kickoff return yards and 12 punt return yards.
 
Starting running back Chris D'Or only played a few snaps before sitting the rest of the game with a minor injury. That paved the way for Isaiah Edwards, Chris Wells and Tim Smith to split the load the rest of the way. Wells gained 70 yards on 10 carries, Edwards racked up 68 yards on 15 carries and Smith ran for 38 yards on eight touches.
 
The Rock defense came up with four sacks, five tackles for loss, nine QB hurries and two interceptions. Brandon Tuck-Hayden finished with a team-high nine tackles and one forced fumble, while D.J. Adediwura spent most of his night in the backfield and finished with 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and four additional QB hurries. Jeff Marx tallied 2.0 sacks and Cottrell Hatchett added a half-sack. Ali Abdul-Hakim and Jalen Dangerfield both pulled down second half interceptions.
 
Mercyhurst QB Joe Carter made his first start of the season and went 23-of-45 for 242 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Cameron Barmore caught the one TD toss, while Justin Hill Jr. grabbed seven passes for 76 yards and Trevon Tate caught five passes for 95 yards. Dustin Shoaf led the ground game with 23 yards and one touchdown.
 
Saturday's game was the annual Hall of Fame Game at Slippery Rock, with The Rock inducting its Hall of Fame Class of 2022 in a ceremony earlier in the day. Former football players Brandon Fusco and LaMonte Coleman were among the seven-person class to be inducted.
 
Slippery Rock will stay home next week for a second straight home game and will welcome 5-1 Gannon for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday for The Rock's annual Homecoming game. Gannon will enter the game tied with IUP for first place in the PSAC West with a 3-0 record in divisional games.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its 28th straight night game and has not lost a game that kicked at 4 p.m. or later since Sept. 29, 2012 … The Rock won their 21st straight home night game and improved to 29-1 at home under the lights since 2010 … SRU won its seventh straight game in the series with Mercyhurst to improve to 10-4 all-time against the Lakers and 6-0 at home in the series … SRU head coach Shawn Lutz improved to 53-15 as head coach … SRU improved to 45-5 at home since the beginning of the 2013 season … Jawon Hall's 97-yard kickoff return TD to open the game marked the first return TD of any kind in any game SRU has played in this year (kickoff, punt, fumble or interception) … DT Jeff Marx started his 40th career game at SRU … no other player on the roster has started more than 28 games at SRU … Chris Wells (70 yards) and Isaiah Edwards (55 yards) both ran for SRU career-highs … Noah Grover's three TD passes give him 32 on his career at SRU and move him up to No. 8 all-time at The Rock … Grover started his 10th career game Saturday … he now has 3,309 passing yards to move up to No. 10 all-time in career passing yardage at SRU.




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