SLIPPERY ROCK — A late strike and an early stop.

Two possessions — one at the end of the first half, the other the beginning of the second — steered Slippery Rock University toward a 22-7 victory over East Stroudsburg in its football home opener Saturday night at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

“Those possessions changed the complexion of this game, for sure,” East Stroudsburg coach Jimmy Terwilliger said.

SRU (2-0) struggled for most of the first half, managing only a 29-yard DJ Opsatnik field goal for a 3-0 lead with 5:41 left in the second quarter. The Warriors answered with a 10-play drive of their own, but a sack of quarterback Jake Cirillo by Butler graduate Tim Vernick short-circuited that march.

Following a punt, The Rock took possession at its own 21-yard line with 1:05 on the clock. SRU completed a 9-play, 79-yard drive that ended with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Koester to Cinque Sweeting with four seconds left on the clock.

“Absolutely a huge drive,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “That was a game-changer. We were looking at going into halftime with a 3-0 lead and them getting the ball to start the second half.”

The Warriors (1-1) began that third quarter with a 13-play drive that reached the SRU 25, but penalties set them back from there and forced a punt.

“They finished their big drive and that's what championship teams do,” Terwilliger said. “We made mistakes and didn't finish. We're a young team and that's what can happen to young teams.”

East Stroudsburg did not turn the ball over Saturday, but took 12 penalties for 95 yards.

A swing pass to running back Chris D'Or resulted in an 81-yard touchdown play down the left sideline for The Rock late in the third quarter. A 36-yard run by Sweeting on an end-around set up Koester's 1-yard plunge and increased SRU's lead to 22-0 with 13:50 remaining.

But East Stroudsburg wasn't done.

With backup quarterback Matt DeLaurentis in the game, the Warriors put together a 10-play, 75-yard drive to get on the scoreboard. Ezequiel Lopez caught a 9-yard touchdown pass with 10:19 left.

Three plays later, a Koester pass was batted in the air and intercepted by Shavar Hussett at the SRU 16.

“Our backs were to the wall there, but as a defense, we love that,” SRU defensive end Chad Kuhn said. “We were in situations like that in both of our first two games.

“We an only benefit from stuff like this later in the season.”

Trysten McDonald, Vernick and De'Vijan Franklin combined for stops on third and fourth downs as the Warriors went four-and-out. They did not threaten to score again.

“We owe the defense big for this one,” Koester said. “Offensively, I don't think we played very well. But we'll get there.

“We did hit them with some big plays in the second half.”

Koester threw for 277 yards and two scores, but was picked off twice. Tim Smith rushed for 122 yards.

Cirillo was held to 109 yards passing and 12 net yards rushing. SRU's defense had three sacks, Kuhn getting two of them.

“We felt like (Cirillo) was their best player and their best runner,” Kuhn said. “If we disrupted him, we'd disrupt their offense.”

Cirillo left the game early in the final quarter.

“He got banged up, just a precautionary thing, this being early in the season,” Terwilliger said.

“We were more physical than them defensively and that made a difference,” Lutz said. “I give credit where it's due, though. They pretty much held us to three points in a half. It's been a while since somebody's done that to us.”

Notes: SRU improved to 15-3 all-time against East Stroudsburg. The Rock has won 14 straight home openers and 22 straight night games ... SRU is 15-1 against PSAC East opponents over the last seven years and hosts another one, Lock Haven, at 6 p.m. this Saturday. ... Dalton Holt led The Rock with 11 tackles. Kuhn, Vernick and Isaiah Manning had eight each.

E. Stroudsburg 0 0 0 7 — 7

Slippery Rock 0 9 6 7 — 22

Second Quarter

SRU — DJ Opsatnik 29 field goal, 5:41

SRU — Cinque Sweeting 33 pass from Andrew Koester (pass failed), :04

Third Quarter

SRU — Chris D'Or 81 pass from Koester (kick failed), 2:16

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Koester 1 run (Opsatnik kick), 13:50

ES — Ezequiel Lopez 9 pass from Matt DeLaurentis (Devin Bartholomew kick), 10:19

Individual Statistics

Rushing: East Stroudsburg, Gunner Anglovich 20-76, Jake Cirillo 8-12, Matt DeLaurentis 4-6, David Akinwande 1-5, Tyriq Lewis 2-3. SRU, Tim Smith 21-122, Cinque Sweeting 1-36, Chris D'Or 4-28, Chris Mohra 1-0, TEAM 1-(-1), Andrew Koester 4-(-12).

Passing: East Stroudsburg, Jake Cirillo 13-26-109-0, Matt DeLaurentis 7-15-75-0. SRU, Andrew Koester 17-32-277-2.

Receiving: East Stroudsburg, Gunner Anglovich 7-71, Clifford Brinkley 4-46, Ezequiel Lopez 3-28, James Cherry 3-16, Race Bender 2-19, Dawson Stuart 1-4. SRU, Cinque Sweeting 6-64, Henry Litwin 5-60, Gavyn Barnes 3-52, Chris D'Or 2-86, Kyle Sheets 1-15.