KUTZTOWN — The first turnover invited disaster. The second allowed it to walk through the door.

Robert Doiley's acrobatic 36-yard interception return with 4:29 left in the game enabled Slippery Rock University to snare a 27-24 football victory at Kutztown Saturday night.

The Rock improved to 3-0 despite minus-five yards of offense in the second half.

"We hung together and found a way to get it done," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "This was a character win, no question about it."

The lead changed hands six times on the night. Kutztown (2-1) fell behind 17-14 just before the half when Rocco Colavecchia found Kenny Cottman for an 8-yard touchdown pass with 1:02 left on the clock. The play culminated a 64-yard drive.

But The Rock's offense did nothing else the rest of the game.

"That drive at the end of the half was big," Mihalik said. "But our offense was completely shut down in the second half."

The Golden Bears quickly reclaimed the lead on the first possession of the third quarter, marching 68 yards in five plays. Shane Martin tossed a 29-yard scoring pass to Chris McCormick to conclude the drive.

Matt Dineen added a 28-yard field goal for a 24-17 advantage. Dineen had a chance to put Kutztown up by two scores late in the third quarter, but his 46-yard field goal attempt hit the goalpost.

While Slippery Rock didn't commit a turnover all night, Kutztown's first such miscue resulted in a 44-yard Bahr field goal with 10:24 left in the game.

McCormick caught a pass, but was stripped of the ball by SRU's A.J. Saunders. Travis Wolff fell on the loose football at the Golden Bears' 25-yard line.

After losing two yards on three plays from scrimmage, SRU settled for the Bahr field goal.

When Martin tried completing a bubble screen minutes later, Doiley leaped into the air, picked the ball off and beat Martin's pursuit to the end zone for the game-changing play.

"Robert was coming off the end on a blitz," Mihalik said. "I'm exaggerating, I know, but it seemed like he jumped six feet in the air to get the ball.

"Then, all in one motion, he pulls it down and takes off the other way. That play ranks among the top five I've seen in my years at Slippery Rock."

Mihalik is in his 22nd year as Rock head coach.

On its next possession, Kutztown went for the first down on 4th-and-4 mear midfield with nearly three minutes remaining and having all three of its timeouts. The pass fell incomplete and SRU was able to run out the clock.

"I was a little surprised they went for it there instead of trying to pin us deep," Mihalik admitted. "But that's a tough call for a coach. He knew all we needed was one first down to run it out."

The Rock possessed the football for only 3:22 of the fourth quarter. Kutztown held a 357-181 advantage in total yardage.

Notes: SRU senior cornerback Andre Freeman was suspended from the game Friday for a violation of team rules, leaving The Rock with just six available defensive backs Saturday. ... Dontay Wilson had 16 carries for 134 yards for Kutztown. ... Martin threw for two touchdowns and ran for one. ... The Rock had five quarterback sacks, Mike White getting two. ... Brandon Watters led SRU with nine tackles. ... The Rock travels to Edinboro for its PSAC West opener at 6 p.m. Saturday.SRU 27, Kutztown 24

Slippery Rock 3 14 0 10 — 27Kutztown 0 14 10 0 — 24SRU K13 First Downs 1730-82 Rushes-Yards 40-24299 Passing Yards 11512-27-0 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.)14-26-1181 Total Yards 3571-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-17-50 Penalties-Yards 8-70

First QuarterSRU — C.J. Bahr 33 field goal, 3:24

Second QuarterK — Shane Martin 10 run (Matt Dineen kick), 12:05SRU — Damarcus Cleckley 12 run (Bahr kick), 7:52K — Zach Snyder 7 pass from Martin (Dineen kick), 6:24SRU — Kenny Cottman 8 pass from Rocco Coavecchia (Bahr kick), 1:02

Third QuarterK — Chris McCormick 29 pass from Martin (Dineen kick), 12:29K — Dineen 28 field goal, 10:24

Fourth QuarterSRU — Bahr 44 field goal, 10:24SRU — Robert Doiley 36 interception return (Bahr kick), 4:29

Individual StatisticsPassing: SRU, Rocco Colavecchia 12-27-99-0. Kutztown, Shane Martin 14-26-115-1.

Rushing: SRU, SayQuan Scott-Mitchell 11-43, Damarcus Cleckley 8-39, Rocco Colavecchia 9-4, Team 2-(-4). Kutztown, Dontay Wilson 16-134, Shabne Martin 21-95, Kendell Coleman 3-13.

Receiving: SRU, Jermale Cromerdie 3-32, Damarcus Cleckley 3-15, Kenny Cottman 2-23, Kevin Guidish 2-14, Kevin Sanders 1-8, SayQuan Scott-Mitchell 1-7. Kutztown, Chris McCormick 5-46, Kendell Coleman 4-11, Jake Cahill 2-32, Colby Tuell 1-15, Zach Snyder 1-7, Jason Uhlig 1-4.