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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The 18th ranked Slippery Rock University football team put together a dominant second half to run away with a 35-14 win on the road at West Chester University Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover action from John Farrell Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 2-0 on the year with the win and improve to 11-9 all-time against West Chester, while the Golden Rams slip to 1-1 with the loss.  
 
Slippery Rock scored on its first possession of the game with a 17-yard TD run from Isaiah Edwards, but didn't manage to find much of a groove on offense the rest of the half. West Chester tied the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter after taking advantage of a poor punt by The Rock, which gave the hosts the ball at the SRU 21-yard line. Shane Dooley rushed in from eight yards out to level the score at 7-7 with 12:31 to play in the second.
 
The Rock took the lead for good just 31 seconds later when Noah Grover hit Kyle Sheets in stride for a 69-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7 with 12:00 to play in the first half.
 
The SRU defense slammed the door from there, allowing just 37 total yards of offense in the second half until West Chester drove 73 yards on its final series against many of the SRU reserve defenders when the outcome was already decided. The Rams tallied just 109 total yards of offense in the second half after that 73-yard drive.
 
Slippery Rock was much more efficient on offense in the second half and finished the day with a 408-253 advantage in total yardage. The Rock ran for 158 yards and threw for 250 yards while limiting West Chester to 110 rushing yards on 39 attempts and 143 passing yards on 27 attempts.
 
Noah Grover completed 19-of-32 passes for 250 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for one touchdown for his second straight game with a rushing score.
 
Chris D'Or led the ground game with the first 100-yard game of his career and finished with 108 rushing yards with one touchdown while also grabbing three passes for 19 yards. Isaiah Edwards ran for 51 yards and one score on just nine carries and Chris Wells also added one rushing touchdown.
 
Kyle Sheets finished with four catches for 95 yards and one touchdown. Cohen Russell grabbed four passes for 42 yards, Jawon Hall pulled down three passes for 47 yards and Jacob Odom caught three passes for 42 yards.
 
The Rock defense came up with four sacks and two interceptions with Jalen Dangerfield and Jacob Williams both coming up with takeaways in the passing game. Munchie Johnson led the defense with eight tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and a half-sack. Brandon Tuck-Hayden also had eight stops with 2.5 tackles for loss. D.J. Adediwura finished with six total stops with a solo sack. Cottrell Hatchett and Jake Miller each had one solo sack and Jeff Marx picked up a half-sack and finished with 1.0 tackle for loss.
 
Saturday's victory improved The Rock to 16-1 in their last 17 games against PSAC East schools in the early season mandated crossovers with the only loss in that stretch coming during week two in 2018 at Shippensburg.
 
Slippery Rock will look to increase that to 17-1 next Saturday with a noon kickoff on the road at Millersville in the final early season crossover before divisional play begins Sept. 24.
 
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock head coach Shawn Lutz won his 50th career game in the second game of his sixth season on the sideline, becoming the fastest coach in program history to 50 wins … Lutz is now 50-14 in his head coaching career … Slippery Rock improved to 11-9 all-time against West Chester in the first meeting between the teams since the 2018 PSAC title game … Running back Chris D'Or topped 100 rushing yards for the first time in his SRU career.




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