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ERIE, Pa. – The 14th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team couldn't overcome multiple turnovers and special teams miscues in suffering a 38-35 road loss at Gannon University Saturday from McConnell Family Stadium.
 
Gannon picks up its first win over Slippery Rock in 11 years and snaps a 10-game losing skid against The Rock while picking up its first win of the year to improve to 1-4 overall and 1-0 in PSAC West games. Slippery Rock drops back-to-back regular season games for the first time since 2017 and falls to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in PSAC West action.
 
The Rock ran for 374 yards and put up 539 total yards of offense for the most productive game of the season, yet found itself playing from behind most of the day and could never gain the lead in the second half.
 
Gannon dominated on special teams and took advantage of numerous chances to catch SRU off guard. The Golden Knights returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, successfully recovered an onside kick and converted a successful fake punt in the game, turning all three of those special teams plays into points. The Knights also booted a 42-yard field goal. The onside kick late in the second quarter allowed Gannon to take a 35-28 lead at halftime, a lead it would never relinquish.
 
The Rock turned the ball over three times, including once on the Gannon goal line and once with the game on the line as SRU was intercepted in Gannon territory inside of two minutes to play with SRU driving for a potential game-winning score.
 
Slippery Rock also failed to score on two more trips deep into Gannon territory in the second half, including the opening drive of the third quarter when SRU ate up more than 11 minutes of game clock on a 20-play drive that reached the 10-yard line, but stalled with no points.  
 
Trailing 38-35 midway through the second half, Slippery Rock marched down into Gannon territory with a chance to take the lead, but a fourth down pass to a wide open receiver was dropped to turn the ball over on downs as the SRU errors continued to pile up.
 
The defense held again and forced a punt with just under two minutes to play, which gave SRU the ball near midfield with one timeout left a chance at a tying or winning drive. The Rock crossed midfield and benefited from a 15-yard personal foul before the game-sealing interception with just over one minute to play.
 
JayJay Jordan ran for 201 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries in the first half alone and finished the day with 247 rushing yards and 19 receiving yards for 267 total yards and three touchdowns. Quentin Harrison added 76 rushing yards and one TD on just four carries and DaOne Owens rushed for 42 yards.
 
Owens completed 12-of-21 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. John Sabo caught the TD pass from 29 yards out and finished with three catches for 51 yards. Joe White added five grabs for 72 yards and Xander McClure had two catches for 23 yards.
 
Slippery Rock played without numerous starters due to injury, including both of its starting linebackers with Jacob Snow and Teddy Gregory Jr. unable to dress and starting defensive end Brett Kwoka also unable to play. Tyler Cain led the defense in his first start with 11 total tackles. Michael Henwood added nine stops and Brian Young Jr. chipped in seven tackles, one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Kanye Thompson, Elijah Halley and Nick Frisco all tallied one sack and true freshman Spencer Barninger came up with one interception in his first collegiate action.
 
Gannon started Anthony Harris at QB but quickly made the move to Ty Hurst and stuck with the mobile Hurst, who completed 13-of-19 passes for 209 yards with two TD and no INT while also rushing for 66 yards and one TD on 18 carries. Tristen Kenan ran for 83 yards and Zaheem Crawford-Patterson caught four passes for 72 yards.
 
Slippery Rock now finds itself in unfamiliar territory midway through the regular season schedule and likely needs to win out the rest of the way to get back into the postseason conversation. The first step in that quest will be another road trip next week to Seton Hill, which upset California (Pa.) 16-7 Saturday. Kickoff in Greensburg is set for noon.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock lost back-to-back games for the first time since the 2021 PSAC title game and first round of the NCAA Playoffs … The Rock lost back-to-back regular season games for the first time since 2017 … SRU saw a streak of 10 straight wins against Gannon snapped … The Rock ran for 375 yards to mark the first game with 300+ rushing yards since Oct. 27, 2018 against California (345) … JayJay Jordan ran for 247 yards and three TD to become the first SRU player to rush for 200+ yards in a game since Wes Hills (207) against Gannon on Nov. 3, 2018 … He became the first SRU player with three rushing TD in a game since Khalid Dorsey (3) against IUP on Sept. 30, 2023 … SRU turned the ball over three times in the game and now has three games with at least three turnovers this year … six SRU players made their first career starts at The Rock Saturday due to numerous injuries on both sides of the ball.
 


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