2008 Woodie Awards
Rock KO'd by Cal
By Phil Swartzlander
Rocket Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Sports
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The Slippery Rock football team lost another heartbreaking game on Saturday, falling 22-13 to California (Pa.) University at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.
The Vulcans came into the game boasting a smothering defense, a powerful offense and an undefeated record, but Cal never watched Corey Manfull run the ball.
The junior running back rushed the ball 37 times for 175 yards against the Cal defense that had only been allowing 33 rushing yards per game.
"I had confidence in my offense line, they were opening up some holes for me," Manfull said.
With two quick touchdowns by Cal and an out-of-rhythm offense, Manfull got the Rock moving on its fifth drive of the game with a 40-yard run. He later scored on an 8-yard run to narrow the score to 12-7. On the six-play drive, Manfull ran the ball on every play.
A bad punt in the second quarter gave Cal great field position at the SRU 24-yard line, but the Rock defense dug in and forced Cal to settle for a field goal, making the score 15-7.
"Our defense came up big, especially inside our 25," Rock Head Coach George Mihalik said.
The Rock D had a forced fumble, an interception and three sacks to go along with the 300 yards of total offense allowed.
With time running out at the end of the first half, the Rock lined up for a field goal, but ran a fake where redshirt senior defensive back Jim D'Amico ran to the corner of the end zone.
D'Amico got close, but was brought down on the Cal 5-yard line. The Rock offense could not get on the field to stop the clock, and a scoring chance was thrown away.
"We practiced that play all week long and we were going to do it the first time we sent our field goal team out there," Mihalik said. "We just ran out of time."
The third quarter became a defensive struggle, as neither team could get its offense rolling.
In the fourth quarter, the Cal offense had a chance to pull away, but redshirt sophomore cornerback A.J. Saunders intercepted Cal quarterback Joe Ruggiero at the Rock 20-yard line to stop momentum Cal was building.
The Rock took the turnover and ran with it, keeping the ball on the ground 12 times during the drive. Although the run was the Rock's bread and butter for the game, a crucial moment came when the Rock relied on senior quarterback Nate Crookshank to come through. Crookshank hit redshirt junior wide receiver Terry Grossetti for a 19-yard gain on a third-and-four on the Rock 33-yard line.
The Rock drove to the Cal 19-yard line before a 15-yard personal foul put them in a difficult position with a third-and-23 on the Cal 31.
Crookshank launched a bomb to the double-covered Paul Favers in the end zone to bring the Rock within two, 15-13.
With six minutes to play, Mihalik went for the two-point conversion.
The pass was intended for redshirt senior tight end Frank Cremonese, who slid in behind the defense uncovered in the back of the end zone, but the Cal defense pressured Crookshank into forcing a pass that was just out of the reach of Cremonese.
The Rock defense had a chance to get the ball back into the offense's hands on a third-and-two, but gave up a big play to Cal's Nate Forse, who took a pass in the flat and broke free for a 39-yard touchdown to round out the scoring.
"As I said before, we could not let up the big play this week, and we did," Mihalik said.
The Rock played Cal better than any other team has this season, putting up nearly 400 yards of total offense.
"I am proud of this team, we could have folded, but we fought back," Mihalik said.
After squaring off against Lock Haven last night, the Rock will close out the regular season on Nov. 10 at Edinboro, which boasts a 6-3 overall record.
All three of Edinboro's losses have come at the hands of the top three teams by record in the PSAC: Cal, IUP and West Chester.
The Rock remained in seventh spotin this week's regional rankings, despite the 22-13 loss to California (Pa.).
The top six teams at the end of the season will earn a berth into the regional playoffs. The Rock hasn't earned a regional berth since 1999.
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