WARREN — Slippery Rock High School's football team had its running game working hard Friday, rushing over 400 yards and using 10 different ball carriers in a 55-20 Region 2-AA win over Warren.

Slippery Rock head coach Brendan Hathaway had much praise for both his backs and his offensive line.

“It starts with the line and they did a great job and our backs were able to find the holes that they were setting up,” Hathaway said. “The line was able to pack the box and Warren was able to pack the box and our line was able to pick up on the blitzes and wrap them up.”

The Rockets dominated the first half, building a 28-0 halftime lead. Senior running back Jared McDowell got the first points of the game when he punched in a three-yard touchdown.

The score was quickly followed by a 26-yard run from senior running back Travis Lauster.

Slippery Rock continued its assault on the Dragons' defense as junior running back Trenton Porter scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, one from seven yards out and the other on a 44-yard run.

Slippery Rock (6-0, 5-0) came out running again the second half, scoring a 41-yard touchdown run by Travis Lauster to just 40 seconds into the third quarter.

On the following kickoff, the Dragons finally got on the board as senior running back Kyle Kulka took off down the sideline for an 85-yard kick return.

Despite finally finding the score column, Warren was still unable to slow down the Rockets' offense as McDowell ran over the Dragons defense for a 45-yard touchdown run for his second of the game.

“The line did an awesome job tonight,” Travis Lauster said. “We did well in the first half and got them off the ball and we got some small gaps. We made some adjustments at the half and it really opened up the field really well.”

Warren found the end zone again with about 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter as junior Evan Suppa, who replaced Dragons starting quarterback DJ Fehlman in the second quarter due to injury, connected with senior wide receiver Ryan Shattuck for a 10 yard touchdown.

Ryan Lauster ran for a 32-yard touchdown for the Rockets with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the Dragons responded 30 seconds later when Kulka broke free for an 81-yard score.

Slippery Rock found the end zone one last time when sophomore quarterback Bailey Mertens ran for an 18-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“Hats off to Brendan Hathaway and his team,” Warren coach Greg Latimer said. “He does a fine job and has built a fine program. Our defense was leaking tonight and it was allowing that gap to occur between our line and off-tackles and it was very costly for us.”