Last Saturday, Sept. 17, The Rock faced off against Millersville. It looked like Millersville was going to put up a fight for all of 40 seconds. The history of the matchup has not fared well for the Marauders historically. That held true in this game as well, as Slippery Rock pushed their series lead to 20-4-1.
The Rock only allowed 10 overall points in their last two meetings with Millersville, but Millersville would beat that total in one game. It was Millersville who got on the board first to take their first lead over Slippery Rock in a very long time.
After a Chris D’Or fumble at the Millersville eight-yard line, the Marauders took the ball 92 yards over just four plays. It was Anthony Butler who took the ball all the way on a 68-yard pass and catch from Jaheim Morris.
The next 35 points came from The Rock. Less than a minute after Millersville drew first blood, Noah Grover did Noah Grover things and hit Jacob Odom for a 56-yard touchdown pass. It was Odom’s first touchdown as a member of the Slippery Rock football team. It would not be the only one he scored on Saturday, though.
Five plays later, Slippery Rock got the ball back. Slippery Rock took their time as they marched down the field. It took the green and white 12 plays to find the endzone. Grover converted his second touchdown pass in as many drives when he hit Kyle Sheets to give The Rock a lead that they wouldn’t give up again.
When The Rock got the ball again, they once again were able to enforce their will. Grover ended the drive finding Odom again on an eight-yard strike. There was one more score in the first half and it came from Cohen Russell on a ten-yard rush.
At the half, The Rock held a 28-7 lead.
They opened the second half of play by chewing up more than nine minutes of clock. It took 16 plays and was capped off with another touchdown pass, this time to Max Maciejewski.
Morris would try to bring Millersville closer when his two-yard scamper put them within 21 points. It didn’t last too long for them though. Four minutes into the final period of play, DJ Opsatnik scored a field goal to give Slippery Rock a 38-14 lead.
Special teams had been a problem for The Rock, but Opsatnik took a step towards ending those worries with his 22-yard field goal.
Slippery Rock lit up the scoreboard one last time in the game with a Chris Wells touchdown run. The Rock jumped to 3-0 on the season with the win, but now they’ll open their PSAC schedule against Seton Hill.
