SLIPPERY ROCK— Slippery Rock University's dormant offense came alive Saturday — with a little help from its friends.

A lot of help, actually.

The Rock's defense forced six turnovers and the special teams produced a takeaway in a 45-7 football victory over winless Lock Haven at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

"Those turnovers played a huge part in this," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "When your offense has been sputtering, you love playing on a short field."

SRU (5-5, 3-4) rolled up 360 yards in offense, but four of its six touchdown drives were fewer than 40 yards because of Lock Haven mistakes.

"When you make the mistakes we made out there today, you don't even give yourself a chance,"Bald Eagles coach John Klacik said. "We've had turnovers before, but not like this."

A.J. Saunders set up The Rock's first points of the game with a 63-yard interception return to the Lock Haven 2-yard line, setting up a 1-yard scoring run by Corey Manfull.

An Anthony Walls interception set up a 22-yard drive that ended with a 40-yard C.J. Bahr field goal.

Lock Haven (0-10, 0-7) responded, however, as Reggie Mencer caught a swing pass in the flat and raced 45 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown, pulling his team within 10-7 with 11:59 left in the first half.

The Bald Eagles threatened to take the lead later in the half, but suffered perhaps the biggest turnover of the day.

On third-and-10 from the SRU 36, a lateral to Ibrahim Smith was behind him. As Smith reached back for the ball, he tipped it up in the air as he was falling to the turf. SRU lineman Tyler Boudreau lunged for the loose ball and caught it at midfield.

"It never did hit the ground," Boudreau said. "It bounced off his hand, then off his foot ... I just saw the ball dangling there and went for it."

Seven plays later, The Rock was in the end zone, Ryan Lehmeier throwing a 12-yard scoring strike to Terry Grossetti with 1:32 left in the half.

"We didn't want them hanging around, building up momentum," Mihalik said. "That was a key sequence there."

Disaster struck the Bald Eagles early in the third quarter. A fumbled snap on third-and-24 from the Lock Haven 6-yard line was recovered by The Rock's Pat Marsilio at the 3. Manfull scored on the next play.

Manfull added a 15-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter and Sayquan Scott-Mitchell tacked on two TD runs as The Rock won going away.

The Bald Eagles used three quarterbacks on the day and gained 140 net yards.

"What I'm looking for is someone to run our offense with poise in pressure situations," Klacik said. "I'm still looking."

Lehmeier had a slight groin pull and Brad Galvan replaced him at quarterback after the first series of the third quarter. Galvan guided The Rock on a 77-yard scoring drive and completed eight of 13 passes on the day.

He had two well-thrown deep passes dropped in his second to last college football game. Galvan is expected to start this Saturday's finale against East Stroudsburg.

"He's earned that," Mihalik said. "Brad Galvan has helped every quarterback we've had since he's been here. He is a true team player."

"It felt good being in there, having a chance to get into the flow of the game,"Galvan said. "It definitely gives me confidence going into next week."

Notes: Mencer's 45-yard touchdown was Lock Haven's longest play from scrimmage this year. ... Grossetti had a season-high seven catches Saturday. ... Seven different SRUplayers had the takeaways:Boudreau, Marsilio, Jermale Cromerdie and Nate Sipes recovered fumbles, Saunders, Walls and Ryan Webb had interceptions. ... Karns City graduate and Lock Haven tight end Cameron Turner had three catches for 13 yards. ... SRU is 28-0-1 in its last 29 games vs. Lock Haven.SRU 45, Lock Haven 7

Lock Haven 0 7 0 0—7Slippery Rock 10 7 7 21—45LH SRU10 First Downs 2134-34 Rushes-Yards 51-250106 Passing Yards 11011-25-3 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 14-23-1140 Total Yards 3604-4 Fumbles/Lost 1-07-34 Penalties-Yards 5-46

First QuarterSRU— Corey Manfull 1 run (C.J. Bahr kick), 5:50SRU— Bahr 40 field goal, 2:13

Second QuarterLH— Reggie Mencer 45 pass from Jarryd Burkett (Brendon Pickel kick), 11:59SRU— Terry Grossetti 12 pass from Ryan Lehmeier (Bahr kick), 1:32

Third QuarterSRU— Manfull 3 run (Bahr kick), 11:58

Fourth QuarterSRU— Manfull 15 run (Bahr kick), 10:43SRU— Sayquan Scott-Mitchell 2 run (Bahr kick), 7:49SRU— Scott-Mitchell 12 run (Bahr kick), 6:56

Individual Statistics

Passing: Lock Haven, Jarryd Burkett 8-14-97-1, Jason Eby 2-8-8-1, Ibrahim Smith 1-2-1-0, Marc Domonkos 0-1-0-0. SRU, Ryan Lehmeier 6-10-50-1, Brad Galvan 8-13-60-0.

Rushing: Lock Haven, Reggie Mencer 14-39, Ibrahim Smith 11-5, Nick Keefer 1-5, Jason Eby 2-2, Jarryd Burkett 6-(-17). SRU, Sayquan Scott-Mitchell 13-98, Corey Manfull 19-78, Ryan Lehmeier 10-57, Brad Galvan 2-19, Damarcus Cleckley 3-3, Dallas Richardson 1-1, Team 3-(-6).

Receiving: Lock Haven, Nick Keefer 6-44, Cameron Turner 3-13, Reggie Mencer 1-45, Dane Ogden 1-4. SRU, Terry Grossetti 7-62, Justin Guadagni 3-18, Josh Prigorac 2-16, Corey Manfull 1-12, Sayquan Scott-Mitchell 1-2.