EAST STROUDSBURG— Depth pays.

It paid off for Slippery Rock University in Saturday's 31-24 college football victory over East Stroudsburg.

The Rock (5-1, 0-1) played without PSA Crushing leader Corey Manfull, its most productive wide receiver in Paul Favers and all-conference defensive end Cory Lacek, the latter aggravating a groin injury in the first half. Manfull was nursing a shoulder injury while Favers was suspended for a game for violating team rules.

"Cory was OK(medically) to play, but we didn't want to take a chance on him taking a hard hit on that shoulder,"SRU coach Gerorge Mihalik said.

Their absences didn't matter on this day.

SRU racked up 552 yards of offense on 86 plays and recovered four fumbles defensively in holding off the stubborn Warriors (1-4).

Ryan Lehmeier rushed for 229 yards and two touchdowns while Damarcus Cleckley added 109 yards and one TD on the ground.

"Ryan was incredible,"Mihalik said. "He ran over people and ran away from people all day."

Colin Golden caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Nate Crookshank and Terry Grossetti had a career-high eight catches for 108 yards.

Mike White filled in for Lacek and had a quarterback sack and fumble recovery. A.J. Saunders, Brad Mueller and Clint Forsha also recovered fumbles for The Rock.

The final score might have been higher, but SRUkicker C.J. Bahr and East Stroudsburg's Greg Knauss both misfired on two field goal attempts.

The game was even at 17 at halftime. SRUtook the lead for good by marching 64 yards on five plays to begin the third quarter. Lehmeier scored on a 47-yard run.

Late in the third quarter, Forsha recovered a fumble by East Stroudsburg quarterback Tim Roken at the Warriors' 25-yard line. On the final play of the quarter, Damarcus Cleckley scored on a 1-yard run.

Roken guided his team on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard TDtoss to Doug Ogden, pulling the Warriors within 31-24 with 10 minutes left in the game.

SRUturned the ball over on downs at the East Stroudsburgh 20-yard line — not attempting a field goal — with 5:26 left. The Warrior offense went three-and-out, however, White stopping running back Joe Partridge for a three-yard loss on third-and-two.

The Rock controlled the ball for the game's final 3:49.

"The field goal would have been about 38 yards against a stiff wind and that would have tested C.J.'s limit," Mihalik said.

Slippery Rock31, East Stroudsburg 24

Slippery Rock 3 14 14 0—31East Stroudsburg 7 10 0 7—24SRU ES25 First Downs 1453-332 Rushes-Yards 20-92220 Passing Yards 23618-33-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 17-32-0552 Total Yards 3281-0 Fumbles/Lost 4-49-70 Penalties-Yards 8-60

First QuarterSRU — C.J. Bahr 18 field goal, 6:04ES — Drew Stem 16 pass from Tim Roken (Greg Knauss kick), 5:00

Second QuarterES — Knauss 42 field goal, 12:34SRU— Colin Golden 25 pass from Nate Crookshank (Bahr kick), 9:08SRU— Ryan Lehmeier 26 run (Bahr kick), 8:18ES— Roken 4 run (Knauss kick), 7:20

Third QuarterSRU— Lehmeier 47 run (Bahr kick), 12:52SRU— Damarcus Cleckley 1 run (Bahr kick), :00

Fourth QuarterES— Doug Ogden 7 pass from Roken (Knauss kick), 10:06

Individual Statistics

Passing: SRU, Nate Crookshank 18-33-220-1. East Stroudsburg, Tim Roken 17-32-236-0.

Rushing: SRU, Ryan Lehmeier 27-229, Damarcus Cleckley 19-109, Nate Crookshank 3-2, Travis Sarver 1-(-5), TEAM3-(-3). East Stroudsburg, Joe Partridge 11-63, Tim Roken 9-29.

Receiving: SRU, Terry Grossetti 8-108, Colin Golden 5-78, Ross Hornish 2-14, Dallas Richardson 1-9, Josh Prigorac 1-6, Frank Cremonese 1-5. East Stroudsburg, Sam Shuman 5-93, Joe Partridge 4-26, Doug Ogden 3-34, Drew Stem 3-24, Jeff Giglio 2-59.