College Football
Slippery Rock Defeats Clarion 31-14 in Season Finale
(SLIPPERY ROCK, PA.): Slippery Rock’s Josh Kniess rushed for three touchdowns in rallying “The Rock” from a 14-10 second quarter deficit to a 31-14 win on Saturday over visiting Clarion at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.
Slippery Rock finished its season with a 4-7 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the PSAC-West, while Clarion ended its 2004 campaign with a 3-8 overall record and a 1-5 mark in the PSAC-West.
Clarion took a 14-10 lead with only 1:43 left in the second quarter when Glenn Lovelace skirted right end and dashed 16 yards for a Golden Eagle touchdown. The drive went 52-yards in 8 plays and Kyle Snoke’s PAT gave Clarion a 14-10 advantage.
Slippery Rock came right back in only 70-seconds and drove 66-yards in 6 plays to retake the lead. The big play was a 48-yard pass from QB Nate Crookshank to Brandon Richardson to the Eagle 3. Kniess lost a yard on first down, then bulled his way into the endzone from 4-yards out to give Slippery Rock a 17-14 lead with only 33-seconds left before intermission.
Miscues hurt Clarion in the third quarter, especially two Brandon Dando fumbles near midfield. The second was recovered by Rock noseguard Brian Godfrey at the Clarion 46 and Slippery Rock took advantage. Kniess rushed 5 straight times to the Eagle endzone, including a 9-yard td run with 4:45 left in the third. SR led 24-14.
Kniess returned Clarion’s punt following its next possession 43 yards to the Clarion 15. A Clarion personal foul gave the Rock the pigskin at the Eagle 8, and three Kniess runs, the last being a 1-yard dash, put the ball in the endzone for the final SR touchdown. Slippry Rock led 31-14 with 1:43 to go in the third and that was the final score.
Clarion gained 276 total yards including 186 rushing yards and 90 passing. Glenn Lovelace rushed 12 times for 75 yards and 1 td, while Marcus Lowe had 45 yards on 13 tries. Dando completed 8 of 16 passes for 84 yards.
Clarion’s defense was led by Bo Busch (15 tackles, 2 tfl’s, 1 fumble caused) and Matt Morris (15 tackles, 5 tfl’s), while Zach Gourley (9 hits, 3 tfl’s) and Tim Connolly (9 tackles, 3 tfl’s) also had strong days.
Slippery Rock totaled 355 yards of offense with 201 rushing yards and 154 passing yards. Kniess finished with 31 carries for 111 yards and 3 td’s. Crookshank completed 9 of 15 passes for 141 yards.
Slippery Rock opened the scoring when Jesse Kelley blocked a Joe Farkas punt at the 15, recovered at the Clarion 8 and ran into the endzone for the opening touchdown.
Clarion came back in the first when Dando rushed 37 yards on the option, virtually untouched to paydirt. Snoke’s PAT tied the game with 5:50 remaining in the first.
SR took a 10-7 lead when Ryan Daniel booted a 37-yard field goal at 12:48 of the second.
Lovelace gave the Eagles the 14-10 lead with his 16-yard td run late in the second, setting up Kniess’ heroics for the remainder of the game.
