SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Shamar Greene became the all-time leading rusher in program history, Marcus Martin broke the all-time PSAC career sack record and the 12th ranked Slippery Rock University football team improved to 2-0 with a 36-28 victory on the road at West Chester Saturday.
 
The Rock (2-0) defense put together a gutsy effort with three interceptions and four sacks as West Chester (1-1) ran 99 plays and possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes in temperatures that reached more than 100 degrees on the turf.
 
The Rock looked to be in control after scoring to go up 36-21 with just over 10 minutes to play, but West Chester rallied against a tired Rock defense and got it to a one-possession game, 36-28, with a touchdown pass with 2:14 to play. The onside kick attempt was recovered by Dominic Dingle and it again looked like SRU would be able to run out the clock, but a fumble just before going into kneel down mode gave the ball back to West Chester with just over 90 seconds to play. The defense stepped up one final time and forced a turnover on downs near midfield, the fourth turnover on downs forced in the second half.
 
Shamar Greene paced the offensive attack with 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. In the process he broke the all-time Slippery Rock career rushing record and became the only player in program history to rush for more than 4,000 yards. His record currently stands at 4,033 yards, topping the former record of 3,932 yards set by Stan Kennedy.
 
Marcus Martin paced the defensive effort with two solo sacks and three tackles for loss, increasing his Slippery Rock career sack record to 35.0 just two games into his junior season. He also broke the all-time PSAC career record of 33.5 sacks, which was owned by West Chester's Andrew Cohen. Martin has 3.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss through two games this season.
 
Don King III completed 13-of-30 pass attempts for 171 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 26 yards on seven carries. His completions went to seven different receivers, headlined by a 56-yard TD to Marcus Johnson. Cornelius Raye added four catches for 39 yards and one score, Leroy McClain caught three passes for 31 yards and one score and Taishan Tucker pulled in two passes for 21 yards.
 
Anthony Zappone recorded a team-high 12 tackles, including one sack. Bob Vernick added 10 tackles, one interception and one pass breakup. Alfon Cook picked off two passes and racked up 35 return yards after the interceptions. Kevin Green and Cody Conway each added seven tackles and Green chipped in two pass breakups.
 
West Chester was paced by quarterback Andrew Derr, who threw the ball 62 times in the game, completing 31 passes for 435 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Shannon Mayer caught nine passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Five different receivers had at least 45 receiving yards for West Chester. The aerial attack was the result of not finding any success on the ground against the stout SRU run defense. The Rams leading rusher, Jarel Elder, was held to 2.7 yards per carry on 15 carries.
 
The time of possession advantage for West Chester led to 99 plays for 500 yards of total offense, including 435 through the air and 65 on the ground. Slippery Rock managed 341 yards of offense with 171 passing yards and 170 rushing yards.
 
Slippery Rock struck first early in the game after Cook picked off a pass from Derr and returned it to the West Chester two-yard line. Greene punched it on the next play to make it 6-0 after the point after was missed.
 
West Chester took its only lead of the game late in the first quarter with a 28-yard pass from Derr to Mayer that made it 7-6 with 1:30 to play in the opening quarter.
 
The Rock would be the only team to score the rest of the opening half. McClain caught a touchdown pass from King III from six yards out to cap a 75-yard drive that made it 12-7 after another PAT was missed. Jake Chapla hit a 23-yard field goal to make it 15-7 and King III hit Raye from 19 yards out after a long run from Greene to make it 22-7 at the break.
 
West Chester scored with a long drive on the first possession of the second half after four tries with first-and-goal at the one-yard line. Derr punched it in on fourth down to make it 22-14.
 
Slippery Rock regained the two-score advantage on the next play from scrimmage when King III hit Johnson in stride for a 56-yard TD pass to make it 29-14 with 10:21 to play in the third. That would end up being the final points of the third quarter.
 
West Chester cut back into the deficit early in the fourth when Mayer caught his second TD pass from Derr to make it 29-21 with 13:15 to play, but again Slippery Rock answered. This time Greene punched it in from one-yard out to cap a 71-yard drive and make it 36-21 with 10:24 to play.
 
Neither team could gain much momentum the rest of the fourth until West Chester broke through with a 15-yard TD pass from Derr to Jordan Banks with 2:14 to play, setting up the finish.
 
Saturday's game was a rematch of last year's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title game, which SRU won 61-12. It was also the third year in a row The Rock have played on the road at West Chester.
 
Slippery Rock will hit the road again next Saturday for the second round of the PSAC crossover schedule, traveling to Lock Haven for a noon game.
 
 
NOTES: Shawn Lutz improved to 2-0 as SRU's head coach in his first season … Shamar Greene became the first SRU running back in program history to rush for 4,000 career yards, passing the former program record of 3,932 yards that belonged to Stan Kennedy …. Greene's 4,033 career rushing yards are the 13th most in PSAC history … Marcus Martin's 2.0 sacks bring his career total to 35.0, establishing a new PSAC record by topping the former record of 33.5 that belonged to Andrew Cohen of West Chester … Martin's 35.0 career sacks are tied for the ninth most in Division II history … Jake Chapla missed his first two PAT tries on the day, but made the final three tries and converted a short FG … he is 2-for-2 in FG kicks as a true freshman … West Chester was picked to win the PSAC East in the preseason coaches poll … the Golden Rams were listed 27th in the AFCA poll this week and ranked No. 25 by D2football.com … SRU is ranked No. 12 by the AFCA and No. 15 by D2football.com.