ERIE, Pa. – The 10th ranked Slippery Rock University football team outscored Mercyhurst University 34-0 in the third quarter to run away with a 75-31 win on the road Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game from Saxon Stadium.
 
Slippery Rock picks up its eighth straight win in the series against the Lakers and improves to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in PSAC West games with the victory. Mercyhurst slips to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in PSAC West games.
 
The Rock wasted little time in putting a damper on the Homecoming Saturday for the Lakers after Savion Harrison forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and Ben Lane jumped on the recovery at the Mercyhurst 22-yard line. Isaiah Edwards rushed in a few plays later to give The Rock an early lead.
 
That would be an indication of what was to come as Mercyhurst would fumble away two more kickoffs in the game with Lane recovering all three. SRU turned all three of those, plus a pair of interceptions, into five touchdowns on five turnovers while running away late in the game.
 
Before that though, the Lakers moved the ball in big chunks in the first half and trailed 35-24 at the break after kicking a field goal on the final play of the half. Mercyhurst put up 297 yards of total offense and ran for 142 yards in the first half while putting a brief scare into SRU.
 
That all changed in the third quarter when SRU put together one of the most lopsided periods in program history. The Rock outscored the Lakers 34-0 with five touchdowns in the third period. SRU took advantage of a third lost fumble on a kickoff and came down with interceptions from Eddie Faulkner IV and Ali Abdul-Hakim and the offense cashed in with touchdown drives after each turnover. In total, The Rock scored touchdowns on nine of their first 10 drives in the game.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with a 469-418 edge in total offense with 258 passing yards and 211 rushing yards, marking the fourth game this season with 200 or more rushing yards. Mercyhurst threw for 197 yards and ran for 221 yards.
 
Brayden Long completed 22-of-27 passes for 224 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Zaire Hart-Hawkins also saw his first meaningful action and completed all three of his pass attempts for 34 yards with one touchdown, which went to Reis Watkins for his first career TD reception since switching to the tight end position.
 
Kyle Sheets caught six passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns. Cohen Russell added five catches for 86 yards and one TD and Kam Kruzelyak chipped in six catches for 43 yards and one score.
 
Chris D'Or ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries. Khalid Dorsey added 53 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, Isaiah Edwards rushed for two TDs and 38 yards on just two carries and Luke McCoy ran for 50 yards and one TD.
 
Kylon Wilson had an 88-yard kickoff return that nearly went the distance before he was stopped at the three-yard line and Tony Grimes had a 64-yard punt return that also nearly went the distance before he was stopped at the one-yard line.
 
Max Heckert and Michael Henwood each tallied six tackles to pace the defense. Andrew Vince had 1.0 tackle for loss and Abdul-Hakim also had one TFL to go with an interception. Harrison, Malik Holbert and Dominic Martinka all forced one fumble with Lane recovering all three.
 
Mercyhurst was paced by running back Jaylen Butera with 204 rushing yards and three touchdowns and 43 receiving yards. Adam Urena completed 21-of-32 passes for 197 yards with one TD and two INT.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to a second straight trip to Erie with a noon game at Gannon University next Saturday, Oct. 14.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its eighth straight game in the series with Mercyhurst and improved to 6-0 overall for the third time in the last four seasons … SRU improved to 31-2 against the PSAC West in its last 33 games against the Division … Shawn Lutz improved to 64-17 as SRU head coach … SRU rushed for more than 200 yards for the fourth time this season … SRU did not turn the ball over for the fourth time this season … SRU took the ball away a season-high five times … SRU put up a season-high 75 points which marked the most against Mercyhurst in 15 total meetings against the Lakers … the previous high against Mercyhurst was 58 points in 2013 … Kyle Sheets caught two TD passes to give him eight in the last five games … SRU played its 45th straight game as a ranked team … Brayden Long is now completing 71.2 percent of his passes for 1,554 yards with 18 TDs and just one INT ... Long has thrown only one career INT on 188 career pass attempts ... SRU missed two PAT kicks with one blocked and one missed … it marked the first missed PATs of the season ... the 75 points scored by SRU are tied for the 8th most in program history ... it is the fourth time since 2015 that SRU has scored 75 or more points in a game ... the 106 total points scored in the game are the third most in any game SRU has ever played in trailing only the 65-59 win over Notre Dame (Ohio) in 2019 (124 pts) and the 77-38 win over Seton Hill in 2017 (115 pts).
 



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