ERIE — Seemingly, Slippery Rock's work was complete.

Two third-quarter touchdowns followed by a Travis McDougall interception at the goal line on the first play of the fourth quarter produced and protected a 14-6 lead over Erie East Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"I figured we had things taken care of,"Slippery Rock coach Clyde Conti admitted. "Then we gave the ball right back to them."

A fumbled snap on the play following McDougall's interception gave East possession at the Rockets' 8-yard line. The Warriors punched in a touchdown from there, then put together a 69-yard scoring drive late in the game for a 20-14 high school football victory.

"We dug down deep,"East coach Maurice Troop said. "Our kids never quit fighting and neither did theirs."

East quarterback Steve Pochatko delivered two critical third-down passes during the winning scoring drive. He found Scott Jones down the middle for 28 yards on a third-and-9 from the Slippery Rock 46.

On third-and-9 from the Rockets' 17, he connected with Dajour Stewart over the middle, and the receiver broke two tackles to reach the end zone with 2:24 remaining. A conversion pass to Jones gave East a 20-14 lead.

But the Rockets (0-2)weren't done. Sophomore quarterback Jonathan Powell connected with Vince Papley for a 29-yard pass to the East 21. Chase Conti swept around left end for 15 more yards, giving the Rockets a first down at the 6-yard line with 1:05 left.

Ryan Ferguson ran up the middle for two yards before Conti got tripped up trying to get outside and was held to a one-yard gain. Papley couldn't latch onto a third-down pass in the end zone on third down.

A pitch to Jesse Kniess on fourth down netted no yardage and East had its victory — one week after suffering a 51-0 loss to McDowell.

East scored the only points of the first half, capping a 45-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tim McCullum on a fourth-and-6 play with 11:12 left in the half.

Slippery Rock threatened to score late in the half, marching 59 yards to a first down at the Warriors' 17-yard line. But Powell was sacked on the next play and a third-down pass went off McDougall's hands and was intercepted by Pochatko.

"I had some words for my team at halftime, but I'll keep those words between myself and the team,"Conti said.

Whatever the words were, they worked.

Papley intercepted a pass on East's first snap of the third quarter and returned it 25 yards to the Warriors' 18. Kniess scored on a 1-yard run three plays later.

The Rockets took the lead on their next possession. Papley caught a 15-yard pass from Powell on a third-and-8 play, setting up Chase Conti's 30-yard touchdown run on a wingback sweep.

Conti dropped the handoff from Powell on the play, but it bounced right back into his hands and he weaved through defenders down the right sideline.

The Rockets fumbled seven times Saturday night, losing two of them. They suffered three turnovers overall.

"We stop them down by our goal line, then fumble it right back to them," coach Conti said. "You can't win that way. Too many mistakes."

Notes: A lightning delay stopped the game for 20 minutes after East pulled within 14-12. Following the delay, Slippery Rock stopped a would-be game-tying conversion run. ... Ferguson and Conti paced Slippery Rock's ground attack with 56 yards each. ... The Rockets host Sto-Rox at 7 p.m. Friday.East 20, Slippery Rock 14

Slippery Rock 0 0 14 0—14East 0 6 0 14—20SR E13 First Downs 939-140 Rushes-Yards 32-6652 Passing Yards 1344-13-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 7-12-2192 Total Yards 2007-2 Fumbles/Lost 1-04-28 Penalties-Yards 7-65

Second QuarterE — Tim McCullum 18 pass from Steve Pochatko (pass failed), 11:12

Third QuarterSR — Jesse Kniess 1 run (Craig Bicehouse kick), 8:50SR — Chase Conti 30 run (Bicehouse kick), 2:16

Fourth QuarterE — Pochatko 1 run (run failed), 10:18E — Dajour Stewart 17 passes from Pochatko (Scott Jones pass from Pochatko), 2:24

Individual Statistics

Passing: Slippery Rock, Jonathan Powell 4-13-52-1. East, Steve Pochatko 6-11-87-2, Travis Williams 1-1-47-0.

Rushing: Slippery Rock, Jonathan Powell 7-(-1), Jesse Kniess 9-10, Ryan Ferguson 13-56, Andrew Novak 4-19, Chase Conti 6-56. East, Steve Pochatko 5-9, Travis Williams 15-27, Javon Crosby 10-31, Jameele Williams 2-(-1).

Receiving: Slippery Rock, Jesse Kniess 1-10, Chase Conti 1-(-2), Vince Papley 2-44.