SLIPPERY ROCK — One first down and a 24-7 deficit at halftime.

“That's the worst half of football we've played in a long, long time,” Slippery Rock University coach Shawn Lutz said.

Things didn't get much better for the sixth-ranked Rock in the second half Saturday as it took a stunning 48-21 homecoming loss at the hands of Indiana (Pa.) at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The defeat snapped SRU's 19-game winning streak against PSAC West foes and 25-game streak against unranked opponents.

“These guys aren't used to losing,” Lutz said. “This one stings. It hurts.”

“Nobody believed we could come in here and win this game except our players, coaches and families,” Indiana coach Paul Tortorella said. “We got it done.”

With authority.

SRU's lone first down of the first half occurred on a gadget play. Kyle Pitts took a lateral from quarterback Andrew Koester and lobbed a 36-yard pass downfield to Henry Litwin. Sheets was Litwin's quarterback when they played at Conneaut Area High School.

That possession ended with a turnover on downs at the IUP 19-yard line. The Crimson Hawks (5-1, 4-0) then marched 74 yards, getting a 24-yard field goal from Tyler Luther for a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter.

IUP never trailed from there. A sack of Koester resulted in a fumble recovery by IUP's Connor Kelly at the Rock 18-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Harry Woodbery found Irvin Charles in the end zone from 23 yards out for a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Woodbery threw five TD passes on the day, three of them to Charles.

“That guy (Charles) was a nightmare in the red zone,” Lutz said. “We just couldn't stop him.”

K.D. Roberts intercepted Woodbery at the IUP 18, setting up a Tim Smith 8-yard touchdown run that pulled The Rock (6-1, 3-1) within 10-7 with 10:09 still left before halftime.

“I felt like, 'OK, we got off to a slow start, but now we're gonna get it going,'” Lutz admitted.

Not to be.

The Crimson Hawks responded with a 55-yard touchdown drive, then intercepted Koester, setting up shop at the SRU 34. Charles' second TD catch — this one covering 5 yards — gave IUP its 17-point halftime bulge.

“It was important for us to respond to their touchdown,” Charles said. “We couldn't let our heads get down. We had to re-take control of the game and we did.”

Koester was intercepted three times in the game. He did not complete a pass until a 7-yard dump-off to Cinque Sweeting on the final play of the half.

“They came out in a defense we weren't prepared to face and it took us too long to adjust,” Koester said of the first half. “We did a better job in the second half, but you can't allow your team to get in a big hole like that.

“A lot of that was on me.”

Lutz said IUP came out “in a Cover 2, doubling down on our receivers. We had to be able to run the ball against that defense and we couldn't.”

IUP quickly put the game away early in the third quarter. Three plays into the second half, Woodbery found Duane Brown deep for a 45-yard touchdown pass. The Crimson Hawks then executed a pooch kick, which IUP's Daniel Deabner recovered at SRU's 33. That set up another Luther field goal and a 34-7 lead.

“We saw a gap in their (kick) coverage and decvided to pooch it there,” Tortorella said. “The fact we recovered the ball was a bonus.”

Koester was sacked three times, was often under pressure and turned the ball over on four occasions.

“We challenged our defensive line this week,” Totorella said. “We hadn't been getting to quarterbacks much and knew we had to pressure (Koester) because we weren't going to be able to stay with their receivers for very long.

“(Koester) seemed to get nervous back there. He had to hurry throws. That meant a lot in this game.”

SRU scored twice in the second half, but with the game out of hand. Koester tossed touchdown passes to Sweeting and Litwin.

“We just got beat,” Lutz said. “Indiana played a great game. We have to own it and move on.

“We lost our one-on-one's today. Their lineman beat our lineman, their receiver beat our cover guy, and on down the line.”

While Saturday's loss puts IUP in position to win the PSAC West, barring any further upsets, Koester said The Rock's season is far from done.

“We can still accomplish what we want to do,” he said. “We'll put this one behind us and move forward.”

Notes: Tim Vernick and Peyton Remish led SRU with 10 tackles each. ... Kelly had 12 tackles for IUP. ... Sweeting had 193 all-purpose yards for The Rock. ... SRU lost at home for just the fifth time in 46 games, dating back to 2013. ... Litwin has 36 career TD catches and needs 17 yards to become the second Rock player to reach 3,000 receiving yards. ... SRU plays at Mercyhurst at noon Saturday.

Indiana (Pa.) 3 21 17 7 — 48

Slippery Rock 0 7 7 7 — 21

First Quarter

IUP — Tyler Luther 24 field goal, 3:49

Second Quarter

IUP — Irvin Charles 23 pass from Harry Woodbery (Luther kick), 13:57

SRU — Tim Smith 8 run (DJ Opsatnik kick), 10:09

IUP — Malik Anderson 2 run (Luther kick), 4:37

IUP — Charles 5 pass from Woodbery (Luther kick), :36

Third Quarter

IUP — Duane Brown 45 pass from Woodbery (Luther kick), 13:17

IUP — Luther 24 field goal, 11:07

SRU — Cinque Sweeting 5 pass from Andrew Koester (Opsatnik kick), 4:54

IUP — Charles 26 pass from Woodbery (Luther kick), :15

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Henry Litwin 8 pass from Koester (Opsatnik kick), 3:28

IUP — Qashah Carter 22 pass from Woodbery (Luther kick), 2:20

Individual Statistics

Rushing: IUP, Justice Evans 18-78, Malik Anderson 16-53, TEAM 1-(-1), Harry Woodbery 1-(-4). SRU, Tim Smith 10-40, Cinque Sweeting 4-23, Chris D'Or 4-15, Andrew Koester 7-(-8).

Passing: IUP, Harry Woodbery 23-36-312-1. SRU, Andrew Koester 20-45-228-3. Kyle Sheets 1-1-36-0.

Receiving: IUP, Duane Brown 6-136, Irvin Charles 5-64, Qashah Carter 4-32, Justice Evans 3-27, Grant Smith 2-35, Cam Suman 2-12, Malik Anderson 1-6. SRU, Cinque Sweeting 8-79, Jermaine Wynn Jr. 4-51, Henry Litwin 3-57, Kyle Sheets 1-37, Tyler Settle 1-22, Gavyn Barnes 1-12, Chris D'Or 1-3, Tim Smith 1-3.