SLIPPERY ROCK — When Slippery Rock fumbled early in the second quarter with the game tied at 7, Rockets quarterback Jake Whitmer reminded his team of a message they were told this week.

“We had someone come in and talk to us about the life lessons of picking each up out of the mud,” Whitmer said. “I told the guys who's going to pick the guy who fumbled out of the mud?”

Little did he know it would be him on the next play.

Whitmer intercepted a pass from Sharon quarterback Andrew Tomko and added three rushing touchdowns to secure a 28-13 win and a District 10 Region 3 championship.

It is the third straight region title for the Rockets.

“The first thing you need is great players and we have that,” Slippery Rock coach Brendan Hathaway said. “They are not only great players, but they are great kids, too. I love being around them.”

The Rockets started the game with a short kick off that was recovered by Chris Ketterer.

This set up Slippery Rock at the Sharon 35. The Rockets would open the scoring six plays later on an 8-yard run by Travis Lauster.

Sharon responded with a drive at its own 24 and used six straight pass plays to move the ball to the Slippery Rock 16.

After an encroachment penalty, the Tigers scored on a 11-yard run by Jeremiah Norris to tie the game at 7.

The Rockets fumble happened on their next drive at their own 49 and the interception by Whitmer on the next play gave Slippery Rock the ball back at its own 17.

Slippery Rock turned the interception into points when Whitmer scored from 1 yard out on the last play of the first quarter.

Whitmer had three touchdowns on the night, all on 1-yard runs.

“My name will go in the box score for the touchdowns, but those are SR touchdowns,” Whitmer said. “That's us moving down the field as a team to get us to that position.”

The Rockets' defense forced two fumbles in the second quarter, capitalizing on the second fumble to make the score 21-7 going into halftime.

“You can't make that many mistakes in a half and expect to win,” Sharon coach Jim Wildman said.

Sharon (5-3, 4-2) forced a punt on the Rockets first possession of the second half and Norris scored his second touchdown of the game on the next drive to cut the Slippery Rock (8-0, 6-0) lead to 21-13 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

“Sharon gave us everything we expected out of them,” Hathaway said. “Coach Wildman has over 220 wins. We have the upmost respect for their coaching staff.”

With the game still in the balance, Slippery Rock turned to junior running back Trenton Porter on its next drive. He carried the ball six times for 45 yards, which set up Whitmer's final touchdown.

Porter ended up with 60 yards on nine carries. All of them came in the second half.

“Trenton is a little bit of a different back that gives us a little more speed,” Hathaway said. “He did a good job finding the holes.”

While Hathaway lauded his players and their effort Whitmer gave praise to the coaching staff.

“Our coaches put so much time in to put us in the position we are in,” Whitmer said.