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Box Score (Final)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
CLARION............. 7 7 0 0 - 14 Record: (3-8,1-5)
Slippery Rock....... 7 10 14 0 - 31 Record: (4-7,2-4)
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Scoring Summary:
1st 11:07 ROCK - Jesse Kelley 8 yd blocked punt return (Ryan Daniel kick), , CLAR 0 - ROCK 7
05:50 CLAR - Brandon Dando 38 yd run (Kyle Snoke kick), 1-38 0:07, CLAR 7 - ROCK 7
2nd 12:48 ROCK - Ryan Daniel 37 yd field goal, 8-15 2:55, CLAR 7 - ROCK 10
01:43 CLAR - Glenn Lovelace 16 yd run (Kyle Snoke kick), 8-52 4:34, CLAR 14 - ROCK 10
00:33 ROCK - Josh Kniess 4 yd run (Ryan Daniel kick), 6-66 1:03, CLAR 14 - ROCK 17
3rd 04:45 ROCK - Josh Kniess 9 yd run (Ryan Daniel kick), 5-46 1:58, CLAR 14 - ROCK 24
01:43 ROCK - Josh Kniess 1 yd run (Ryan Daniel kick), 3-8 1:17, CLAR 14 - ROCK 31
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CLAR ROCK
FIRST DOWNS................... 14 15
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 36-186 51-201
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 90 154
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 21-9-1 21-10-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 57-276 72-355
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 5-115
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 2-42 3-58
Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-6 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-31.7 4-31.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 5-4 3-1
Penalties-Yards............... 14-101 13-110
Possession Time............... 26:43 33:17
Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 12 8 of 17
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 1 of 3
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-2 4-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 1-10
RUSHING: CLARION-Glenn Lovelace 12-75; Marcus Lowe 13-45; Erik Yonish 6-34; Brandon Dando 5-32.
Slippery Rock-Josh Kniess 31-111; Corey Manfull 8-35; A.J. Ruperto 5-35; Larvon Hines 3-10; Nate
Crookshank 1-7; Kevin Johnston 1-5; TEAM 1-0; Valdez Hails 1-minus 2.
PASSING: CLARION-Brandon Dando 8-16-0-84; Erik Yonish 1-5-1-6. Slippery Rock-Nate Crookshank
9-15-1-141; A.J. Ruperto 1-6-0-13.
RECEIVING: CLARION-Lance Fink 3-27; Greg Mahaffey 2-34; Pierre Odom 2-12; Dan Tucker 1-9; Ronald
Rivage 1-8. Slippery Rock-B. Richardson 4-106; Justin Fisher 2-24; Matt Tack 2-9; Luke Wetzel 1-8;
Josh Kniess 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS: CLARION-Kevin Rigby 1-6. Slippery Rock-Jared Palmer 1-0.
FUMBLES: CLARION-Brandon Dando 2-2; Erik Yonish 2-1; Marcus Lowe 1-1. Slippery Rock-A.J. Ruperto
2-0; Corey Manfull 1-1.
Stadium: N. Kerr Thompson Attendance: 4833
Kickoff time: 1 pm End of Game: 3:58 Total elapsed time: 2:58
Officials: Scorer: Chris Rossetti;
Temperature: 50 Wind: NE 20 Weather: Sunny
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CLARION vs Slippery Rock (Nov 06, 2004 at Slippery Rock, PA)
SACKS (UA-A): CLARION-None. Slippery Rock-Mike Jennings 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): CLARION-Matt Morris 5-10; Bo Busch 5-10; Zach Gourley 3-6; Tim Connolly 5-3; Ben
Heisel 2-3; Dwaon Woodard 3-1; Jordan Hicks 1-3; Jhermel Goss 3-0; Brock Luke 2-1; James Charles
2-1; Kevin Rigby 2-1; Corey Shaner 1-2; Brandon Whitman 2-0; Cedric Bowling 1-1; Matt Niedbala 1-1;
Lance Fink 1-0; Zach Gueth 0-1. Slippery Rock-Jesse Kelley 4-1; B. Rakszawski 3-2; Greg Baker 2-3;
Seth Randall 2-2; Kevin Johnston 3-0; Jared Palmer 2-1; Brian Godfrey 2-1; Josh Zeisloft 2-1; James
Rockymore 2-1; Robert Minnie 1-2; A. Berarducci 1-2; Asaad Allen 1-2; Ron Miller 1-1; Drew Sharp
1-1; B. Richardson 1-0; Nick Carimi 1-0; Mike Jennings 1-0; Greg Ames 0-1; Clinton Forsha 0-1; Jim
D'Amico 0-1; Mark Drango 0-1.