SLIPPERY ROCK — Alex Duffalo was mobbed by teammates as the fans that were in attendance at Troy-Alan Stadium yelled in full throat.

Duffalo beamed.

It was an odd night for the Slippery Rock High kicker.

A busy one, too.

The guy nicknamed “Dutch” came up clutch.

Duffalo banged a 27-yard field goal through the uprights in overtime to cap a wild night for the Rockets' kicker in a 17-14 win over rival Grove City Friday.

“Lot of happiness,” Duffalo said, still beaming after the game. “Usually in high school for a kick it's kick and extra point, punt the ball — nothing too exciting.”

Duffalo had lots of excitement, especially in the final minute of regulation and in overtime.

Trailing 14-7, Slippery Rock sophomore William Mokel led the Rockets on a 14-play, 60-yard touchdown drive. Mokel capped the march with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Plesakov with 11 second remaining.

But Slippery Rock was flagged for excessive celebration after the score, moving the extra point attempt back 15 yards.

“I went out and was thinking, 'I got this,'” Duffalo said. “But the (official) kept moving the ball back.”

Didn't matter. Duffalo converted the 36-yard kick.

More was in store for Duffalo.

After Plesakov blocked a 26-yard field goal attempt by Grove City's John Hake to end the Eagles' overtime possession, Duffalo was called on again.

This time with his legs — plural.

Slippery Rock was backed up from its 10 to the 23 after two plays. Rockets' coach Larry Wendereusz sent out the field goal team on third down and Duffalo lined up for a 41-yard attempt.

Instead, the Rockets faked it with holder Plesakov flipping the ball to Duffalo, who scampered for 13 yards to the 10.

On fourth down, Duffalo booted the game-winning, 27-yard field goal.

“We practice that a lot, believe it or not,” Duffalo said of the fake. “We take a lot of pride in our special teams.”

Duffalo, who also plays soccer for Slippery Rock, is no stranger to sprinting.

He said he thought he was going to get more yards on the fake but, “the daylight closed fast.”

His effort made his own field goal a bit easier, although he said he could have made the 41-yarder.

“No doubt,” Duffalo said, chuckling.

Wendereusz said it was the right time and place for that fake.

“We noticed, probably two weeks ago, everyone and their brother was coming off the edge,” Wendereusz said. “So we said if they're going to come off the edge hard and there's just one, we're going to do what we need to do.”

Wendereusz told Plesakov and Duffalo that if Grove City lined up the right way, the fake was a go.

The Eagles did.

“If we get it, great,” Wendereusz said. “If not, we would just kick it from there.”

Duffalo was booming kicks in pre-game warmups, which only gave him more confidence Friday night.

The win also gives Slippery Rock confidence after a tough road loss at Sharon last week.

Both teams moved the ball well in the first half, but had drives stall inside the red zone.

Grove City managed the only points in the first half on a 40-yard touchdown run by Curtis Hovis, who finished with 125 yards on 25 carries.

Slippery Rock tied the score on a 26-yard run by Shane Thompson in the third quarter.

Before that TD run, the Rockets had only 26 yards rushing as a team.

Because of the struggles in the running game, Mokel threw the ball 44 times, completing 24 for 279 yards and a touchdown.

“I don't remember the last time I threw the ball that much in a game,” Mokel said. “Probably never.”

Grove City took a 14-7 lead with 2:54 remaining in regulation when Zack Martin leaked into the left flat all alone to catch an 18-yard touchdown pass from Zach Rodgers, who was starting at quarterback in the place of injured Logan Breese.

Rodgers himself was gimpy.

“Zach did a great job tonight,” said Grove City coach Sam Mowrey. “He's a starting wide receiver for us, but he's learning all kinds of positions. He stepped up for us.”

So did Mokel for Slippery Rock.

Mokel, nicknamed “Zip” when he was 3 because, as he said, “I always had a lot of engery” was calm and serene on the game-tying drive.

His pass low to Plesakov was perfectly placed.

“That's what quarterbacks dream of — going down to score,” Mokel said. “It feels good. I just tried to stay calm. The job wasn't finished yet. We had to make the extra point and go into overtime. We just had to go win the game.”

The Rockets did that and as a result threw the region into a muddled mess.

Grove City and Slippery Rock are now both 2-3 and tied for second place in the region behind 5-0 Hickory, which barely survived a scare from 1-5 Sharon.

“Things could get real dicey next week,” Wendereusz said. “We have to wait and see what District 10 will do.”

It was just nice to get a win against Grove City in what could be the final home game of the season.

It also broke a six-game losing streak to the Eagles.

“As I told the seniors, 'How nice would it be in possibly your last home game to go out and beat Grove City,'” Wendereusz said. “They responded.”

Grove City 0 7 0 7 0 — 14

S. Rock 0 0 7 7 3 — 17

Second Quarter

GC — Curtis Hovis 40 run (John Hake kick), 3:45

Third Quarter

SR — Shane Thompson 26 run (Alex Duffalo kick), 3:22

Fourth Quarter

GC — Zack Martin 18 pass from Zach Rodgers (Hake kick), 2:54

SR — Ethan Plesakov 5 pass from William Mokel (Duffalo kick), :11

Overtime

SR — Duffalo 27 field goal

Individual Statistics

Rushing:Grove City, Curtis Hovis 25-125, Gavin Lutz 7-55, Anthony Nemec 6-27, Zach Rodgers 5-4, TEAM 1-0. Slippery Rock, Shane Thompson 15-49, Brett Galcik 4-13, Alex Duffalo 1-13, Ryan Montgomers 4-(-1), William Mokel 5-(-15).

Passing:Grove City, Zach Rodgers 13-26-157-1. Slippery Rock, William Mokel 24-44-279-0

Receiving:Grove City, Gavin Lutz 5-40, Anthony Pereira 3-51, John Hake 3-21, Zack Martin 2-45. Slippery Rock, John Sabo 6-120, Shane Thompson 5-54, Ethan Plesakov 5-42, Brett Galcik 4-50, Ryan Montgomery 3-(-1), Brendan Earl 1-14