Postgame Interview  |  Highlights

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University football team opened the season with a 22-7 victory over defending Northeast 10 Conference champion New Haven Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock picked up their 15th consecutive season-opening win and their 18th straight victory in a home opener while extending their series win streak against New Haven to four games. The Chargers opened the year receiving votes in the preseason national poll after winning the NE10 title and reaching the NCAA Playoffs for the third straight year last fall.
 
Slippery Rock was dominant defensively throughout the game, allowing just one touchdown on a breakdown in the secondary on fourth and 10 late in the first half. Other than that, the SRU defense limited New Haven to just 2-of-17 on third down and came up with three takeaways on the day.
 
Safety Michael Henwood came up with two of those takeaways with a pair of interceptions, both coming deep in SRU territory, and Eddie Faulkner IV had the other one with a highlight reel play in the second quarter. Faulkner blitzed off the edge and forced a fumble with a sack, recovered his own fumble and raced 32 yards for a touchdown.
 
SRU limited New Haven to 276 total yards of offense on 74 plays with the Chargers rushing for 126 yards on 34 carries and completing 16-of-40 passes for 150 yards. The Rock offense struggled to find its rhythm at times but was productive when it needed to be, finishing the game with 284 yards on 57 total plays with 155 rushing yards on 29 carries and 129 passing yards.
 
Brayden Long was 17-of-28 in the passing game with 129 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 20 yards.
 
Chris D'Or and Idris Lawrence both averaged 5.9 yards per carry or better with D'Or going for 83 yards on 14 carries and Lawrence rushing for 55 yards on nine carries. D'Or also had 23 receiving yards to finish with a team-high 106 all-purpose yards.
 
Kylon Wilson led the receivers with five catches for 40 yards. Tony Grimes snagged five passes for 26 yards. Kam Kruzelyak made the play of the day on offense with a one-handed touchdown grab and finished with two catches for 24 yards. Mike Solomon also grabbed an eight-yard TD in his SRU debut.
 
Jake Mullins took over as the placekicker early in the game after SRU missed its first two PAT kicks. Mullins was perfect in relief, booting one extra point and making a 34-yard field goal in the second half. The Rock also got a key special teams play early in the game when Quentin Harrison blocked a New Haven punt to set up the first offensive TD for SRU midway through the opening quarter.
 
Josh Stokes finished with eight tackles to pace the SRU defense. Faulkner added seven stops, all solo, to go along with one sack, two tackles for loss, two pass breakups and the fumble return TD. Henwood added seven tackles and one TFL to the two interceptions. Todd Hill made six tackles and had two tackles for loss in his SRU debut and Teddy Gregory Jr. made five stops in his first career start.
 
New Haven's touchdown was scored by Mikey Caines, who finished with five catches for 53 yards. Daelen Menard completed 16-of-40 passes for 150 yards with one TD and two INT. Christopher Ais led the ground game with 64 yards on 16 carries.
 
Slippery Rock has now won seven straight games against teams from the Northeast 10 and improves to 4-3 all-time against New Haven with four straight wins in the series.
 
The Rock will have little time to celebrate the win as they must travel to another NCAA Playoff team in week two with a trip to Shepherd University set for next Saturday.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its 15th straight season opener and 18th straight home opener … SRU won its fourth straight game against New Haven and its seventh straight game against teams from the Northeast 10 Conference … Shawn Lutz improved to 71-19 as SRU head coach … Eddie Faulkner IV's fumble return TD in the first half was the first fumble return TD for Slippery Rock since Nov. 9, 2019 (Arison Sanders against Gannon).
 
 


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