Freshman running back A.J. Saunders scored three touchdowns Saturday as the Slippery Rock University football team won at Kutztown, 34-10.

The win was the third in a row for The Rock (3-1), which travels to Clarion for a 6 p.m. kickoff this Saturday.

Saunders rushed for 89 yards and scored on runs of 1, 10 and 8 yards. SRU rushed for more than 200 yards as a team for the second consecutive game.

"All three of our backs ran well,"SRUcoach George Mihalik said. "They read the holes and had productive games."

The Rock built a 20-0 lead in the first half before Kutztown's Steve Sandberg drilled a 42-yard field goal just three seconds before intermission.

"We controlled the ball for 11:38 of the first quarter,"Mihalik said. "We had two long drives that stalled and we had to settle for field goals.

"We moved the ball offensively most of the game. We could have scored 35 points in the first half, really."

The Golden Bears (1-2) cut the gap to 20-10 early in the third quarter when Kyle Spotts tossed a 71-yard touchdown pass to Elfren Quiles. But The Rock answered with a 32-yard Nate Crookshank scoring toss to Paul Favers.

Following a Kutztown turnover, Saunders' third touchdown run ended the scoring.

Crookshank threw for 204 yards on the night. Anthony Walls and Seth Randall intercepted passes for The Rock and Richie Barnes recovered a fumble.

Clint Forsha had two of SRU's five quarterback sacks. Forsha, Cory Lacek and Jake Barzen had five tackles each for The Rock. Four of Forsha's tackles were for losses as SRU's junior defensive tacklewas named PSACWest Defensive Player of the Week.

"Our defense played solid and our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage,"Mihalik said.

Kutztown was limited to 246 total yards, only 71 rushing.

In last week's 46-0 win over Mansfield, The Rock had 101 yards in penalties and fumbled eight times, losing four of them.

SRUwas whistled for just four penalties and fumbled only once against Kutztown.

"Those were the two phases of the game we focused on all week,"Mihalik said. "It was nice to see the improvement."

SRU34, Kutztown 10

Slippery Rock 6 14 14 0—34Kutztown 0 3 7 0—10SRU K25 First Downs 1750-223 Rushes-Yards 35-71218 Passing Yards 17514-27-2 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 12-33-2441 Total Yards 2461-1 Fumbles/Lost 1-16-47 Penalties-Yards 5-44

First QuarterSRU— Ryan Daniel 31 field goal, 11:05SRU— Daniel 22 field goal, 5:42

Second QuarterSRU— A.J. Saunders 1 run (Daniel kick), 12:19SRU— Saunders 10 run (Daniel kick), 5:10K — Steve Sandberg 42 field goal, :03

Third Quarter K — Elfren Quiles 71 pass from Kyle Spotts (Sandberg kick), 13:45SRU— Paul Favers 32 pass from Nate Crookshank (Daniel kick), 6:30SRU— Saunders 8 run (Daniel kick), 3:39

Individual Statistics

Passing: SRU, Nate Crookshank 13-24-204-2. Kutztown, Kyle Spotts 11-31-175-2, Shane Martin 1-1-0-0, Team 0-1-0-0.

Rushing: SRU, A.J. Saunders 19-89, Demarcus Cleckley 11-86, Travis Sarver 10-34, Bryan Dodds 4-5, Luke Wetzel 1-5, Nate Crookshank 5-4. Kutztown, Maurice Adams 11-25, Cory McFadden 2-21, Shane Martin 9-15, Drew Varano 3-13, Joe Strauss 4-11, Kyle Spotts 6-(-14).A.

Receiving: SRU, Luke Wetzel 4-67, Colin Golden 4-40, Paul Favers 3-61, Ross Hornish 1-19, Terry Grossetti 1-17, Jermale Cromerdie 1-14. Kutztown, Larry Baumgarder 5-51, Elfren Quiles 4-98, Brett Harbach 1-17, Joe Strauss 1-10, Maurice Adams 1-(-1).