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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team locked up an NCAA Playoff spot with a 27-7 victory over Bloomsburg University Saturday in the regular season finale from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock finish the regular season with a 9-1 overall record after improving to 5-0 at home. While it won't be official until Sunday night's selection show, SRU is a virtual lock to earn a sixth straight trip to the NCAA Playoffs and is likely to end up with a home game in the opening round. The Rock entered this week ranked No. 4 in Super Region One and will be one of only four teams in the region (Kutztown, Charleston, East Stroudsburg) to finish with one loss or fewer. SRU also owns a strength of schedule above .500 and finished the year 4-1 against teams that finished with above .500 records.
 
Bloomsburg finishes its best season since 2018 with a 6-5 overall record.
 
Slippery Rock controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball Saturday and won the ball control game in a big way, limiting the Huskies to just 39 total offensive plays in the game while holding the ball for 39:36 and running 70 offensive plays. The Rock came up with three takeaways with a trio of interceptions, including a pick-six from Jacob Snow for the first points of the game.
 
Snow grabbed the first of the three interceptions midway through the first quarter and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown to give SRU a 7-0 lead with 8:27 to play in the first.
 
Bloomsburg scored its only points of the game later in the first after SRU muffed a punt and handed the Huskies the ball with a short field. Owen Anderson made a fingertips catch in traffic and took it 37 yards to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:26 to play in the first.
 
It was all Slippery Rock from there as The Rock defense slammed the door and shut out Bloomsburg the rest of the way.
 
Mason Yohn put SRU back out front with a 25-yard field goal to make it 10-7 with 14:55 to play in the half and Idris Lawrence extended the advantage to 17-7 with a two-yard TD run with seven seconds left to send it to the break with The Rock up 10.
 
Yohn booted a 40-yard field goal after SRU had a touchdown called back by a holding penalty to make it 20-7 early in the third quarter and Brayden Long rushed in from one yard out on a QB keeper to make it 27-7 with 2:26 to play in the third, accounting for the final points.
 
The Rock got the ball back with 10:12 to play in the fourth quarter and put together a masterful drive that erased the rest of the clock before kneeling out the victory.
 
SRU finished the game with a 332-202 advantage in total offense after rushing for 191 yards and passing for 141 yards. Bloomsburg managed 143 passing yards and 59 rushing yards.
 
Long was nearly perfect in leading the offense, completing 17-of-23 passes for 141 yards with no turnovers or sacks while also rushing for 13 yards and one touchdown.
 
Lawrence led the ground game with 111 rushing yards and one touchdown while Chris D'Or added 52 rushing yards and Quentin Harrison chipped in 15 yards on just two carries.
 
Mike Solomon paced the receivers with five catches for 73 yards. Kam Kruzelyak added four grabs for 25 yards and Kylon Wilson caught four passes for 19 yards.
 
Munchie Johnson led the SRU defense with six total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception. Andrew Vince, playing his first game in more than a month, finished with five tackles. Trever Valenti added five stops and a half-sack when he teamed with Todd Hill, who added four tackles and a half-sack while playing limited minutes. Snow returned after missing last week and finished with five stops, a half-tackle for loss and the pick six. Michael Henwood also grabbed an interception to mark his third this fall and Tyree Johnson led SRU with four solo tackles.
 
Yohn remained perfect in the kicking game after taking over three weeks ago, booting two field goals and three PAT kicks while also averaging 45.3 yards on three punts.
 
Bloomsburg QB KJ Riley, who also does the placekicking and punting for the Huskies, finished the game 9-of-21 for 143 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Matthew Bowes caught four passes for 56 yards and Owen Anderson had two catches for 46 yards and one score. Riley was the team's leading rusher with 20 yards on eight carries.
 
Slippery Rock will now shift its focus to the NCAA Playoffs, where The Rock will be making their sixth straight appearance in the postseason to mark the second longest active streak in the country. The NCAA will announce the full playoff field, including SRU's opponent for next Saturday, in a live selection show Sunday night at 6 p.m. at ncaa.com.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock recognized the 50th anniversary of the 1972-73-74 PSAC champion teams during the game Saturday … SRU head coach Shawn Lutz improved to 79-20, tying Bob DiSpirito for No. 3 on the SRU coaching wins ledger … SRU improved to 5-0 at home this season in the 50th anniversary of Mihalik-Thompson Stadium … The Rock won the 650th game in program history to improve to 650-410-42 all-time dating back to 1898 … SRU improved to 60-7 at home since the beginning of the 2013 season … Mason Yohn made both of his FG attempts to stay perfect for his career and is now 6-for-6 on FG kicks and 27-for-27 on PAT kicks in his career … SRU did not allow a sack for the seventh time in 10 games this season … Chris D'Or went over 2,500 career rushing yards in the game and became the eighth player in SRU history with at least 2,500 rushing yards and 3,500 all-purpose yards in a career … Munchie Johnson made his 49th straight start at SRU and grabbed his second career interception … Johnson moved up to No. 8 all-time at SRU with 39.5 tackles for loss … Brayden Long moved up to No. 2 all-time at SRU with 539 career completions despite only starting two seasons … he is 19 completions away from tying Nate Crookshank's SRU record of 558 completions.  




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