Slippery Rock End CalU Season

CALIFORNIA (Dec. 7) – The third-seeded Vulcans were unable to overcome a 21-point halftime deficit on Saturday afternoon while suffering a 31-13 loss to fourth-seeded Slippery Rock at Adamson Stadium in the Super Region One Championship as part of the NCAA Playoffs. With the loss, the No. 20 California (PA) football team finishes the season with a 10-3 overall record with all three losses being to nationally-ranked teams. The Vulcans advanced to the regional championship of the NCAA Playoffs for the fifth time in program history, all since 2007. Meanwhile, No. 11 The Rock improves to 12-1 this season and travels to face No. 2 Ferris State (Mich.) from Super Region Three in the national semifinals. Slippery Rock totaled 245 rushing yards on 40 attempts and quarterback Brayden Long, a two-time national finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, threw three touchdown passes in the victory. Sophomore defensive back Khalil Taylor led the team with 11 tackles (10 solo) with 2.0 TFL, while fellow sophomores Samuel Hobbs and Julien Laventure both tallied six stops on Saturday. Sophomore running back Bobby Boyd, Jr. led the team with 99 rushing yards and one touchdown on 13 attempts. He finished the year with 938 rushing yards on 194 carries with seven touchdowns in his first year as a starter. Boyd totaled the most rushing yards this fall since Nelson Brown eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019.