CALIFORNIA, Pa. – The sixth-ranked Slippery Rock University football team suffered its first regular season loss since 2022 with a 28-7 defeat on the road at California (Pa.) Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game.
 
The Vulcans move into sole possession of first place in the PSAC West and snap a six-game losing skid against Slippery Rock, improving to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in PSAC West action. Slippery Rock drops to 6-1 overall, snaps a 16-game regular season winning streak and now falls into second in the PSAC West standings with a 3-1 record. The loss also snapped a 15-game PSAC West winning streak and was just the third conference loss in the last 41 PSAC West games for SRU dating back to Oct. 21, 2017.
 
Cal scored on the first play from scrimmage with Davis Black hitting an open Eric Willis III down the right sideline for a 65-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-0 just 10 seconds in and set the tone for the rest of the day.  
 
The Vulcans controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball on the way to building a 17-0 lead. They went 75 yards in seven plays and scored with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with 14:53 to play in the second and then tacked on a 41-yard field goal to make it 17-0 with just over nine minutes left in the half.
 
Slippery Rock went to the ground and found its first sustained success in the run game while marching down the field before Brayden Long connected with Kylon Wilson for a 32-yard touchdown pass to stop the Cal run and cut the deficit to 17-7 with 4:51 to play in the half. Neither team would score the rest of the half.
 
Cal finished the first half with a 227-168 advantage in total offense and held the ball for 17:05 to Slippery Rock's 12:55.
 
The Rock got the ball first to open the second half and had a chance to get it back to a one-possession score, but went three-and out before watching Cal march the length of the field and settle for a short field goal to go up 20-7.
 
SRU still had a chance to get back into the game and looked like it was on the way to doing so after Idris Lawrence took control on the next drive with 54 yards on three touches, but SRU threw an interception on the goal line to end a drive in the red zone. Cal used that turnover to put the game away with an 85-yard touchdown drive and a two-point conversion to take a 28-7 lead with 10:59 to play.
 
Cal executed a nearly perfect game plan on both sides of the ball, keeping the ball for 39:10 to SRU's 20:50 and using a balanced rushing and passing attack to rack up 405 yards with 250 passing yards and 155 rushing yards. The Vulcans did not turn the ball over once in the game.
 
Slippery Rock never found any balance on offense and finished the game with just nine total carries by its two running backs, Chris D'Or and Lawrence. The Rock finished with 292 yards of total offense with 282 passing yards and just 10 rushing yards.
 
Long completed 24-of-38 passes for 282 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was also sacked twice to mark just the third and fourth time this season he has been sacked.
 
Lawrence rushed for 33 yards on just five carries for 6.6 yards per carry. He also caught five passes for 70 yards to finish with 103 yards of total offense. Mike Solomon caught four passes for 64 yards, Kam Kruzelyak caught five passes for 41 yards, Logan Ramper caught two passes for 35 yards and Kylon Wilson caught two passes for 29 yards and one touchdown.
 
Teddy Gregory Jr. led the defense for the third straight week with 12 total tackles, his third straight week with double digit stops. Michael Henwood added a career-high 10 tackles. Jacob Snow chipped in nine tackles and one sack. Todd Hill added eight tackles and one tackle for loss.
 
Black led Cal with 250 passing yards and one touchdown to go along with 15 rushing yards and one score on the ground. Willis III caught five passes for 106 yards and one score. Bobby Boyd Jr. ran for 67 yards and Eric McKan III ran for 59 yards and one score.
 
Slippery Rock will have some extended time to recover from the loss with a bye week next week. The Rock return to action Thursday night, Oct. 31, with a 6 p.m. game on the road at Clarion.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock lost to Cal for the first time since 2016, snapping a six-game win streak in the series … The Rock saw a 16-game regular season winning streak snapped, which was the second longest active streak in Division II and the sixth-longest in all levels of NCAA football … SRU saw a 15-game PSAC West win streak snapped and dropped just its third PSAC West game since Oct. 21, 2017 (38-3 since then) … SRU's loss was just its second regular season road loss since 2019 (21-2 now) … SRU gave up two sacks to mark just the second game this season in which Brayden Long was sacked … SRU did not force a turnover for the first time this season … Long lost his first game as a starting QB to a team other than Kutztown and his first PSAC West game ... he is now 18-4 as a starting QB ... Idris Lawrence went over 3,500 career rushing yards in the game and now has 3,503 career rushing yards at the Division II level ... SRU has a rare bye week next week due to the departure of Mercyhurst from the PSAC earlier this year.





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