Terrific turnaround
SLIPPERY ROCK — It's been quite the ride for the Slippery Rock High football team this fall.
Time after time, the Rockets have used a bit of magic to put together a remarkable turnaround.
Look no further than the team's first touchdown in Friday night's 23-12 win over Greenville as an example of their charmed life in 2011.
After a 68-yard drive in the first quarter had seemed to fizzle to an end at the Greenville 4-yard line, Slippery Rock coach Brendan Hathaway sent his field goal unit out to try a chip shot.
A bad snap, though, had holder Ryan Currie running for his life.
Just when it looked like the Trojans were going to force Currie to run out of bounds and turn the ball over on downs, Currie found Chris Thomas open for an anything-but-easy pitch-and-catch.
“It was a fumbled snap and Ryan went back and made a play,” Hathaway said of the miscue. “Chris Thomas came down with it and made a great catch in the back of the end zone.”
The snap on the extra point attempt didn't go according to plan, either. This time, the Rockets weren't as lucky as another attempt by Currie to hit Thomas fell incomplete and Slippery Rock had to settle for just a 6-0 edge with 4:38 to go in the opening frame.
Slippery Rock went on to add another 17 points to its tally and held off a late Greenville comeback attempt to improve to 7-3 on the campaign, a season after finishing 0-10.
The victory was Slippery Rock's second straight after back-to-back losses to a pair of District 10 stalwarts in Hickory and Grove City and came in a game where the Rockets didn't have much on the line to play for after already locking down a spot in the D-10 Class AAA playoffs for the first time since 2008.
“I'm just so proud of them,” Hathaway said. “They deserve all the credit. They worked hard this year and they deserve these last two wins at home.
“It's so much fun and it's an honor to coach this team because of the young men,” Hathaway added. “What they do in school, what they do in the community, what they do on the football field, it makes it an honor to coach them. This team is not only successful this year, these seniors are going to be successful in life.”
Slippery Rock ran up a 16-0 lead in the first half Friday and seemed to have the Trojans confused as the Rockets' option-based offense ran wild.
Slippery Rock took a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Michael Stutz. Later in the frame, Slippery Rock closed out a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring run by Jeff Croll.
The Trojans got on the board in the third frame with the stanza's only score, a 34-yard TD pass from quarterback Tyler Gentile to Nico Zahniser. The try for the two-point conversion was broken up.
Slippery Rock pulled ahead 23-6 with a 1-yard TD run by Currie with 8:41 to go in the final quarter that ended a nine-play, 62-yard drive.
Greenville scored again with 6:22 to go on a 4-yard run by Corey Douglas that cut the Trojans' deficit to the final margin. Again, the two-point try failed and a late attempt to further cut into the deficit came to an abrupt end when Thomas picked off Gentile in the end zone with 1:25 remaining.
The Rockets outgained the Trojans 328-268, but Gentile closed out the evening having completed 18 of his 36 attempts with the single interception for 220 yards, hitting eight different Greenville receivers.
Ben Gaul ran for a game-high 108 yards on 17 attempts for the Rockets.
The win on senior night closed out a perfect record at home for Slippery Rock this season and sets up an opportunity for the Rockets to play spoiler in the tough AAA tournament.
“We're going to go out there and, whoever (we play), we're going to prepare like we have all year,” Hathaway said. “These guys earned a playoff spot and we're going to go try and win the first playoff game.”
The Rockets will face Corry, East or Meadville when the opening round slate of D-10 Class AAA games are announced Sunday afternoon, with the site still to be determined as well. Cathedral Prep and unbeaten Grove City, which was idle this week, have earned a bye and will play in the district semifinals Nov. 18..
