ERIE — The statistics stung.

Slippery Rock University was held to 47 yards of net offense — including one yard rushing — in a 21-13 college football loss to Mercyhurst Saturday at Tullio Field.

"That's embarrassing," SRU coach George Mihalik said upon hearing such numbers.

It was frustrating as well. Despite managing only six first downs all day and allowing the Lakers to possess the ball for 42 minutes, The Rock was in the game until the final minutes.

"Part of that is because they're a good football team and teams like that find a way to hang around," Mercyhurst coach Marty Schaetzle said. "The other part of that is we made too many mistakes.

"You can't turn the ball over. You'tre asking for trouble."

The Lakers asked for it. The Rock couldn't provide it.

"Our offense didn't hold up its end today. There's no hiding that fact," Mihalik said. "One drive could have changed this game. We never got it."

The loss virtually ended any playoff hopes for SRU (6-3, 3-3), which closes the season with consecutive home games against Gannon and C.W. Post.

All three SRU scores were aided by or scored by the defense and special teams. The Rock trailed 7-0 midway through the second quarter when an Aaron Moul quarterback sack forced the Lakers to punt from their end zone, against a stiff wind.

SRU took possession at the Mercyhurst 37 and moved 29 yards in seven plays — its longest drive of the day — before settling for a C.J. Bahr 25-yard field goal.

The Lakers answered that with a 14-play, 74-yard drive that ate 6:54 off the clock. Quindell Dean and Brandon Watters nearly had interceptions during the possession and Mercyhurst quarterback Travis Rearick found Terrance Coon for nine yards on a fourth-and-nine from the SRU 23.

Gerald Anderson scored on a 3-yard run with 2:01 left in the half. Anderson had 35 carries for 161 yards on the day.

A 39-yard fumble return by Watters gave SRU possession at the Lakers' 21-yard line moments later. Three plays netted nothing and Bahr booted a 38-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 14-6 at halftime.

Coon's 29-yard touchdown catch on a fourth-and-eight late in the third quarter hiked the Mercyhurst lead to 21-6. The Rock offense had yet to generate a first down in the second half.

""Everything we tried to do ... They were just flying to the football," SRU running back Akeem Satterfield said. "It seemed like we couldn't find any room anywhere."

Satterfield was limited to 29 yards on 10 carries.

But SRU received new life when a Robert Doiley hit jarred the football out of Anderson's hands. Andre Freeman scooped the ball up and raced 32 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown with 10:47 left in the game.

"That play energized our whole sideline," Satterfield said.

But The Rock offense never approached midfield again.

"Our defense had been banged up and we got a lot of those guys back today," Schaetzle said. "That played a big part in our performance."

Mercyhurst (7-2, 5-1) can win its first PSAC West title with a home win against Clarion this Saturday. The Lakers joined the league three years ago.

"All a coach can ask from his team is maximum effort and our team gave that today," Mihalik said. "Our offense was playing hard. We were just ineffective."

Mercyhurst 21, SRU 13Slippery Rock 0 6 0 7 — 13Mercyhurst 7 7 7 0 — 21SRU M6 First Downs 2319-1 Rushes-Yards 44-15746 Passing Yards 2107-26-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 22-38-047 Total Yards 3672-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-24-35 Penalties-Yards 11-85

First QuarterM — Trevor Kennedy 11 pass from Travis Rearick (Steven Wakefield kick), 8:23

Second QuarterSRU — C.J. Bahr 25 field goal, 8:55M — Gerald Anderson 3 run (Wakefield kick), 2:01SRU — Bahr 38 field goal, :27

Third QuarterM — Terrance Coon 29 pass from Travis Rearick (Wakefield kick), 3:44

Fourth QuarterSRU — Andre Freeman 32 fumble return (Bahr kick), 10:47

Individual StatisticsPassing: SRU, Ryan Sabo 7-26-46-1. Mercyhurst, Travis Rearick 22-38-210-0.

Rushing: SRU, Akeem Satterfield 10-29, LaQuinn Stephens-Howling 5-6, Geron James 1-(-12), Ryan Sbo 3-(-22). Mercyhurst, Gerald Anderson 35-161, Jeff Groene 1-1, Travis Rerick 5-(-2), Team 3-(-3).

Receiving: SRU, Devin Goda 4-20, Bobby Joyce 3-26. Mercyhurst, Trevor Kennedy 9-74, Terrance Coon 6-84, Jeff Groene 4-20, R.J. Miller 1-13, Ryan Bartizal 1-10, Matt Mohr 1-9.