ERIE, Pa. – The 10th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to pull away for a 49-24 victory on the road at Gannon University Saturday in a first place battle in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.
 
The Rock improve to 7-0 overall and stay atop the PSAC West with a 4-0 mark in the division. Gannon sees its three-game winning streak snapped and slips to 3-4 overall and 3-1 in PSAC West action.
 
The Golden Knights put a scare into Slippery Rock in the first half on a rainy, windy and cold day in Erie when they broke off touchdown runs of 53 and 63 yards in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead.
 
The Rock answered with a pair of touchdown drives that were capped by terrific catches in the end zone from Kyle Sheets to level the score at 14-14 with 12:34 to play in the second quarter.
 
After Brayden Long tossed just the second interception of his career, Gannon retook the lead with a short TD run that made it 21-14 with just 48 seconds left in the half.
 
Slippery Rock got the ball at its own 27-yard line with just over 40 seconds to play and found a way to tie the game before half, completely flipping the momentum. The Rock marched down to the Gannon 35-yard line with five seconds left and attempted a Hail Mary that was intercepted, but Gannon's defensive end was whistled offside. That gave SRU one untimed down from the Gannon 30-yard line. Long threw a perfect ball into double coverage and Sheets made a leaping catch in the end zone to tie the game at 21-21 with his third TD of the half.
 
Gannon ran for 197 yards in the first half and put up 252 yards of total offense on the way to putting up 21 points and taking the game to break tied at 21-21.
 
The Golden Knights put together another long drive on their first possession of the second half, but stalled at the seven-yard line and had to settle for a short field goal to retake the lead 24-21 with 6:38 to play in the third.
 
From there, it was all Slippery Rock. The Rock defense slammed the door and allowed zero points the final 21:38 while holding Gannon to just 15 total yards of offense during that 21:38.
 
Kam Kruzelyak gave SRU the lead for good with a 17-yard TD catch that made it 28-24 with 1:50 to play in the third.
 
SRU came up with three takeaways late in the game with Eddie Faulkner IV forcing a sack-fumble that was recovered by Cottrell Hatchett, Ali Abdul-Hakim intercepting a pass and Andrew Miller making a heads up play to recover a kickoff that was held up in the wind and landed as a free ball.
 
Offensively, The Rock wore down the Gannon defense and went to the ground late in the game with bruising back Isaiah Edwards and speedy backs Khalid Dorsey and Chris D'Or all finding the end zone to put the game away with a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 446-359 advantage in total offense after passing for 263 yards and rushing for 183 yards. Gannon ran for 224 yards and threw for 135 yards with most of that coming in the first half. The Rock defense limited Gannon to just 27 net rushing yards in the second half after 197 in the first half.
 
Long had his toughest outing of the year in the wind and rain, but still finished with a stat line better than most could have mustered in those conditions. He completed 23-of-37 pass attempts for 263 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He has now thrown 22 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season.
 
Sheets was the game-breaker for Slippery Rock with his three touchdowns in the first half. He finished with seven catches for 134 yards and the three scores, marking his second game this season with three TD catches. Cohen Russell added six catches for 56 yards, Kruzelyak had three catches for 31 yards and a score and Tony Grimes caught four passes for 27 yards.
 
Edwards rushed for 82 yards and one touchdown on just eight carries, averaging 8.2 yards per rush thanks to a career-high 50-yard scamper. Dorsey ran for 71 yards and one touchdown and D'Or chipped in 10 yards and one TD. Long also ran for 22 yards to finish with 285 yards of total offense.
 
Faulkner finished with five tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Josh Stokes added seven stops while Ben Lane, Selvin Haynes and Andrew Vince all had six tackles. Vince added 1.5 tackles for loss, as did Jalen Dangerfield, who finished with five total tackles.
 
Gannon was paced by QB Nate Mikell, who completed 12-of-32 passes for 135 yards with one interception while also rushing for 48 yards and two scores. Donny Marcus added 108 rushing yards on 20 carries.
 
After back-to-back road games in Erie the last two weeks, Slippery Rock will now shift its focus to Homecoming next Saturday against California (Pa.). The Vulcans entered this week tied with SRU atop the PSAC West standings, setting up what will likely be the most important game in terms of deciding the division winner. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. next Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its ninth straight game against Gannon and is now 17-0 in its last 17 games against the two schools in Erie after winning its eighth straight against Mercyhurst last week … SRU improved to 7-0 for the second time in the last four seasons and just the fourth time in program history (2019, 1939, 1924) … SRU played its 46th straight game as a ranked team … SRU has now scored at least 40 points in six straight games against Gannon … The Rock won their first coin toss of the year and snapped a streak of 11 straight losses in the opening coin toss … Shawn Lutz improved to 65-17 as SRU head coach … Slippery Rock went 4-5 in red zone scoring chances, failing to score a TD in the red zone for the first time all season when trying to score … The Rock are now 32-of-34 in red zone TDs with one of those being a kneel down at the end of a game … Kyle Sheets matched his career-high with three TD catches and now has 11 TD catches in the last six games after missing the opener … Sheets' 11 TD grabs rank eighth in single-season history at SRU … his 23 career receiving TDs move him up to No. 6 all-time at SRU … Brayden Long's four TD passes give him 22 on the year, which is 10th all-time in single-season history at SRU … Long threw his second career INT Saturday and now has 23 career TD passes and just two INT on 252 career attempts … SRU did not allow a passing TD Saturday and has allowed just three passing TDs total in seven games.
 
 


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