SLIPPERY ROCK — The Slippery Rock High football team wasn't going to fold after back-to-back losses.

The Rockets laid all their cards on the table Friday night.

Slippery Rock built an early 13-0 edge on visiting Oil City in the first quarter before closing out a 27-6 win.

“We really wanted them to come out here and set the tone early,” Slippery Rock coach Brendan Hathaway said. “I think that led the way for the rest of the three quarters.”

The Rockets forced their District 10 Region 5-AAA counterparts to punt after a trio of three-and-outs in the first quarter, all while holding the Oilers to minus-3 yards of total offense.

Slippery Rock (6-3, 5-1) took a 7-0 lead at the 6:51 mark of the same frame on a 4-yard run by Ben Gaul and the ensuing extra point conversion by kicker Michael Stutz.

The drive spanned 58 yards on 10 plays and was extended by a 40-yard run from Slippery Rock quarterback Ryan Currie.

The Rockets went ahead 13-0 later in the quarter on a 13-yard pass from Currie to Gaul that capped off a six-play, 51-yard drive.

The Rockets added another TD with 3:28 to play in the second quarter on an 8-yard run by Currie that saw the quarterback shake off an Oil City tackler while powering his way into the end zone for a 20-0 lead.

In the third quarter, after seeing an earlier drive come to a halt after a fumble, the Rockets took a 27-0 lead on a 63-yard pass from Currie to Sam Furrh.

Kevin Daly put the Oilers on the board with 4:40 to go on a 1-yard run.

Oil City coach Matt LaVerde had Daly again try for the two-point conversion, which came up empty.

Currie finished a fine night that saw him contribute 156 of Slippery Rock's 321 yards of total offense.

Rockets' running back Jeff Croll led all rushers with 88 yards on 12 carries, while Gaul ran for 74 yards on seven attempts.

LaVerde said he knew the Oilers were in for a challenge in stopping the Rockets.

“Whenever you have the triple option, it's dangerous. And whenever you have a good quarterback who can run and throw, it's dangerous,” he said. “(Currie) made a lot of plays to make us not win the ballgame.”

Hathaway was very pleased with what he saw out of Currie.

“He threw the ball well when he needed to and ran,” Hathaway said. “He's becoming the quarterback that I know he wants to be and we want him to be, too, because he has a ton of potential. … He's working really hard and he's running really well and really tough.”

The Rockets, though, had made shutting Oil City down a top priority in practice, Hathaway said.

“We worked a lot on defense this week,” he said. “We wanted to set the tone out here defensively.”

“Oil City has a lot of weapons,” Hathaway added. “We wanted to keep everything in front of us, (try not to) give up the big play and hit hard, and I think we did that.”

After dropping back-to-back games to a pair of D-10's top teams in Hickory and Grove City, the Rockets' win over the Oilers likely improved their positioning in the playoffs to nothing less than the No. 3 or 4 seed in Class AAA.