It’s as plain as day.

To remind its players the importance of beating Slippery Rock, Edinboro has been placing a sizable rock painted green on display in its football office for years.

Slippery Rock’s school colors are green and white.

The Scots face this PSAC West rival Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium in Slippery Rock.

Wonder if the Rock have some sort of symbol in their football office to remind their players how big this game is?

“We don’t have any symbol,” Rock coach George Mihalik said. “It’s tough to put a person dressed as a Scot in your office.”

To Mihalik, Edinboro itself is enough motivation.

“We don’t need a reminder,” he said. “All we know is it’s Edinboro. That’s enough of a reminder. We better show up and be ready to play. We know year in and year out it’s a physical game and it’s a four-quarter game.”

– Duane Rankin

Akeem Satterfield played his final college game in his hometown last Saturday as Slippery Rock lost at Mercyhurst, 38-23./Photo by Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News

Mercyhurst’s 38-23 PSAC West win against Slippery Rock was more than just a homecoming win for the Lakers.

It was Akeem Satterfield’s his final college game in his hometown.

An Erie native, Satterfield ran for 90 yards for the Rock in the loss. Satterfield, who played for Cathedral Prep, is one of four players from Erie playing for Slippery Rock this season.

“It’s bittersweet. man,” Satterfield said. “Bittersweet. Played a good game, but we didn’t win. So that’s just it. Wish it would have turned out the other way, but it didn’t.”

To add insult to injury, no pun intended, Satterfield also hurt his shoulder in the first half, but returned to the game.

“Oh man, I had a real bad stinger,” he said. “I couldn’t feel anything. I thought my shoulder was dislocated, but it was just a stinger.”

This season, Satterfield is eighth in the PSAC in rushing with 361 yards and two touchdowns. He is sixth in career touchdowns at Slippery Rock with 33, eighth in scoring with 198 points and 10th all-time in rushing with 2,575 yards.

The Rock also have three players out of Strong Vincent High in junior receiver Bobby Joyce, senior defensive back Marquis Knight and sophomore defensive back Kevin Green, a transfer from Edinboro.

In Saturday’s loss, Joyce had two catches for 25 yards and Knight had eight total tackles. According to the participation chart, Green didn’t play.

Riding a two-game winning streak, Mercyhurst takes on Slippery Rock in an PSAC West game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tullio Field.

The Lakers (2-1, 1-0) lost 28-21 to the Rock (2-1, 1-0) last season.

Senior Bryan Kelly and the Gannon defense did the job in helping the Knights shock No. 14-ranked Slippery Rock, 33-27, at Gannon University Field./Photo by Jack Hanrahan/Erie Times-News

What a day of college football in the PSAC. Here are some highlights from the games.

Biggest upset: Gannon stuns No. 14-ranked Slippery Rock, 33-27. The Knights had just three wins, but got four touchdown passes from redshift freshman Daniel Tapscott and forced five turnovers to knock off the Rock (8-2, 6-1). The Rock will still play in next week’s PSAC title game, but Gannon sent them into it on negative momentum.

Biggest comeback: Mercyhurst College rallied from a 24-point, third-quarter deficit to win at Clarion, 42-38.  Anthony Vendemia picked up his first win as a starter to end Mercyhurst’s five-game losing skid. Richie Sanders’ 1-yard run with 32 seconds left put the Lakers up for good.

Two-minute rally: Down 20 points late in the fourth quarter, Edinboro scored two touchdowns and was an onside kick conversion away from having a chance to beat No. 22 California (Pa.).  Instead the Vulcans recovered the onside kick and edged Edinboro, 34-28.

Biggest beatdown: In a battle of Top 25 teams, No. 13 Kutztown destroyed No. 12 Bloomsburg, 52-14, to earn a spot in next week’s PSAC championship game. Kevin Morton threw three touchdowns, no interceptions and ran for another score to lead the Golden Bears to victory.

Knight time fell on Slippery Rock today.

Gannon came into the game with just three wins and were facing a ranked team with the top defense in NCAA Division II.

Then the game started.

Redshirt freshman Daniel Tapscott threw four touchdowns (three to Lawrence Coleman) and Gannon intercepted Cody Endres three times to beat the No. 14-ranked Rock, 33-27, today at Gannon University Field.

Slippery Rock (8-2, 6-1) had five turnovers. Gannon (4-6, 3-4) had just two. Endres, who also fumbled the ball after mishandling a shot gun snap, threw his third interception to end the Rock’s final drive of the game.

For Gannon, it’s a bright spot on what has been a disappointing season. For Slippery Rock, all it’s not lost, but it puts greater pressure to win that PSAC title game to get into the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Slippery Rock earned a spot in the PSAC title game after edging Mercyhurst College, 28-21, today at home.

The No. 18-ranked Rock (8-1, 6-0) will close out PSAC West play next week at Gannon (3-6, 2-4), which lost at Clarion (2-7, 2-4) by the same score today.

