ERIE — It rained on and off Saturday afternoon at Mercyhurst University’s Saxon Stadium.

Slippery Rock University poured it on all day.

The Rock (6-0, 3-0) scored on 11 of its 12 possessions, Freeport graduate and SRU freshman Ben Lane recovered three fumbled kick returns, and the defense intercepted two passes Saturday in a 75-31 football triumph over Mercyhurst.

“Turnovers, turnovers,” Mercyhurst coach Ryan Riemedio said. “When you’re playing against a team that good — against any team, really — you can’t make the kind of mistakes we made today and expect to stay in the game."

The Lakers (1-5, 0-3) stayed in the game for the first half, however. When Jaylen Butera scored on a 55-yard run with 2:40 left in the second quarter, Mercyhurst trailed only 28-21. Butera rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns on the day. He ran for 142 yards in the first half.

“I didn’t like the way we played defense at all in the first half,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “We were missing way too many tackles. We shored that up much better in the second half.

“But our special teams ... man, what a game!”

After Mercyhurst pulled within 28-21, The Rock’s Kylon Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards to the Lakers’ 3-yard line. Khalid Dorsey scored on a 3-yard run on the next play. Mercyhurst added a field goal on the final play of the half to trail 35-24 at intermission.

Mercyhurst fumbled away the opening kickoff as Savion Harrison forced the ball out and Lane recovered at the Lakers’ 22-yard line. On 4th-and-9, SRU went for the first down instead of the field goal. Brayden Long found Cohen Russell for 16 yards and Isaiah Edwards dented the scoreboard with a 4-yard touchdown gallop.

Lane recovered the Lakers’ second fumbled kick return later in the first quarter, setting up a Long 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kam Kruseylak. His third recovered fumble on special teams occurred during a 34-point Rock third quarter that put the game away.

“I’ve never heard of one player recovering three fumbled kicks in one game,” Lutz said. “I wonder if that’s an NCAA record or something. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Lane smiled at the thought.

“It’d be great if that was a record, but the big thing is it helped us win the game,” Lane said. “We work as hard on special teams during practice as we do on offense and defense. Today, it paid off.

“I see the ball laying on the turf, I want that ball. Just throw your body on top of it.”

A 64-yard punt return by Tony Grimes and interceptions by Eddie Faulkner and Ali Abdul-Hakim in Mercyhurst territory helped SRU scored five touchdowns in less than 12 minutes in the third quarter. SRU’s starters were out of the game by the end of that quarter.

Long completed 22 of 27 passes for 224 yards and four touchdowns for The Rock. Kyle Sheets caught a pair of touchdown passes, Edwards and Chris D’Or ran for two scores each.

“Our special teams definitely jump-started us today,” Long said. “We were playing on short fields for much of this game.”

Four of The Rock’s scoring drives in the third quarter covered 23, 45, 34 and 1 yard. Grimes’ punt return took the ball to the 1-yard line.

The Rock reserves put together a 73-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter that ended on Zaire Hart-Hawkins’ 31-yard touchdown strike to Reis Watkins.

SRU rushed for 211 yards while Mercyhurst ran for 221.

“I felt like we could run the ball today. That was the game plan,” Riemedio said. “And we did run it successfully. But that offense of Slippery Rock’s was just too much. So were our mistakes.”

Lutz could only shake his head when thinking about his offensive unit.

“When we’re executing, I don’t know how you stop us,” he said.

Notes: Butler graduate Ethan Trettel had a pair of tackles on special teams for SRU. ... Michael Henwood and Max Heckert had six tackles each for The Rock, which used a number of players on both sides of the ball. ... SRU is 31-2 in its last 33 PSAC West games. ... Long has thrown one career interception in 188 pass attempts. ... The Rock scored 75 points for the first time since a 75-0 home win against Clarion two years ago. ... SRU defeated Mercyhurst for the eighth straight time. ... The Rock travels to Gannon for a noon kickoff this Saturday. Both teams are 3-0 in PSAC West play.

Slippery Rock 21 14 34 6 — 75

Mercyhurst 14 10 0 7 — 31

First Quarter

SRU — Isaiah Edwards 4 run (Kevin Robverts kick), 12:47

M — Jaylen Butera 25 run (Nathan Nagucki kick), 8:27

SRU — Kyle Sheets 13 pass from Brayden Long (Roberts kick), 6:54

SRU — Kam Kruzelyak 8 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 6:01

M — Braydon Black 3 pass from Adam Urena (Nagucki kick), :00

Second Quarter

SRU — Chris D’Or 1 run (Roberts kick), 8:51

M — Butera 45 run (Nagucki kick), 2:40

SRU — Khalid Dorsey 3 run (Roberts kick), 2:19

M — Nagucki 22 field goal, :00

Third Quarter

SRU — Cohen Russell 22 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 11:06

SRU — Sheets 5 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 9:37

SRU — Edwards 34 run (kick failed), 7:49

SRU — D’Or 18 run (Morgan Williamson kick), 5:10

SRU — Luke McCoy 1 run (Roberts kick), 3:23

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Reis Watkins 31 pass from Zaire Hart-Hawkins (kick failed), 8:21

M — Butera 1 run (Nagucki kick), 1:05

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Chris D’Or10-66, Khalid Dorsey 10-53, Luke McCoy 8-50, Isaiah Edwards 2-38, Brayden Long 1-6, TEAM 2-(-2). Mercyhurst, Jaylen Butera 27-204, Mike Pappas 4-22, Adam Urena 3-(-5).

Passing: SRU, Brayden Long 22-27-224-0, Zaire Hart-Hawkins 3-3-34-0. Mercyhurst, Adam Urena 21-32-197-2.

Receiving: SRU, Cohen Russell 5-86, Kyle Sheets 6-54, Kam Kruzelyak 6-43, Reis Watkins 1-31, Logan Ramper 2-24, Tony Grimes 1-15, Kylon Wilson 2-3, Khalid Dorsey 1-1, Jawon Hall 1-1. Mercyhurst, Joe Kerbacher 7-103, Jaylen Butera 5-43, Braydon Black 5-27, Ryan Mechley 1-20, Austin Urena 1-3, Darin Mizgorski 1-2, Mike Pappas 1-(-1).