HERMITAGE — Without starting quarterback Bailey Mertens, who was injured during a tackling drill in practice early in the week, the Slippery Rock High football team had to improvise.

Ryan Lauster moved from wingback to quarterback and the Rockets offense showed signs of potency.

Just not enough.

Meanwhile, Hickory's offense was plenty explosive as Chuck Carr rushed for 199 yards and four touchdowns as the Hornets downed Slippery Rock, 43-10, in a pivotal region matchup at Hornets Stadium Friday night.

“I thought we came out ready to play,” said Slippery Rock coach Travis Sarver. “The turnovers — you can't turn the ball over in a game like this. You have to make the big plays when they are presented to you in a game like this and we didn't make those plays tonight.”

Hickory (4-1, 3-1) was determined to take Lauster out of the game and succeeded, limiting the Slippery Rock quarterback to just 46 yards on eight carries.

In the Rockets' option offense, reads dictate who gets the carries and those attempts landed squarely on the shoulder pads of Trent Porter, who gained 160 yards on 30 carries.

“Trent has a lot of heart,” Sarver said. “He's going to play hard. We have no problem giving Trent the ball. It was what Hickory was giving. They were taking the quarterback away, so you have to give it there in the option.”

Porter had 11 consecutive carries at one point.

“Any one of three people can get the ball,” Sarver said. “That's just where the reads were.”

Things began to unravel early for Slippery Rock (3-2, 2-2).

After the Rockets forced Hickory to punt on the Hornets' initial drive, Slippery Rock coughed the ball up on its second offensive play.

That set Hickory up at the Slippery Rock 10 and on the first play, Andrew Pryts took and handoff on a jet sweep and scored to stake the Hornets to a quick 7-0 lead.

Slippery Rock placekicker Nick Stutz kicked a 22-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3, but Hickory went up 14-3 on another one-play “drive” when Carr raced for a 35-yard touchdown run.

Carr added another touchdown in the first half and Hickory drove 41 yards in 20 seconds to set up a 27-yard field goal by Jacob Scarton at the end of the half for a 24-3 lead.

Slippery Rock miscues led to 12 third-quarter points for Hickory and the hole was far too deep for the Rockets, who fumbled five times and lost three, to climb out of.

“We just couldn't hold on to the football,” Sarver said.

Carr added his fourth and final touchdown midway through the fourth quarter for a 43-3 Hickory lead.

Porter rumbled in from 18 yards out to close the scoring.

Porter was one of the bright spots for Slippery Rock along with junior linebacker Calvin Rossi, who intercepted two passes.

It was the largest margin of defeat for the Rockets since a 43-7 loss against Meadville in the 2011 playoffs.

“There's always two ways to go after a game like this: buckle down and get better or start taking shortcuts,” Sarver said. “I think our guys are going to buckle down and work hard.”

Hickory has now beaten Slippery Rock in back-to-back meetings, including a playoff win last November.

“We're really excited for our kids,” said Hickory coach Bill Brest. “I'm very proud of the kids for the way they prepared.”

Brest was also pleased with his team's defensive effort.

Hickory limited Slippery Rock to 220 yards of offense.

“We really, truly believe in our defense and what they can do,” Brest said. “We expect them to get turnovers and get field position back.”

Slippery Rock will host Warren next week and Sarver said he is unsure if Mertens will be back under center.

“That's still unknown.,” Sarver said. “We'll get an answer to that next week.”

If he can't go, Sarver said Lauster will remain at quarterback.

“We have all the faith in the world in Ryan,” Sarver said.