The irony of it all is the Rock punched their ticket into the conference championship game by beating the defending conference champions.The PSAC title game is Nov. 12.

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Mercyhurst College has now lost its last four games after falling in overtime, 32-26, at California (Pa.) today.

In a game that had missed PATs, blocked kicks, the biggest play seems to have happened in overtime when Mercyhurst third-year sophomore quarterback Anthony Vendemia threw an interception in the end zone on a 1st-and-10 play from the Cal 10-yard line.

Cal (6-2, 4-1) took possession and scored as Jeff Knox punched it in from four yards out. The Vulcans can still win the PSAC West if they beat IUP and Edinboro and Slippery Rock losses its last two games.

Slippery Rock (7-1, 5-0) plays Mercyhurst at home next week and ends PSAC West play at Gannon, which lost by 28 points at IUP today.

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Fifth-year senior safety Jayson Nickson (#23), a Mercyhurst Prep graduate, had seven total tackles for Slippery Rock in its 24-23 win at Edinboro on Saturday./Photo by Jack Hanrahan of the Erie Times-News.

“GRANDMA WAS HERE!! GRANDMA WAS HERE!!”

Jayson Nickson.

Sharmaine Gamble shouted it to the sky as her cousin, Slippery Rock senior strong safety Jayson Nickson, walked over to her with tears in his eyes.

Less than an week after Nickson’s grandmother, Jean Nickson, died Monday, Nickson was part of Slippery Rock’s 24-23 come-from-behind PSAC West win Saturday at No. 25-ranked Edinboro.

“My grandma had a huge part in raising me and my cousin Sharmaine,” Nickson said. “When she said my grandmother was watching, it really meant a lot to me.”

While the Slippery Rock team was huddled up after the game, Nickson was at the fence of the visiting seat section talking to several relatives  and having the kind of family moment he’d hoped for.

Earlier this week, Nickson talked about how he’d feel before the game about his grandmother,who was planning to come to the game:

“I’ll be thanking God for taking her home,” he said Wednesday. “She’s in a better place. She’s a very holy woman. Very happy person.I’m going to be very happy because I know she’s happy and I know she can’t wait to see me play as well as see our family get together for it.”

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True freshman quarterback Ty Stoldt had six turnovers for Edinboro in its 24-23 loss to Slippery Rock today./Photo by Jack Hanrahan of the Erie Times-News

James Jackson has his back.

Following Edinboro’s 24-23 loss in which true freshman Ty Stoldt threw three third-quarter interceptions in his first career start, Jackson, who starred as a true freshman last season at cornerback, was proud of how Stoldt played.

“He’s a tremendous freshman,” said Jackson about the skinny 6-foot, 2-inch, 169-pound Stoldt. “He might not look it physically, but he’s going to be the future at Edinboro.”

Stoldt played in place of sophomore Cody Harris, who was cleared to play this morning after sustaining a minor concussion in last week’s loss at Indiana (Pa.), but hadn’t practiced all week.

Harris is expected to start in next week’s PSAC West rivalry game at Mercyhurst College.

“Cody will be back,” Edinboro coach Scott Browing said. “He’s good to go now, but we’re not going to forget about Tyler either because I think he did an awful lot of good things.”

While Stoldt did some good things like looking down field when pressured, he went 9-of-23 for 140 yards, was sacked twice and lost three fumbles.

An Alden, N.Y. native, Stoltz was just 3-of-13 in the second half for 30 yards, but left an impression on Slippery Rock senior safety Jayson Nickson, a four-yeart starter out of Mercyhurst Prep.

“He actually played a really good game, especially for being a true freshman in a game of such a high rivalry,” Nickson said.

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Jake Wickline had a team-high eight tackles today for Slippery Rock.

Wearing dark shades and a big smile, Slippery Rock senior linebacker Jake Wickline couldn’t have been happier this afternoon.

Wickline returned to the place he once played and left with a 24-23 win at Edinboro’s Sox Harrison Stadium.

“A great win,” Wickline said. “To come up here on their homecoming, come down to the wire and win like that, that was a great win.”

Wickline transferred to Slippery Rock  from Edinboro after playing three seasons for the Scots. He transferred in part to be  closer to his home of Beaver Falls after his dad died last year at the age of 52.

Wickline’s aunt passed away at the age of 56 in March of this year.

However, Rock coach George Mihalik had to convince Edinboro to release Wickline so he could transfer to Slippery Rock.

Today couldn’t get here soon enough for Wickline.

“I’ve  been waiting for this day,” he said. “Real excited. Been circled on my calendar for over a year now since I went to Slippery Rock to come back here. So yeah, I was real excited.”

Wickline, who led Edinboro in tackles in 2009, had a team-high eight tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and interception.

“Our defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation for a reason,” Wickline said. “Straight up and we all believed and it was a total team effort. To come out and have a pick and another pick and another pick and then to have a fumble recovery. And then to have our offense come back and score when we really needed them, that was a total team effort. Just glad to be a part of it.”