TIFFIN — Tiffin’s fourth-down gamble failed while Slippery Rock’s prevailed.

And The Rock was on its way.

No. 15 SRU used two critical fourth-down plays to turn a potential seven-point deficit into the lead it never lost in posting a 45-35 NCAA Division II football playoff win over previously unbeaten and ninth-ranked Tiffin on Saturday at Frost-Kalnow Stadium.

The victory sends The Rock (12-1) into a PSAC title game rematch against Kutztown (11-2) — a 32-31 winner at Charleston on Saturday — at noon Saturday in the Super Region One championship game at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. The Golden Bears handed SRU a 31-7 defeat in the league title game only three weeks ago.

The game is at The Rock because SRU was the only team to submit a bid to host next week and was awarded the game based on the site bidding process.

“We’re still dancing. That’s all that matters,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “We don’t care who or where we play. It’s redemption time.”

The Rock overcame early deficits of 7-0 and 14-7 at Tiffin (11-1) to draw even early in the second quarter. Kylon Wilson’s 90-yard kickoff return knotted the score at 14 with 10:27 left in the half.

A long kick return by Tiffin set the Dragons up in Rock territory with a chance to take the lead for a third time. But facing a fourth-and-3 at the 16-yard line, Keegan Ray’s pass into the end zone sailed incomplete.

SRU then faced a fourth-and-5 at midfield moments later. Rather than punt, Lutz kept the offense on the field. Brayden Long’s deep pass to Kyle Sheets created a pass interference call that kept the possession alive. Chris D’Or scored on an 8-yard run to cap that drive and SRU never trailed again.

“I like being a riverboat gambler with our offense,” Lutz said. “I’m confident in our chances of converting. We want to keep possessions moving as long as we can.”

“That didn’t surprise me,” Long said of the decision to go on fourth down. “That’s been our M.O. all year. We’ll use third down to try to set up a manageable fourth down. I love that our coaching staff has that kind of faith in us.

“Tiffin likes to bring a lot of pressure and they leave single coverage over the top when they do. We exposed that a few times. Our coaches had us prepared for what they were going to do that way.”

Following a Tiffin three-and-out, SRU took possession again late in the half. Rather than run the clock out, The Rock went for more points. A 61-yard pass play to Cohen Russell set up Mason Yohn’s 21-yard field goal and a 24-14 lead at the end of the half.

“Huge points ... absolutely huge points,” Long said.

Lutz agreed.

“Taking a two-possession lead into the locker room so quickly like that seemed to demoralize (Tiffin) a litte bit,” the coach said.

The Dragons got demoralized even more shortly thereafter.

SRU received the ball to begin the second half and needed only two plays to find the end zone. A backward flip to Sheets resulted in the receiver throwing the ball 48 yards downfield to Logan Ramper. Long found Sheets for a 12-yard score on the next play and it was 31-14.

“We pulled out all the stops today,” Lutz said.

Sheets played some quarterback in high school.

“We’ve been practicing that play for weeks and we were waiting for the right time to use it,” Long said. “It was set up perfectly. Kyle can wing it, that’s for sure.”

The teams traded scores the remainder of the game. The Dragons scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but The Rock responded with scores of its own.

“We didn’t play well defensively in the fourth quarter, but our defense kept them off the board for much of the middle part of this game,” Lutz said. “That’s the opening we needed.”

Notes: Russell had four catches for 85 yards, going over 1,000 yards receiving for the season. Sheets and Russell became the second pair of Rock receivers to have 1,000-yard campaigns in the same year, joining Henry Litwin and Jermaine Wynn Jr. in 2019. ... Tiffin entered the game averaging 264 yards per contest on the ground, but ran for only 156 on Saturday. Ray did complete 26 passes for 333 yards and two scores. ... Lutz won his 70th game as Rock head coach, improving to 70-18. ... Sheets has 17 TD catches, No. 2 on SRU’s all-time single-season list. ... Long’s 3,486 passing yards are fourth-most in a season by a Rock quarterback. His 35 TD passes this season are second all-time. ... Josh Stokes led SRU’s defense with 10 tackles. ... Tiffin kicker Grant Woodfin missed field goal attempts of 29 and 35 yards.

Slippery Rock 0 24 7 14 — 45

Tiffin 0 14 0 21 — 35

Second Quarter

T — Carson Gresock 1 run (Grant Woodfin kick), 13:13

SRU — Khalid Dorsey 49 run (Mason Yohn kick), 12:05

T — Gresock 1 run (Woodfin kick), 1:40

SRU — Kylon Wilson 90 kick return (Yohn kick), 10:27

SRU — Chris D’Or 8 run (Yohn kick), 1:35

SRU — Yohn 21 field goal, :01

Third Quarter

SRU — Kyle Sheets 12 pass from Brayden Long (Yohn kick), 13:30

Fourth Quarter

T — Will Linkhart 7 pass from Keegan Ray (Woodfin kick), 12:33

SRU — D’Or 48 run (Yohn kick), 8:46

T — Gresock 1 run (Woodfin kick), 6:45

SRU — Isaiah Edwards 7 run (Yohn kick), 1:31

T — Jalen Thomas 22 pass from Ray (Woodfin kick), :25

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SRU, Chris D’Or 6-89, Khalid Dorsey 10-70, Isaiah Edwards 11-46. Tiffin, Carson Gresock 14-66, Devin Nelson 13-52, Keegan Ray 6-33, Ronald Blackman 1-3, Tyrese Banks-Dorn 2-0.

Passing: SRU, Brayden Long 16-23-191-0, Kyle Sheets 1-1-48-0. Tiffin, Keegan Ray 26-39-333-1.

Receiving: SRU, Cohen Russell 4-85, Kyle Sheets 7-82, Logan Ramper 1-48, Kam Kruzelyak 3-14, Chris DOr 2-16. Tiffin, Jalen Thomas 7-109, Will Linkhart 3-54, Cole Schnieder 4-54, Devin Nelson 3-37, Josh Lewis 324, Ronld Blackman 1-24, Javier Wills 3-19, Carson Gresock 1-14, Tyrese Banks-Dorn 1-(-2).