ERIE — The most taken for granted play in football helped take a win away from Slippery Rock University.

The Rock missed two PATs Saturday afternoon at Gannon, including a blocked kick thatwas returned the other way for two points in a bizarre 51-48 loss to the Golden Knights.

"It's the most basic play in football," SRU coach George Mihalik said of the extra point. "But it wasn't that way today."

The teams combined for 1,026 yards and 47 first downs on the day. There were four touchdowns scored — three by Gannon — in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Golden Knights quarterback Zach Boedicker passed for 120 yards in less than three minutes to begin the second half.

But the game ultimately turned on a botched PAT.

Jermale Cromerdie caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Colavecchia with 2:13 left in the first half, giving The Rock (5-3, 2-3) a 27-14 lead. C.J. Bahr came on for a seemingly automatic PAT.

Bahr had converted a school-record 65 consecutive PATs, but Chris Cook stormed in to block this one. John Chisolm scooped up the loose ball and returned it for two points the other way.

Bahr suffered an achilles injury on the play and was unavailable the remainder of the game. He left the stadium on crutches and his status for this weekend is unknown.

Kurt Brackman, a sophomore, replaced Bahr and missed a PAT in the third quarter.

"That's a swing of four points right there," Mihalik said of the PAT plays. "There's the difference in the football game."

Both starting quarterbacks were benched the previous week due to ineffectiveness. Boedicker passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 108 yards, including a 61-yard TD, Saturday.

Colavecchia threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for two scores. But he had three critical interceptions in the contest.

"This was one of the crazier games I've been in," Boedicker said. "We knew Slippery Rock's strength was the big play. We had to answer some of them with play-action on first down. Plays were there."

Jon Richardson's 48-yard TD run with 4:12 to play gave Gannon (3-5, 1-4) a 51-41 lead. Richardson rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns. He had 176 all-purpose yards, leaving him a yard shy of Gannon's career record.

The Rock responded with a 60-yard drive, Colavecchia scoring on a 13-yard run with 2:24 left. An onsides kick failed, but tackles by Mike White and Marty Kern forced a three-and-out. SRU got the ball back at its own 25 with 1:15 remaining.

"We never threw in the towel on this one," Mihalik said. "I guess there were a few times when we could have."

A 52-yard pass to Cromerdie along the left sideline gave SRU a first down at Gannon's 23 with 59 seconds left. After a procedure penalty moved the ball back, Colavecchia tried calling Cromerdie's number again.

This time, Cromerdie stopped at about the 5-yard line and the pass sailed into the end zone, where Cook was waiting for an easy interception.

"That was my fault," Colavecchia said. "I read the wrong route. I thought Jermale was going to the left corner of the end zone."

Cook was burned on the 52-yard Cromerdie catch moments earlier.

"Coach told us all day to keep the receivers in front of us because Slippery Rock liked to go deep," Cook said. "I learned from that mistake."

The 99 combined points were the most in a Rock game since SRU defeated Kutztown 68-38 in 1999. SRU had not allowed 50 points in a game since a 54-28 loss to Clarion in 1996.

Notes: The Rock hosts California at 1 p.m. Saturday to close out its home schedule. ... SayQuan Scott-Mitchell rushed for 139 yards and two TDs. ... SRU suffered four turnovers to Gannon's one. Tyler Henderson recovered a Gannon fumble late in the third quarter. ... Cromerdie had a career-high five catches for 102 yards.Gannon 51, SRU 48

Slippery Rock 14 13 6 15 — 48Gannon 7 16 21 7 — 51SRU G26 First Downs 2140-202 Rushes-Yards 40-311266 Passing Yards 24715-32-3 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 11-15-0468 Total Yards 5583-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-15-55 Penalties-Yards 10-74

First QuarterSRU — Rocco Colavecchia 1 run (C.J. Bahr kick), 2:50G — Jon Richardson 26 run (Jeremy Ditzler kick), :53SRU — Akeem Satterfield 92 kick return (Bahr kick), :40

Second QuarterSRU — Kevin Guidish 19 pass from Colavecchia (Bahr kick), 11:32G — Levar Goff 31 pass from Zach Boedicker (Ditzler kick), 8:09SRU — Jermale Cromerdie 28 pass from Colavecchia (kick blocked), 2:13G — John Chisolm returned blocked PAT, 2:13G — Boedicker 61 run (Ditzler kick), 1:22

Third QuarterG — Evan Twombly 13 pass from Boedicker (Ditzler kick), 13:04G — Goff 40 pass from Boedicker (Ditzler kick), 12:03SRU — SayQuan Scott-Mitchell 4 run (kick failed), 9:18G — Tyler Batts 69 run (Ditzler klick), 9:05

Fourth QuarterSRU — Scott-Mitchell 6 run (Guidish pass from Colavecchia), 14:17G — Richardson 48 run (Ditzler kick), 4:12SRU — Colavecchia 13 run (Kurt Brackman kick), 2:24

Individual StatisticsPassing: SRU, Rocco Colavecchia 15-32-266-3. Gannon, Zach Boedicker 11-15-247-0.

Rushing: SRU, SayQuan Scott-Mitchell 23-139, Rocco Colavecchia 7-27, Damarcus Cleckley 4-26, Ryan Lehmeier 6-10. Gannon, Jon Richardson 18-115, Zach Boedicker 12-108, Tyler Batts 8-90, Team 2-(-2).

Receiving: SRU, Jermale Cromerdie 5-102, Devin Goda 4-73, SayQuan Scott-Mitchell 2-28, Kenny Cottman 2-24, Kevin Sanders 1-20, Kevin Guidish 1-19. Gannon, Levar Goff 2-77, Geoff Hicks 2-55, Jonathan Jones 2-41, Evan Twombly 2-20, Jason Ladouceur 1-47, Cory Bradley 1-10, Jon Richardson 1-3.