SLIPPERY ROCK — The coaches and players of the Slippery Rock High football team agreed that their conditioning was to blame in their 13-7 home loss to Reynolds on a steamy Friday night.

“As I told the kids and I told our coaches, ya know, that's on me,” Slippery Rock head coach Larry Wendereusz said. “Obviously I didn't do a good job in the summer getting them ready for the first game.”

More than six times, Slippery Rock players dropped to the turf and needed the trainer's assistance in stretching their cramped muscles.

“You can't have six of your starters going down with cramps and not look in the mirror and say, 'You gotta' get them ready,'” he said.

Senior quarterback Bailey Mertens said he thought the Rockets had a chance if they had more energy.

“I'm a little disappointed,” Mertens said. “I think we should have won.”

The key component to Slippery Rock's new spread offense, Mertens finished the night with 50 percent accuracy. He completed 14-of-28 attempts, passing for 118 yards.

Mertens said he felt his performance improved after a slow start.

“The first couple drives, I was a little nervous, and then I started getting into a groove and being able to look around at what was around me,” he said.

Slippery Rock tried to mix in deep passes with their consistent short passing game. This was highlighted by their only shining moment on offense, a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mertens to running back Hunter Prementine.

In the second half, the Rockets' receivers couldn't find the space to be effective, and if they did, the ball was well out of reach.

Wendereusz said timing was a big issue. He said he expects improvement as Mertens gains more in-game experience. He said the first game showed him that Mertens has the potential, specifically in his decision-making.

“He's making some good reads,” he said, ”I think he showed a lot of spots tonight where he threw the ball well.”

Mertens was intercepted only once, on the last play of their final drive with a swarm of Raiders in his face.

Reynolds coach Josh Mull said he was pleased with his team's defensive effort.

“That's a great offense coming at us,” Mull said. “They're very skilled.”

Mull said he felt the game was a defensive battle to the end. After giving up the first-half touchdown, the Raiders secondary seemed to tighten their coverage, especially on deep routes. The defense swatted a number of third-down passes.

“We, in the past, have had trouble with defending the deep ball, and that's something we spent a lot of time on in the summer,” Mull said. “They have some great athletes, and we just happened to make a couple really nice plays.”

Mull said the Raiders defense also blitzed well and had plenty of speed in the secondary.

“The way we play our defense, we feel we can give up one of our backers and have our two high safeties to fill that void, so every once in a while, it's worth the gamble,” he said. “And, it paid off.”

Wendereusz said he was happy with the way the Rockets played on defense and will look for them to continue to keep them in games while their offense develops a rhythm and improves their timing.

“As I said from the beginning, Bailey's going to grow week after week,” Wendereusz said.