November 23rd, 2024 3:45pm
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University football team won a 14-7 slugfest over the University of New Haven in a cold and rainy NCAA Division II Playoff game Saturday from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
The Rock improve to 10-1 and advance to the second round of the NCAA Playoffs for the third year in a row and the fifth time in the last six seasons. Northeast 10 Conference champion New Haven ends its season the way it began, with a loss on the road at SRU, to close the year with an 8-3 overall record after making its fourth straight trip to the postseason. The Chargers will host Slippery Rock to open the 2025 season next fall.
Slippery Rock's defense and its passing offense were the differences in the game Saturday with the offense moving the ball through the air in key situations and the defense shutting down one of the nation's best rushing offenses.
New Haven entered the game averaging more than 230 yards on the ground, but had to settle for just 63 rushing yards on 25 carries Saturday.
Slippery Rock never trailed in the game, taking an early lead on its first offensive possession after Kylon Wilson took a direct snap and rushed in for a four-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 with 8:46 to play in the first quarter.
New Haven had a chance to get on the board later in the opening half, but a field goal attempt was blocked by Eddie Faulkner IV and recovered by Pooh Lawton to end the scoring threat.
The Chargers got a 32-yard punt return from Logan Schmidt to start a drive in SRU territory and then started another drive on the other side of midfield after The Rock fumbled away a punt, but the SRU defense allowed zero points out of those two short field situations to send the game to halftime with SRU leading 7-0.
The Rock extended the advantage on the opening series of the second half when Brayden Long hit backup tight end Carson Heckathorn for a 19-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 with 10:12 to play in the third.
New Haven answered right back, getting away from the running game for the first time and connecting on multiple passes before Daelen Menard hit Mikey Caines for a 19-yard touchdown strike that made it 14-7 with 6:14 to play in the third.
That would be the final scoring play of the game, but only thanks to a heroic play late in the third quarter by SRU safety Michael Henwood. After a blown coverage by SRU, Menard hit a wide-open Schmidt in stride down the sideline. It looked like he would race untouched for the tying score, but Henwood chased him down, dove, and punched the ball out with perfect execution at the three-yard line before Schmidt reached the goal line. The fumble rolled through the back of the end zone for a touchback, ending the scoring threat.
Slippery Rock's defense slammed the door from there, holding New Haven to 38 total yards in the fourth quarter. The Chargers got the ball back with just under one minute to play, but a Munchie Johnson tackle at the line of scrimmage on fourth down sealed the win for SRU.
The Rock finished the game with a 307-268 edge in total offense with 270 passing yards and 37 rushing yards. New Haven ran for 63 yards and threw for 205 yards.
Long, who has been the starting QB for just two seasons, became the all-time SRU career record holder for completions after going 21-of-34 for 270 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He now sits at 560 career completions, topping the former SRU record of 558 that was set by Nate Crookshank in 2007.
Logan Ramper was the top target on the day, catching six passes for a career-high 123 yards and topping the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career. Mike Solomon added five grabs for 60 yards and Wilson caught four passes for 50 yards to go along with his four-yard TD run.
Idris Lawrence led the running backs with 42 yards on 13 carries. Chris D'Or added 15 yards on 10 carries as SRU struggled to run the ball against the nation's No. 2 rushing defense.
Andrew Vince made his first start of the season at linebacker and led The Rock with a career-high 14 tackles. Johnson and Trever Valenti each added seven tackles with Valenti chipping in 1.5 tackles for loss. Faulkner made six tackles with 1.0 tackle for loss, one field goal block and one pass breakup. Todd Hill and five tackles and John Brown had four stops and one tackle for loss. Josh Stokes made three tackles, had one tackle for loss and had three pass breakups.
Menard went 18-of-32 for 205 yards with one TD and no INT for New Haven. Schmidt caught four passes for 78 yards. Justin Fielder led the running backs with 43 yards on eight carries. Christopher Ais, who entered the game with more than 1,000 rushing yards, was limited to 13 yards on 10 carries.
Slippery Rock will now shift its focus to the second round of the playoffs and will travel to No. 3 Kutztown Nov. 30 for a noon start. The Golden Bears are the top seed in Super Region One and own an 11-0 record this fall.