KUTZTOWN — Slippery Rock University’s football team had its hopes dashed twice over the weekend.

The state championship eluded The Rock when Kutztown’s Erik Frazier caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Marshall Vogel with 2:59 to play Saturday at University Field. That play gave the Golden Bears a 21-14 victory in the PSAC title game.

Due to a number of final-week losses suffered by Division II playoff contenders in Super Region One, SRU (8-3) held out hope of attaining a playoff bid despite the loss.

Coach George Mihalik said his team had an “outside chance” of finishing ranked among the top six in the region and having its season extended.

That did not happen as co-PSAC West champion California (Pa.) wound up fourth and will travel to Elizabeth City Saturday. SRU defeated California, 17-3, during the regular season, only to drop its final two games to fall out of the No. 5 spot in the region.

“We were 15 minutes away from winning the state title and going to the playoffs,” Mihalik said. “This was a great college football game (Saturday).”

But it didn’t go The Rock’s way. Kutztown (10-1) wound up No. 3 in the region and never led until scoring that late fourth-quarter touchdown.

SRU took a 7-0 lead on the game’s opening possession, marching 74 yards in 11 plays. Akeem Satterfield, who returned to action after missing four games with a knee injury, scored on an 8-yard run. Satterfield had 25 carries for 103 yards.

“His return definitely gave us a spark,” Mihalik said.

Two James McCombie punts were downed at the Kutztown 1-yard line. Neither situation ended positively for The Rock.

Kevin Morton’s 41-yard scoring strike to Frazier culminated an eight-play, 99-yard drive after the first punt. Morton was last season’s PSAC East Player of the Year and will likely repeat that honor this season.

The quarterback suffered a sprained knee on the TD pass play and did not return.

After McCombie’s second punt was downed at the 1, Kutztown shanked a punt and SRU took possession at the Golden Bears’ 16-yard line. Kurt Brackman’s 28-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left, however.

Cody Endres tossed a 28-yard TD pass to Devin Goda midway through the third quarter to give The Rock the lead again. Vogel answered with a 16-yard scoring pass to Josh Mastromatto at the end of the quarter.

Vogel, a 6-foot-2, 226-pound senior, shined in relief, completing 25 of 39 passes for 300 yards.

“He came off the bench and delivered for them,” Mihalik said. “He played an outstanding game.

“If we could have ever gotten this to a double-digit lead, things may have turned out differently.”

Brackman was wide right on a 34-yard field goal attempt for The Rock with 10:02 left in the game.

Notes: Kutztown defeated SRU for the first time in nine tries. ... Endres wound up with SRU single-season passing records of 220 completions in 374 attempts for 2,551 yards. ... Goda had 75 catches for 1,028 yards and 11 TDs this year. He joined Greg Hopkins and Ryan McKavish as the only 1,000-yard receivers in Rock history. ... SRU intercepted three passes Saturday, including Brandon Watters’ eighth of the year, which tied a school record.

Kutztown 21, SRU 14Slippery Rock 7 0 7 0 — 14Kutztown 7 0 7 7 — 21SRU K16 First Downs 1930-120 Rushes-Yards 31-67233 Passing Yards 34619-39-2 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 27-43-3353 Total Yards 4131-0 Fumbles-Lost 1-13-26 Penalties-Yards 5-30

First QuarterSRU — Akeem Satterfield 8 run (Kurt Brackman kick), 10:05K — Erik Frazier 41 pass from Kevin Morton (Jack Ruggieri kick), 2:42

Third QuarterSRU — Devin Goda 28 pass from Cody Endres (Brackman kick), 8:02K — Josh Mastomatto 16 pass from Marshall Vogel (Ruggieri kick), :06

Fourth QuarterK — Frazier 14 pass from Vogel (Ruggieri kick), 2:59

Individual StatisticsPassing: SRU, Cody Endres 19-39-233-2. Kutztown, Kevin Morton 2-4-46-1, Marshall Vogel 25-39-300-2.

Rushing: SRU, Akeem Satterfield 25-103, Cody Endres 2-12, Jimmy Zubik 3-5. Kutztown, Robbie Frey 13-54, Josh Mastromatto 8-34, Kevin Morton 1-4, Curtis Wortham 2-0, Marshall Vogel 4-(-8), TEAM 3-(-17).

Receiving: SRU, Devin Goda 6-67, John Schademan 4-71, Kevin Sanders 4-39, LaQuinn Stephens-Howling 3-43, Jimmy Zubik 2-13. Kutztown, Erik Frazier 6-97, Justin Michalek 1-26, Colby Tuell 5-93, Josh Mastromatto 5-34, Josh Smith 3-28, Troy Foster 3-24, Zach Snyder 2-32, Curtis Wortham 2-12.