MILLERSVILLE — Forgive the Slippery Rock University football team if its feeling a little defensive.

The Rock (2-1) got extremely defensive Saturday at Biemesderfer Stadium, tying a school record with 10 quarterback sacks in a 57-10 domination of Millersville.

The score was 42-0 at halftime.

“For the past 10 quarters now, our defense has been playing some pretty good football,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “I am so happy to see that.”

SRU won big Saturday despite the absence of several starters sidelined by injury, including second-string quarterback Taylor King, who joined starter Andrew Koester on the shelf this week.

That left 6-foot-4 sophomore Roland Rivers to make his first career start for SRU Saturday.

“Taylor hurt his ankle last week (at Shippensburg) and it just never got better all week,” Lutz said. “We thought he was gonna play, then we didn't even suit him up.

“Roland is elusive and he did an outstanding job of extending plays today.”

Rivers threw a pair of touchdown passses and ran for two scores. Braden Fochtman — starting for injured running back Wes Hills — had 10 carries for 79 yards and two TDs.

Nassir Weaver added 65 yards rushing. Chacar Berry, who replaced Hills last week, saw limited action Saturday.

“That doesn't matter,” Lutz said. “Even with Wes out, I feel like we've got three good running backs to choose from.”

But the real story of this game was defense.

Chad Kuhn had 4.5 sacks — tying Marcus Martin's SRU single-game record — and forced a fumble. Trey Blandford had a team-leading nine tackles, including 5.5 for loss, and three sacks.

Trysten McDonald forced and recovered a fumble, Tyree Spearman had an interception and Terrell Gabriel returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown.”

The Rock also recorded a safety in the contest.

Placekicker Jake Chapla booted a pair of field goals, including a 50-yarder.

“This was a pretty clean game, except for the penalties,” Lutz said. “We needed a game like this. We performed well in all three phases.

“That's important, too, because none of those injured guys are coming back right away. This is the same group of guys who will play next week.”

The Rock was penalized 10 times for 110 yards Saturday after being whistled for 149 yards in penalties the week before.

SRU hosts Seton Hill at 6 p.m. Saturday to begin PSAC West play. The Rock's next two games are at home.

“Now we have to go home and defend our house,” Lutz said.

SRU improved to 18-4-1 all-time against Millersville, defeating the Marauders for the eighth straight time. The Rock has outscored Millersville 178-27 in their last three meetings.

Slippery Rock 14 28 5 10 — 57

Millersville 0 0 3 7 — 10

First Quarter

SRU — Roland Rivers 10 run (Jake Chapla kick), 13:37

SRU — Henry Litwin 8 pass from Rivers (Chapla kick), 12:23

Second Quarter

SRU — Braden Fochtman 7 run (Chapla kick), 14:33

SRU — Rivers 1 run (Chapla kick), 10:51

SRU — Fochtman 22 run (Chapla kick), 5:38

SRU — Litwin 14 pass from Rivers (Chapla kick), :08

Third Quarter

M — Joey Farley 21 field goal, 9:25

SRU — Team safety, 5:03

SRU — Chapla 33 field goal, 3:27

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Chapla 50 field goal, 12:01

SRU — Terrell Gabriel 36 interception return (Chapla kick), 11:26

M — Farley 43 pass from Justis Jacobs (Farley kick), 5:13

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Braden Fochtman 10-79, Nassir Weaver 15-65, Roland Rivers 6-40, Chacar Berry 9-21, Kameron Patterson 3-3. Millersville, Justis Jacobs 8-24, Kobe Miranda 1-2, Tyrone Gibson 1-1, Phil Overton 6-1, TEAM 1-(-2), Collin Shank 14-(-54).

Passing: SRU, Roland Rivers 11-26-126-0, Kameron Patterson 1-1-2-0. Millersville, Collin Shank 17-26-145-2, Justis Jacobs 6-10-55-0.

Receiving: SRU, Henry Litwin 4-41, Dakota Clanagan 2-21, Nassir Weaver 2-19, Braden Fochtman 1-18, Carnel Harley 1-9, Mike Merhaut 1-8, Jesse Nwabueze-Ogbo 1-2. Millersville, Chris Dolan 9-97, Joey Farley 3-59, Phil Overton 7-16, Evan Morrill 1-10, Tyrone Gibson 1-8, Jaelyn Gaither 1-6, Taiyir Wilson 1-4.