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SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The ninth-ranked Slippery Rock University football team scored 33 unanswered points to pull away for a 33-7 win on the road at Shippensburg University Saturday from Seth Grove Stadium.
 
The Raiders went 63 yards and scored a touchdown on the opening drive of the game to jump out to a 7-0 lead in front of big home crowd on Family Day, but Slippery Rock's defense slammed the door from there and limited the hosts to just 72 total yards of offense the rest of the game.
 
The Rock improve to 3-0 on the year while Shippensburg slips to 1-2.
 
As has been the theme so far this season, Slippery Rock's defense was dominant throughout the game. That unit, led by linemen Todd Hill and Munchie Johnson, put up the first points of the day when Hill burst around the left tackle and hit Ship's running back in the end zone for a safety on Shippensburg's second possession.
 
The Rock then took the lead for good on their next offensive series when Brayden Long connected with Mike Solomon on a 14-yard touchdown to make it 9-7 with 5:36 to play in the first. SRU pushed the advantage out to 16-7 later in the opening period when Demeatric Crenshaw capped a drive with a short TD run out of the wildcat formation with 12 seconds left in the first.
 
That score would hold all the way until the fourth quarter with neither team able to score in the second or third quarters. SRU had a couple chances, but saw drives stall deep in Shippensburg territory with a pair of missed field goal attempts.
 
The Rock put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter with 17 points in the final period. Long called his own number with a one-yard QB keeper early in the quarter to make it 23-7. Jake Mullins kicked a 23-yard field goal on the next series to make it 26-7 and Idris Lawrence capped the scoring with a one-yard TD run with 6:06 to play to account for the final points.
 
The Slippery Rock defense limited Shippensburg to 15 total yards of offense in the second half, never allowing the Raiders to claw back into the game. SRU finished the day with 408 yards of offense with 140 rushing yards and 268 passing yards. Shippensburg finished with 135 total yards with 52 rushing yards and 83 passing yards.
 
Long completed 17-of-24 passes for 191 yards with one touchdown in an efficient first half, but wasn't quite as sharp in the second half, completing 7-of-17 passes to finish the game 24-of-41 for 268 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, which marked his third straight game this season with no turnovers. He also rushed for one TD, but was sacked two times for the first sacks of the season.
 
Tony Grimes caught seven passes for 76 yards to lead the receivers. Solomon caught three passes for 57 yards and one touchdown, his second TD grab of the year. Kylon Wilson grabbed two passes for 26 yards and had 118 kickoff return yards on three returns to bring him to 1,028 career kickoff return yards, making him just the ninth player in program history with at least 1,000 return yards.
 
Chris D'Or caught three passes for 30 yards and ran for 63 yards on 11 carries to account for 93 yards of offense. Lawrence grabbed three passes for 20 yards and rushed for 72 yards and one TD to finish with 92 yards of offense while averaging 8.0 yards per carry on his nine rush attempts. Crenshaw rounded out the top rushers with 18 yards and one score on three carries.
 
Hill and Johnson were nearly unstoppable on the defensive line, combining for 7.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Hill had 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and six total tackles to go along with his safety in the first quarter. Johnson led the defense with eight total tackles, including six solo, to go along with 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack. John Brown and Eddie Faulkner IV both had one TFL and a half-sack and Jacob Snow added one TFL as The Rock tallied up 11 tackles for loss and four sacks in the game.
 
Pooh Lawton and Donnell Henriquez both came down with one interception to help SRU win the turnover battle 2-0.
 
Shippensburg used three different quarterbacks with Sam Stoner finding the most success. Stoner completed 5-of-9 passes for 68 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. The TD pass went to Tobee Stokes, who caught two passes for 35 yards.
 
Saturday marked the end of the early season PSAC crossover games. The Rock will now set their sites on a sixth straight PSAC West Division title and will open divisional play at home next Saturday night with a 6 p.m. kickoff against Edinboro.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock improved to 42-22-2 all-time against Shippensburg and 17-14-1 all-time on the road at Shippensburg … Shawn Lutz improved to 73-19 as SRU head coach … The Rock played their 56th straight game as a ranked team … SRU improved to 20-1 in regular season road games (weeks 1-10) dating back to 2019 … the SRU defense allowed just seven points in the game and has yet to allow more than 10 points in a game this year … Kam Kruzelyak extended his pass catching streak to 15 straight games … Kylon Wilson went over 1,000 career kickoff return yards in just his sophomore season … he is the ninth player in SRU history to reach 1,000 career kickoff return yards … Munchie Johnson started his 42nd straight game at SRU … Brayden Long threw his 40th career TD pass to become the seventh player in SRU history with 40 career TD passes … he moved up to No. 4 all-time at SRU in completions with 396 … Long is now 15-3 as the SRU starting QB.




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