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INDIANA, Pa. – The ninth-ranked Slippery Rock University football team scored a game-winning touchdown with 12.9 seconds left and escaped a missed 54-yard field goal attempt at the buzzer to pull off a thrilling 33-32 win on the road at No. 21 Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday from Miller Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in PSAC West action and stay in first place in the PSAC West with their second straight win in the series against Indiana. IUP slips to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in PSAC West games after dropping its Homecoming game in front of more than 6,000 people.
 
Slippery Rock jumped out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter and was controlling both sides of the ball until the late in the opening half when IUP began a rally. The Crimson Hawks put together back-to-back scoring drives inside the final two minutes to claw back to 21-10 at halftime.
 
IUP continued its rally in the second half and scored 16 more unanswered points to battle all the way back and take a 26-21 lead with 14:04 to play, capping a 26-0 run.
 
Slippery Rock struggled offensively during the second and third quarters, but showed up in the fourth when it was needed. The Rock put together an 83-yard drive that took 17 plays and ate up 8:59 off the clock before Brayden Long hit Mike Solomon in the back of the end zone with 5:00 to play. The ball was tipped by an IUP defender, but Solomon stayed with it and brought it down at the back of the end zone. After the 2-point try was missed, SRU led 27-26.
 
IUP went right back down the field on its next series and made what ended up being a crucial mistake by scoring a touchdown with a pass to Maurice Massey with 1:35 to play. That put the Hawks out front 32-27, but gave SRU a chance to get the ball back with 95 seconds and one timeout.
 
SRU took advantage, with Long leading a calm and methodical drive down the field that included a key fourth down completion to Kam Kruzelyak. With 12.9 seconds left, Long connected with Solomon in the back left corner of the end zone and he toe-tapped his feet for the touchdown to make it 33-32 in favor of SRU.
 
The Rock took two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the play for excessive celebration, resulting in the ensuing kickoff coming all the way back at the SRU 10-yard line. IUP got a solid return and a nine-yard pass to set up an attempt at a 54-yard game winning field goal, but the kick missed short and right to give The Rock the 33-32 win.

Slippery Rock finished the game with a 395-352 edge in total offense after passing for 205 yards and rushing for 190 yards. IUP threw for 181 yards and ran for 171 yards with most of that coming from QB Karst Hunter, whose ability to scramble out of trouble was the biggest offensive weapon for IUP throughout the day. Hunter ran for 113 yards and one TD to go with 181 passing yards and three TD.
 
Long completed 22-of-31 passes for 205 yards with three TD and one interception, which was a tipped ball on a screen pass. He also ran for a seven-yard touchdown.
 
Chris D'Or ran for 88 yards and one TD on just 12 carries before playing limited snaps in the second half with an injury. Idris Lawrence ran for 76 yards on 19 carries and JayJay Jordan made his debut with 22 yards on three carries.
 
Solomon caught the two key fourth quarter TD passes and finished with 23 yards. Kruzelyak caught seven passes for 51 yards and Kylon Wilson caught six passes for 92 yards and one touchdown, which was a 72-yard strike with most of those yards coming after the catch.
 
Teddy Gregory Jr. led the defense with a career-high 13 tackles, while Todd Hill led the defensive line with 11 total tackles and 1.5 sacks. John Brown had one sack and a forced fumble, which was recovered by Jacob Snow. Snow and Andrew Vince each had five tackles.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to its own Homecoming game with Gannon set to visit The Rock next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its 14th straight PSAC West game and improved to 37-2 in its last 39 games against PSAC West schools ... SRU won its second straight game in the series against IUP and has now won four of the last six and seven of the last 11 games in the series ... Shawn Lutz improved to 75-19 as head coach, becomming the fastest coach in SRU history to 75 wins ... Saturday's game was the only Division II game in the country this week to feature two undefeated nationally ranked teams ... it was just the eighth meeting between the two rivals when both teams were ranked ... those games are now split 4-4 with the higher-ranked team winning seven of the eight ... SRU is now 21-1 in its last 22 regular season road games (weeks 1-10) dating back to the beginning of the 2019 season with the only loss coming at IUP in 2022 ... SRU lost the turnover battle for the first time this season, turning it over twice and coming up with just one takeaway ... Brayden Long became the fifth player in SRU history to top 5,000 career passing yards and the fifth player in program history to top 5,000 yards of total offense, despite starting just his 20th career game ... He has now thrown for 5,028 yards with 45 TD and just 7 INT on 639 attempts ... Long is now 17-3 as the SRU starting QB with all three losses coming against Kutztown ... Long was not sacked in the game, marking the fourth time in five games that SRU has not allowed a sack this year.




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