Slippery Rock University football continued their dominance in season openers with a two-score victory over the University of New Haven (UNH) this afternoon.
With the 22-7 win, The Rock has won four straight matchups against the Chargers since 2015.
Safety Michael Henwood and nickelback Eddie Faulkner IV played large roles for the defense that allowed just one score.
Faulkner IV immediately made his presence felt with a tackle for loss (TFL) to end the Chargers’ first drive.
After a holding penalty prematurely ended SRU’s first drive, special teams capitalized on a defensive stop. A blocked punt on UNH’s second drive put The Rock on their opponent’s 25-yard line.
“That punt was very very important. That kind of turned the tide and field position,” Slippery Rock coach Shawn Lutz said.
SRU capitalized on the opportunity when Brayden Long found Mike Solomon on an out route in the left side of the endzone for the team’s first touchdown of the new season. A couple of minutes later, it was Henwood’s turn.
The safety jumped a pass headed toward the sideline on third and long to end the threat after UNH drove into Slippery Rock territory.
Not to be outdone, Faulkner made a highlight play of his own with just under 11 minutes left in the second quarter. The defensive back tallied up the stat sheet on one play by recovering his own strip-sack forced fumble and returning it 32 yards for a touchdown to put The Rock up 12-0.
“I saw the ball on the ground and instinct just kind of kicked in. The ball ended up in my hands and the next thing I know I was in the end zone,” Faulkner IV said.
It would take until late in the second quarter for another offensive score, but Kam Kurzelyak rewarded the crowd for their patience. The tight end made a gorgeous one-handed grab on a back-shoulder pass from Long to take a 19-0 lead after the point after attempt (PAT).
The Chargers were able to punch back on their next drive, exploiting a hole up the seam in SRU’s coverage for a 35-yard passing touchdown from Daelen Menard to Mikey Caines just before the end of the half.
The Rock’s defense pitched a shutout in the second half, aided by Henwood’s second interception of the day and continued defensive proficiency on third and fourth down. UNH converted just five of their 24 third and fourth down opportunities.
The offense tacked on a 34-yard Jake Mullins field goal to finalize the score of 22-7.
Long only had to throw for 129 yards to conserve a relatively comfortable lead but protected the ball well against a New Haven defense that had 21 interceptions to just 7 passing touchdowns allowed a year ago. Long threw two touchdowns and zero picks.
He spread the ball around as well. Tony Grimes, Kruzelyak, Kylon Wilson, Chris D’Or and Xander McClure all went for over 20 yards receiving in the contest.
Lutz pointed out that the offense needs more production, which is clearly possible as evidenced by the lofty standard Long and the unit set for themselves a year ago.
“Offensively, we were just too up and down,” Lutz said. “We just weren’t in a rhythm and a routine. We made some plays when we needed to, but we were just not good enough.”
Left tackle Joe Cooper was the only returner on the offensive line and the absence of 2023 Consensus All-American Kyle Sheets is sure to cause some growing pains.
“Young offensive line. We’ve got to get them going together,” Lutz said
Even with the new-look offensive line, The Rock’s usual elite rushing efficiency was still prevalent.
D’Or led the way with 83 yards on 14 rushes. Idris Lawrence had 55 yards and Long tacked 20 rushing yards onto his line. All three rushers averaged at least 5.9 yards per attempt.
Josh Stokes, Faulkner IV and Henwood led their defense in tackles. Stokes finished with eight and the latter two each had seven.
One area of focus over the next few weeks will likely be penalties. The Rock was charged with 13 penalties for 188 yards. While it did not come back to bite them this time, those numbers could swing games.
“We jumped offsides too much on critical third and fourth down situations,” Lutz said.
Rock football will be back at it next Saturday, Sept. 14 at noon at Shepherd University.
