GREENSBURG, Pa. – The 12th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team overcame sloppy weather and a slow start to pull away for a 35-14 win at Seton Hill University Saturday in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division opener from a windy and rainy Offutt Field.
 
The Rock improve to 4-0 for the fourth straight year and open the PSAC West divisional schedule at 1-0 heading into a showdown next Saturday at home against preseason PSAC West favorite Indiana (Pa.). Seton Hill slips to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in PSAC games.
 
The Griffins opened the game by recovering an onside kick after catching SRU off-guard on the opening play of the game. The momentum was short lived, however, as Max Heckert and Munchie Johnson combined to force a fumble that Johnson recovered, leading to a short field and setting up a nine-yard TD pass from Brayden Long to Logan Ramper that put The Rock up 7-0 just 1:42 into the game.
 
Seton Hill returned the favor when Long threw his first career interception on his 136th career pass attempt, setting the Griffins up at the SRU eight-yard line. SHU punched it in a few plays later to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:15 to play in the first.
 
It was all Slippery Rock from there as the SRU offense put together long sustained drives and scored the next 28 points to put the game away. Included in those drives was an 80-yard drive that took just 46 seconds to end the opening half and a 16-play, 97-yard drive that took 8:59 off the clock to start the third quarter.
 
Slippery Rock finished the game with 346 yards of total offense and saw its perfect red-zone streak come to an end after taking a few knees inside the red zone in the final two minutes with the outcome already decided. Seton Hill managed just 172 yards of total offense on 54 plays. The Rock threw for 213 yards and ran for 133 yards, while Seton Hill threw for 68 yards and ran for 104 yards. Both teams struggled with penalties and combined for 25 enforced penalties for 253 total yards with each team recording at least 100 yards in penalties.
 
Long bounced back from a slow start and finished the game 20-of-35 for 213 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed in for one TD to account for four of the team's five scores on the day.
 
Kyle Sheets caught nine passes for 85 yards and one touchdown and Cohen Russell added five catches for 57 yards and one score. Ramper caught a TD pass for the fourth straight game and finished with two catches for 17 yards.
 
Chris D'Or was the leading rusher with 93 yards on 13 carries and he also caught a 17-yard pass that set up a touchdown. Isaiah Edwards added 19 yards and one score and Khalid Dorsey rushed for 14 yards.
 
Heckert finished the game with one forced fumble and one interception, the first of his career, to go along with five total tackles. Kyle Kudla led the defensive effort with eight total tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. Josh Stokes added eight tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss while primarily covering SHU's top receiver, Mark Bails Jr. Bails was limited to three catches for five total yards.
 
Seton Hill QB Hayden Teska completed 14-of-28 passes for 68 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Ky'Ron Craggette led the ground game with 73 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to rival Indiana (Pa.), with the Crimson Hawks set to visit Mihalik-Thompson Stadium next Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff between the No. 1 (IUP) and No. 2 (SRU) picks in the PSAC West preseason poll. The game will be televised live by WKBN-TV. Complete game notes will be available by Wednesday.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock improved to 12-2 all-time against Seton Hill and won its seventh straight game in the series … SRU won its 26th straight game that kicked off at 3 p.m. or later … SRU played in its 43rd straight game as a ranked team … Shawn Lutz improved to 62-17 as head coach … SRU won its first road game of the year for the fourth straight season and won its first PSAC game for the seventh straight year … SRU is now 29-2 against the PSAC West in its last 31 divisional games … Brayden Long saw his career streak without an INT come to an end on his 136th career pass attempt … Long threw for at least three TDs for the third straight week … Kyle Sheets caught a TD for the third straight week … Logan Ramper caught a TD for the fourth straight week … SRU lost the coin toss for the fourth straight week and is now 4-0 in games in which it loses the toss this season … Munchie Johnson started his 29th straight game at SRU … Selvin Haynes started his team-high 35th career game … SRU defeated Seton Hill to open PSAC West play for the fifth straight season.
 



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