No. 12 University of Minnesota Duluth football team suffered a heartbreaking loss Thursday night on the road against RV Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pa. The Bulldogs battled hard on the ground inside Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, gaining over 370 yards rushing for their highest in-game total since 2023, but it wasn't enough to take out the scrappy Rock.
The Bulldogs got the offense going early, with a 33-yard rush from Derrick Johnson and an Austin Randall 12-yard rush getting the Bulldogs within striking distance. However, The Rock held on, and the Bulldogs had to settle for a 37-yard field goal.
Slippery Rock would strike back quickly, with Jahmil Perryman getting a big 40-yard return, followed by a quick pass to Vincent Berardi which resulted in a 54-yard touchdown for The Rock, giving them the lead after their first offensive play.
The Bulldogs stalled on the following drive to give Slippery Rock the momentum and the chance to build on their lead. However, Jonathan Shrum and Joey Krouse would made some big defensive stops for the Bulldogs and forced The Rock to punt. UMD couldn't put the stop to use, and Kwalil Shepperson would intercept Jacob Eggert just two plays into the drive.
The defense came back in a big way when Ean Ackley and Mark Rendl stopped The Rock for a loss. The Bulldogs offense would finally break through on the next drive when Derrick Johnson, who finished with 212 yards and three touchdowns, opened up on 79-yard touchdown drive to put the Bulldogs up 10-7.
A Peyton Menzel 19-yard reception would keep the final drive of the half going, and the Bulldogs hit paydirt off of a Jacob Eggert to Ben Fritsch pass, ton increase their lead to 17-7 at halftime.
UMD extended that lead on a 58-yard touchdown run by Derrick Johnson to push the Bulldogs up to their biggest lead of the night, 24-7. UMD's defense again forced another three and out on the very next drive, helped by tackle by Gavin Schmidt to freeze SRU.
The Bulldogs' woes started on the next drive and were also forced off of the field in three plays. The Rock would respond on the next drive on a Vincent Berardi 31-yard reception, followed up by JayJay Jordan's 28-yard touchdown, cutting the Bulldogs lead down to 10.
On the next drive, UMD got some help off of a few Rock penalties, including a targeting call on Jacob Snow, disqualifying him, but were stopped yet again. A sack on Eggert from Brian Young Jr., as well as a holding call against the Bulldogs set them back, capped off by a Michael Cornick III interception.
The Bulldogs defense kept The Rock back, and forced a three and out and UMD finished off the next drive on Alex Riley's 28-yard touchdown run. However, a missed extra point would hold the Bulldogs to a 30-14 lead.
After 16 yards on three plays, The Rock would get 64 on the next three, with DaOne Owens leading the charge with a 36-yard pass to Reggie Fleurima, a 21-yard pass to Ethan Trettel, and finished with a John Sabo touchdown to bring the game to a 30-20 contest after a failed two-point try.
UMD looked to strike back and put away the game. Joey Flaherty got a 44-yard pass from Eggert to put the Bulldogs within range of another field goal to go back up by two scores, but two holding penalties plus a false start would push them back. A critical fumble then led to The Rock getting a scoop-and-score, putting them to within three, 30-27.
The Bulldogs recovered the onside kick, but were bogged down by a false start, which led to a three and out. On their final drive, SRU would end up with a field goal that sent the game to overtime. It was the Bulldogs first overtime game since 2018.
The Rock acted swiftly in their first overtime drive with a touchdown on six plays. A holding penalty slowed down UMD, but a massive 20-yard run by Eggert kept the Bulldogs in the game. Johnson almost got his third touchdown of the night, but a few tush pushes later, Eggert was across the line to get the touchdown, with an extra point sending the game into double overtime.
The Bulldogs would get the ball again, and got right into action with a big pass to Flaherty to get to the goal line. A few plays later, Johnson would did get his third touchdown of the night, and UMD would retook the lead, but fail the mandatory two-point try in a second overtime.
SRU was pushed to the brink on the final drive to a third and seven, but a pass interference call kept The Rock alive, and paved the way for the game-tying touchdown on the next play. The Rock sealed the win on the two-point try, a Owens rushing effort that broke the Bulldogs seven-game opening win streak, while extending theirs to seventeen straight.
Johnson led the Bulldogs with an impressive 209 rushing yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns. Eggert contributed with 142 passing yards and one touchdown in his first career start, and completed 9-of-15 passes, while also rushing for 46 yards and a score. On the receiving end, Peyton Menzel caught four passes for 72 yards. Defensively, Ean Ackley posted 10 tackles and added one sack to his performance.
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back next Thursday on September 3rd, when they take on Augustana University in their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action of the season at the home inside Malosky Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m.
