SR gets monkey off its back
By Kevin Zitzman
Eagle Staff Writer
SLIPPERY ROCK — Smiling from ear to ear after running roughshod through General McLane, Rockets senior quarterback Jake Whitmer summed up what the game meant to his team: “We said 'Let's get the McLane monkey off our back.' And we did that tonight.”
After being dispatched in the playoffs the last two years by the Lancers, Slippery Rock got revenge in a dominating 34-0 victory on its homecoming Friday night.
Whitmer was a part of both of those losses, but he wasn't about to let that happen again.
On the final play of the first quarter, the star quarterback busted through the middle of the line for a 29 yard gain, setting up the Rockets deep in Lancers territory. Two plays later, he faked a handoff, made one man miss at the line of scrimmage and bowled over another defender at the goal line for the first touchdown of the game.
He wasn't done.
On the next possession he burst through a big hole created by his offensive line and outran anyone who thought they had a chance to put the Rockets up 14-0.
By the time the evening was over, he had scored four touchdowns and ran for 252 yards on only 20 carries.
“Our offensive line blocked their butts off,” Whitmer said. “I was thinking about this today in school. We had a great game plan offensively going into this. It's not about me, it's about our line and game plan going into it.”
The Rockets offensive line, led by senior center Colton Raabe, opened up gaping holes for the runners all night. On one play, Raabe pancaked a General McLane lineman and Whitmer scampered untouched for the first 30 yards downfield.
For the game, Slippery Rock amassed 431 yards on the ground on 57 carries, averaging 7.5 yards per run.
“We put a lot of new things in this week, threw a lot at the guys,” Rockets coach Brendan Hathaway said. “The line just blocked really, really well.
“They're getting to the point now where they're telling me what we should do on the sideline. I've always said that's a mark of a good team, when they can tell you what's happening on the field and translate that to the Xs and Os.”
Running the ball not only put points on the board for Slippery Rock, but it also kept the potent Lancers offense on the sideline for most of the night.
The Rockets ball control offense allowed General McLane to run only eight offensive plays the entire second half.
“You just gotta give all the credit to them,” Lancers coach Jim Wells said. “They played an outstanding game. They beat us up up front a little bit on the offensive line, and they were able to own the line of scrimmage tonight.”
Along with dominating the offensive line of scrimmage, the Rockets controlled the defensive line.
General McLane was able to muster only 113 yards of total offense for the game, and it did not complete a pass. The Lancers moved the chains just four times for first downs.
But while it was a satisfying win for the Rockets, Whitmer said their focus remains the same.
“We have to get better each and every day,” he said, “because we know we have bigger goals down the road.”
