ERIE — For nearly three quarters, Slippery Rock University was chasing the lead at McConnell Family Stadium on Saturday.

Shortly after the lead was finally secured, The Rock locked it up and threw away the key — scoring three touchdowns in the final seven minutes — in running off with a 49-24 PSAC West football victory over Gannon.

“I thought we handled adversity pretty well today,” SRU Coach Shawn Lutz said. “That may have been the difference. We handled adversity better than they did.”

Gannon (3-4, 3-1) was penalized 19 times for 135 yards on the day. Head coach Erik Raeburn received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the fourth quarter and was ejected from the game.

The Rock (7-0, 4-0) trailed 14-0, 21-14 and 24-21 before finally grabbing the lead on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Brayden Long to tight end Kam Kruzeylak with 1:50 left in the third period.

The Golden Knights never threatened to score in the fourth quarter as The Rock ground attack put the game away. A 50-yard run by Isaiah Edwards set up Khalid Dorsey’s 21-yard scoring jaunt with 6:22 left.

An unintentional on-sides kick enabled SRU to keep possession as The Rock’s Andrew Miller recovered the untouched football at the Gannon 35. Edwards’ 16 yard run set up his own 1-yard plunge with 3:29 left and it was 42-24.

“We weren’t trying an on-sides kick there,” Lutz said. “The wind held the ball up and our guy (Miller) just hustled downfield and grabbed it.”

Moments later, Gannon quarterback Nate Mikell was sacked by Cottrell Hatrchett on 4th-and-8 from the SRU 32. Mikell fumbled on the play and Eddie Faulkner recovered at the 18.

Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Gannon moved the ball to the 2-yard line, Chris D’Or scoring from there with 2:10 remaining.

“We have three backs who can each run for 100 yards and two touchdowns in any game,” Edwards said. “We call ourselves Show Time. I’m the biggest back of the three, so they look to use me in the fourth quarter when the defense is a little tired.

“All three of us ... We’re always ready when our number’s called.”

Gannon jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a pair of long touchdown runs — 53 yards by Mikell, 63 yards by David Morgan — before SRU pulled even on Long touchdown passes of 30 and 3 yards to Kyle Sheets.

The Golden Knights used a 7-play, 50-yard drive to seize a 21-14 edge with just 48 seconds left in the half.

But The Rock wasn’t done.

Cohen Russell caught passes for gains of 27, 12 and 8 yards, getting out of bounds each time. An off-sides penalty on Gannon gave SRU a first down at the Golden Knights 30 for the final play of the half.

Long fired a pass into the right corner of the end zone, where Sheets out-fought two defenders for a TD catch before being knocked to the turf.

“I didn’t know the ball was coming to me. That wasn’t a designed play or anything,” Sheets said. “We all just ran into the end zone and turned around. I saw the ball coming and went for it.”

“That was the biggest play of this game,” Lutz said. “We were getting the ball to start the second half. We carried that momentum into the third quarter.”

Sheets had seven catches for 134 yards and three TDs.

Gannon rushed for 224 yards — 108 of those belonging to Donny Marcus — but Mikell could complete only 12 of 32 passes for 135 yards. Long threw for 263 yards and four scores for SRU.

Raeburn could not be reached for comment after the game.

Notes: Faulkner led SRU with 6.5 tackles. Freeport graduate Ben Lane had six stops. Ali Abdul-Hakim had an interception late in the game. ... SRU defeated Gannon for the ninth straight time and is 17-0 against the league’s two Erie schools (Mercyhurst and Gannon) in the last 17 games. ... The Rock won its first coin toss of the year and scored at least 40 points for the sixth consecutive game. ... Long has 22 touchdown passes on the season. The Rock has allowed only three TD passes. ... SRU hosts PSAC West co-leader California (Pa.) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Slippery Rock 7 14 7 21 — 49

Gannon 14 7 3 0 — 24

First Quarter

G — Nate Mikell 53 run (Eric Scarpino kick), 9:27

G — David Morgan 63 run (Scarpino kick), 8:10

SRU — Kyle Sheets 30 pass from Brayden Long (Kevin Roberts kick), 5:02

Second Quarter

SRU — Sheets 3 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 12:34

G — Mikell 1 run (Scarpino kick), :48

SRU — Sheets 30 pass from Long (Roberts kick), :00

Third Quarter

G — Scarpino 25 field goal, 6:38

SRU — Kam Kruzelyak 17 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 1:50

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Khalid Dorsey 21 run (Roberts kick), 6:22

SRU — Isaiah Edwards 1 run (Roberts kick), 3:39

SRU — Chris D’Or 2 run (Roberts kick), 2:10

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Isaiah Edwards 8-82, Khalid Dorsey 13-71, Brayden Long 6-22, Chris D’Or 6-10. Gannon, Donny Marcus 20-108, David Morgan 3-68, Nate Mikell 13-48.

Passing: SRU, Brayden Long 23-37-263-1. Gannon, Nate Mikell 12-32-135-1.

Receiving: SRU, Lyle Sheets 7-134, Cphen Russell 6-56, Tony Grimes 4-27, Kam Kruzelyak 3-31. Gannon, KeJohn Baptiste 4-41, Donny Marcus 3-47, Sam East 2-21, Rashann Tompkins 1-12.