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SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The 10th ranked Slippery Rock University football team improved to 2-0 with a 20-10 victory on the road at Shepherd University Saturday afternoon.
 
The Rock used a methodical offense that held the ball for just under 40 minutes to wear down the Shepherd defense on the way to beating their second straight opponent that made the NCAA Playoffs last year.  
 
SRU now sits at 2-0 for the fifth straight season while Shepherd slips to 1-1.
 
Slippery Rock struck first after Shepherd fumbled the ball away on its opening possession. Jacob Snow was able to punch the ball loose from the Rams running back and Eddie Faulkner IV recovered his second fumble of the season to give SRU the ball. A few plays later, Idris Lawrence broke free for a 32-yard touchdown run for his first TD at SRU and gave The Rock a 7-0 lead with 8:09 to play in the first.
 
SRU started its next possession at its own one-yard line and marched 92 yards down the field with a 13-play drive that took 7:27, but the drive stalled at the seven-yard line and Jake Mullins booted a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 14:11 to play in the second.
 
The momentum of the game swung in Shepherd's favor for the first time after an aggressive decision by SRU late in the second quarter. The Rock ran a fake punt from their own 28-yard line and did not reach the line to gain, handing the ball to the Rams with a short field. They capitalized with a 17-yard TD pass to make it 10-7 with 6:53 left in the second.
 
SRU bounced back and went the length of the field on its next series, again stalling in the red zone and settling for a 25-yard field goal from Mullins with four seconds left in the half to send it to the break with SRU leading 13-7.
 
Shepherd took the opening kickoff of the second half and went 64 yards in 12 plays before settling for their own field goal in the red zone. A 29-yard kick made it 13-10 with 9:07 to play in the third.
 
The next SRU drive was the back breaker for Shepherd as The Rock went 74 yards in 13 plays and ate 8:15 off the clock before Brayden Long found Xander McClure in the back of the end zone for a touchdown that made it 20-10 with 41 seconds left in the third.
 
Shepherd had two threatening drives in the fourth quarter that both stalled out inside SRU territory. The first was ended by Todd Hill on fourth down when Hill raced around the left tackle for a QB sack. The second was ended by the second takeaway of the day by the SRU defense when Ali Abdul-Hakim intercepted a dropped pass. The Rock defense would come up with one more takeaway in the closing minutes when Pooh Lawton delivered a big hit that jarred the ball loose for Josh Stokes to recover the fumble.
 
Slippery Rock nearly doubled up Shepherd in time of possession with a 39:18 to 20:42 advantage. The Rock ran 67 plays and gained 339 yards of total offense with 182 rushing yards and 157 passing yards. Shepherd ran 44 total plays and gained 266 yards with most of that coming in the air. The Rams threw for 240 yards, but were limited to just 26 rushing yards by a stout SRU defense.
 
Lawrence ran for 82 yards and one TD to lead the SRU running game. Chris D'Or added 79 yards as those two combined for 161 rushing yards on the day.
 
Long was masterful in guiding the offense all day, completing 17-of-21 passes for 157 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and no sacks. He connected with seven different receivers with Tony Grimes leading the way with five catches for 44 yards. Kam Kruzelyak had four catches for 33 yards, McClure caught three passes for 22 yards and one score and Mike Solomon had one 38-yard catch on the longest pass play of the season so far.
 
Mullins was perfect in the kicking game, booting two field goals and two extra points to account for eight points. The Rock have now made three field goals in the first two weeks, which is more than the entire 2023 season (two). Mason Yohn averaged 44.3 yards per punt on three punts and also had two kickoffs for touchbacks as the SRU special teams units shined.
 
Teddy Gregory Jr. led the defense with six tackles and one tackle for loss. Stokes had five stops and one fumble recovery. Hill had four tackles and one sack. Abdul-Hakim had four tackles and one interception, Snow had four tackles and one forced fumble and Munchie Johnson had four tackles.
 
Shepherd QB Lek Powell completed 22-of-30 passes for 240 yards with one TD and one interception. Malakai Brown had the receiving TD and led the team in rushing with 19 yards on seven carries.
 
Slippery Rock will travel to Shippensburg next Saturday for a 1 p.m. game for the second PSAC crossover weekend before returning home Sept. 28 to open PSAC West play against Edinboro.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock is 2-0 for the fifth straight year … The Rock improve to 5-3 all-time against Shepherd … Saturday's game was the first regular season meeting between the teams since 2005 … Shawn Lutz improves to 72-19 as SRU head coach … SRU was +3 in the turnover battle Saturday and is now +5 on the season with the defense coming up with three takeaways in each game … both of SRU's first two opponents (New Haven and Shepherd) made the NCAA Playoffs last year and both were receiving votes in the national poll … SRU more than halved its penalty yardage from the opener (119) to finish with just 57 yards of penalties … Jake Mullins kicked two field goals and is now 3-for-3 on field goals this year … SRU was 2-of-5 on field goals over 14 games in 2023 … SRU did not allow a sack for the second straight week … Xander McClure caught his first career TD pass … Idris Lawrence scored his first TD at SRU … SRU is now 19-1 in its last 20 regular season road games in weeks 1-10 over the last five seasons.




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