MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University football team cruised to a 45-14 win on the road at Millersville University Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover game from Biemesderfer Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 3-0 for the third straight season and will enter PSAC West divisional play next week with an unblemished record. Millersville drops to 0-3 on the season.
 
The Marauders took advantage of an early turnover by Slippery Rock in the red zone and connected on a 68-yard touchdown pass to put a jolt into the stadium and take a 7-0 lead just four minutes into the game.
 
From there, Slippery Rock slammed the door and reeled off 28 unanswered points to take a 28-7 lead at halftime. The Rock defense was dominant over the remainder of the opening half, holding Millersville to just 16 total yards in the second quarter.
 
SRU put the game out of reach with a methodical drive to open the second half, marching 75 yards on 16 plays and eating more than nine minutes off the game clock before Noah Grover hit Max Maciejewski for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 35-7.
 
The Rock defense limited Millersville to just 76 total yards of offense over the final 45 minutes of game clock, including just 60 yards in the second half.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with advantages of 571-202 in total offense after rushing for 268 yards on 59 attempts and throwing for 303 yards on 25 attempts. Millersville was limited to 42 rushing yards on 21 carries and 160 passing yards on 21 attempts.
 
Noah Grover completed 16-of-24 passes for 289 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions while leading a dominant offense through three quarters before giving way to Brayden Long in the fourth. Long completed his only pass for 14 yards and led a scoring drive for the second unit.
 
Chris D'Or led the ground game with his second straight 100-yard rushing performance with 116 yards on 23 carries for an average of 5.0 yards per carry. Chris Wells rushed for 45 yards and one touchdown on eight carries, Tim Smith rushed for 41 yards on 11 carries and Cohen Russell rushed for 10 yards and one touchdown.
 
Kyle Sheets had his first career 100-yard receiving game to lead the receivers with eight catches for 110 yards with one touchdown. Jacob Odom caught three passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns and Max Maciejewski grabbed three passes for 62 yards and one touchdown.
 
The Rock defense came up with two takeaways with an interception from Brandon Tuck-Hayden and a fumble recovery from Cottrell Hatchett. SRU also had a pick-six from Eddie Faulkner IV erased in the second half after an offsides call on the play.
 
The SRU defense also tallied three sacks on the day with Tuck-Hayden, Jake Miller and Faulkner all coming up with a solo sack. Tuck-Hayden finished with five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Munchie Johnson added four tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss.
 
Saturday's game marked the 10th straight win for Slippery Rock over Millersville.
 
The Rock will look to continue their early season momentum next Saturday when PSAC West play begins with a 6 p.m. home game against Seton Hill.
 
GAME NOTES: Shawn Lutz improved to 51-14 as SRU head coach … SRU won its 10th straight game against Millersville … SRU put up season-highs in rushing offense (268 yards), passing offense (303 yards), total offense (517 yards) and passing touchdowns (4) … Chris D'Or rushed for 116 yards for his second straight game with more than 100 rushing yards … Kyle Sheets had 110 receiving yards for his first career 100-yard game … Jacob Odom caught two touchdown passes for his first TD catches at SRU … Max Maciejewski caught his first TD of the season ... DJ Opsatnik made all six of his PAT kicks to extend his streak to 40 straight made PAT kicks ... Opsatnik also kicked his first sucessful field goal of the season.
 



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