ERIE — Jake Chapla is happy his chase of the Slippery Rock University football scoring record is over.

He's more thrilled about what may lie ahead.

The SRU kicker snapped running back Stan Kennedy's 19-year-old Rock career scoring mark of 318 points when he booted a 37-year field goal late in the first quarter of Saturday's 45-14 PSAC West football victory at Mercyhurst.

Chapla wound up scoring nine points in the game and has 324 in his career. He also pulled within 13 field goals of tying Bloomsburg's Dan Fisher's PSAC record of 57 in a career. He needs 37 points to tie Fisher's PSAC career points record by a kicker.

“I feel like both of those records are still within reach,” Chapla said. “I'm just happy this (SRU) record is behind me. Now I feel like I can just concentrate on kicking, on scoring points to help my team win.

“The opportunities are going to be there. I felt like we had a great team last year. This year's team is simply amazing. I truly believe we're a national championship contender.”

The Rock (5-0, 2-0) looked the part Saturday at Saxon Stadium. SRU limited the Lakers (2-3, 0-2) to 162 net yards — -12 rushing — and intercepted four passes. Roland Rivers III threw four touchdown passes, Jermaine Wynn Jr. returned a punt 70 yards for a score and The Rock rushed for a season-high 211 yards.

“I've never seen us dominate a Mercyhurst team like this,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “We played well in all three phases of the game today.

“We got our running game going and that's what I'm most excited about. We were a balanced offense today.”

Lutz presented Chapla with the game ball after the contest.

“He deserves this,” the coach said. “Jake has worked so hard at his game. He's been consistent for four years and is almost like guaranteed points.”

SRU responded from some adversity Saturday as well. After jumping out to a 24-0 lead by early in the second quarter, The Rock lost its shutout bid when Joseph Scro intercepted a Rivers pass and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown down the left sideline.

The pick was the first thrown by Rivers all season.

The Lakers scored their only offensive touchdown of the day on their next possession. On 4th-and-10 from the SRU 41, Garrett Owens caught a pass in stride while running a wheel route along the right sideline. He scampered to paydirt on the play and Mercyhurst was within 24-14.

“We hadn't really faced any adversity all year,” Lutz pointed out. “I love the way we responded right there. Dalton's pick may have been the biggest play in this game.”

Mercyhurst regained possession while still trailing by only 10. Rock strong safety Dalton Holt intercepted quarterback Doug Altavilla's pass at the Lakers' 43-yard line. Rivers capped the Rock's ensuing possession with a 1-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds left in the half.

The Rock took the second-half kickoff and drove 80 yards in 17 plays, eating 7:12 off the clock. Henry Litwin caught an 11-yard touchdown strike to extend the SRU lead to 38-14 and basically seal the win.

Rivers had TD tosses to Litwin, Wynn, Qaadir Dixon and Colton Richards on the day.

“Our offense still has room to grow,” Wynn said. “Defenses are trying to do things to confuse Roland, but teams are having trouble shutting all of our weapons down.

“Our running game was there today. I believe we're only going to get better.”

Defensively, Holt, Eric Glover-Williams, Aaron Morton and Tyree Spearman had interceptions for The Rock. Brad Zaffram, Garrett de Bien, Chad Kuhn and Gavin Vargesko had quarterback sacks.

“We were down a couple of defensive linemen and were missing two regular offensive linemen today,” Mercyhurst coach Marty Schaetzle said. “Their quarterback had time to throw the ball, ours didn't. Their receivers had time to get open, ours didn't.

“That's what happens when you don't have depth. Football games are still decided up front and they dominated us there today.”

Notes: Rivers has 23 touchdown passes in five games. ... Wynn and Litman have caught TD passes in every Rock game this season. ... SRU was penalized 16 times for 150 yards. ... Seneca Valley graduate and Mercyhurst senior outside linebacker Corbin Kessler had nine tackles, including six solo stops, Saturday. ... SRU owns an 8-4 lead in the series with Mercyhurst and has a five-game winning streak vs. the Lakers. ... The Rock has won 11 consecutive PSAC West games dating back to 2017 and hosts fellow unbeaten Indiana (Pa.) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

Slippery Rock 17 14 14 0 — 45

Mercyhurst 0 14 0 0 — 14

First Quarter

SRU — Colton Richards 3 pass from Roland Rivers III (Jake Chapla kick), 6:36

SRU — Jermaine Wynn Jr. 8 pass from Rivers (Chapla kick), 3:16

SRU — Chapla 37 field goal, :38

Second Quarter

SRU — Wynn 70-yard punt return (Chapla kick), 13:24

M — Joseph Scro 18 interception return (Mark Shafer Jr. kick), 9:00

M — Garrett Owens 41 pass from Doug Altavilla (Shafer kick), 6:44

SRU — Rivers 1 run (Chapla kick), :16

Third Quarter

SRU — Henry Litwin 11 pass from Rivers (Chapla kick), 7:48

SRU — Qaadir Dixon 8 pass from Rivers (Chapla kick), 2:41

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Charles Snorweah 15-79, Braden Fochtman 7-54, Roland Rivers III 9-42, DeSean Dinkins 1-(-1). Mercyhurst, Cortez Watson 2-5, DaQuan Isom 1-4, Dustin Shoaf 1-2, Garrett Owens 7-(-7), Michael Loweery 6-(-8), Doug Altavilla 1-(-8).

Passing: SRU, Roland Rivers III 23-31-206-2, Andrew Koester 1-1-(-1)-0. Mercyhurst, Doug Altavilla 13-23-93-2, Michawel Lowery 7-15-81-2.

Receiving: SRU, Jermaine Wynn Jr. 7-82, Cinque Sweeting 4-21, Henry Litwin 3-34, Charles Snoweah 3-17, Qaadir Dixon 2-16, John Eakin 2-7, De'Vijan Franklin 1-16, Reggie Mays Jr. 1-9, Colton Richards 1-3. Mercyhurst, Garrett Owens 5-54, Clay Waldron 3-46, Ciortez Watson 2-28, Marcus Placke 2-11, Jason Armstrong 2-11, Nick Altavilla 2-10, DaQuan Isom 2-7, Qadry Ismail 1-7.