SLIPPERY ROCK — The Titusville High School football team had a number of players out due to illness.

Meanwhile, Slippery Rock was struck by a malady early in the game that has dogged it for most of the season.

One team recovered.

It was Slippery Rock, which bounced back from fumbles on its first two possessions to score 28 first-quarter points on the way to a 42-13 home win Friday night.

“I'm happy with the outcome,” said Slippery Rock coach Larry Wendereusz, “but I'm not happy with the game.”

Slippery Rock (3-3) had five turnovers last week in a loss against Grove City and had three against Titusville Friday.

But in the battle of the Rockets, it was Slippery Rock that was able to persevere.

Thank a smothering defense for that.

Slippery Rock sacked Titusville quarterback Garrett Knapp four times in the first half. Senior Gabe Smithbauer was in on three of them. Justin Schaeffer also had a hand in one.

At one point, Titusville (3-3) had minus 32 yards.

A rash of illness that spread through the team like wildfire this week was part of the problem.

Titusville leading rusher Charles Nicholson didn't play. Neither did some key members up front.

“We knew coming in we had a lot of sickness going around the school this week and some injuries,” said Titusville coach Bryan Baldwin. “Last night on a Thursday night practice we had to scramble around and try to fix things. It's not ideal. It's not what you want to have to do.”

The missing links on the line showed as Slippery Rock dominated both lines of scrimmage.

David Duffalo had a pair of touchdowns — a 27-yard run after receiving a last-second pitch from quarterback Vito Pilosi, and an 18-yard screen pass — to give Slippery Rock a 14-0 lead.

Slippery Rock then scored two more touchdowns in a span of 13 seconds.

Pilosi ducked a tackle and burst untouched up the middle for a 16-yard TD run, and then after Titusville fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Brandon Earl caught a perfect strike from Pilosi for a 32-yard score and a 28-0 Slippery Rock lead.

Nathan Hyatt's 7-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave Slippery Rock a 35-0 lead at the break.

“The potential is there to be a good football team,” Wendereusz said. “We just have to clean it up to be a good football team.”

Slippery Rock got a score from its defense in the third quarter when linebacker Kid Scarborough scooped up a fumble and raced 42 yards for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead.

Titusville got a pair of touchdown passes from Knapp in the second half.

Sophomore Kolin Baker filled the void in the running game for Titusville with 47 yards on 31 carries.

“He gets in the weight room and he had that good vision we like to see,” Baldwin said. “We're very proud of him.”

Slippery Rock now faces a pair of tests the next two weeks.

Conneaut comes to town for a key region game next week, and then Slippery Rock travels to Hickory — an upset winner over Grove City Friday — for another pivotal region battle.

Slippery Rock is 0-2 in region play after a 14-0 loss to Sharon and a 31-16 setback to Grove City.

“In our region when you don't play clean football games, you get beat 14-0 and you get beat 31-16,” Wendereusz said. “Nothing against Titusville — they worked hard and they had guys out. They had a lot of guys hit or miss there — we're just not clean.

“I sound negative here right now — I'm happy for them. This was a big one,” Wendereusz said. “Our playoffs start Friday night. We lose Friday night (against Conneaut) we don't get in. I told them, 'Playoffs start now.'”

Titusville 0 0 6 7 — 13

Slippery Rock 28 7 7 0 — 42

First Quarter

SR — David Duffalo 27 run (Nathaniel Willison kick), 6:33

SR — Duffalo 18 pass from Vito Pilosi (Willison kick), 3:51

SR — Pilosi 16 run (Willison kick), :59

SR — Brendan Earl 32 pass from Pilosi (Willison kick), :46

Second Quarter

SR — Nathan Hyatt 7 run (Willison kick0, 9:37

Third Quarter

SR — Kid Scarborough 42 fumble return (Willison kick)

T — Landon Palmer 57 pass from Garrett Knapp (run failed)

Fourth Quarter

T — Isaac Jackson 11 pass from Knapp (Nicolas Wright kick), :12

Individual Statistics

Rushing:Titusville, Kolin Baker 31-47, Jayden Blake 5-19, Garrett Knapp 4-(-29), TEAM 1-(-10). Slippery Rock, Nathan Hyatt 6-71, Vito Pilosi 3-41, David Duffalo 2-29, Shane Thompson 2-4, Brett Galcik 2-(-4), Maddox Allen 1-(-1), William Mokel 2-(-3), TEAM 1-(-4).

Passing:Titusville, Garrett Knapp 9-18-130-0. Slippery Rock, Vito Pilosi 4-7-53-1, William Mokel 0-2-0-0.

Receiving:Titusville, Isaac Jackson 3-25, Landon Palmer 3-75, Jack Elan 2-19, Brock Covell 1-11. Slippery Rock, David Duffalo 2-15, Brendan Earl 1-32, Ethan Plesakov 1-6.