New Oxford graduate Brayden Long made a bet on himself when the standout quarterback enrolled at Division II Slippery Rock and spurned Division I offers. He bet on his football program by waiting three years for his opportunity to start. Those bets paid off and landed him in the history books.
Long’s decorated college career came to a close Saturday, as Slippery Rock fell 48-38 at Ferris State in the NCAA D-II semifinals. While the Hanover native couldn’t quite bring The Rock to its first-ever national title game, he’ll leave behind a legacy of greatness on and off the field.
SRU went down swinging in Big Rapids, Michigan, taking a 38-27 lead into halftime Saturday and taking three separate 14-point leads. But Ferris State pitched a shutout in the second half and scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to reach its latest NCAA final against Valdosta State this Saturday. Long completed 27 of 48 passes for 398 yards and three touchdowns against four interceptions.
Slippery Rock controlled the ball for more than 40 minutes, playing defense for less than 20. The Bulldogs, however, kept it close in the first half thanks to a pick-six and a kickoff return touchdown. Ferris State took its first lead on a 69-yard TD run with 12:26 left and added an insurance score at the 8:00 mark. The hosts ultimately won the yardage battle 513-453.
Thus concluded a two-year run in which Long went 24-4 as the starter. He is SRU’s all-time leader in completions (631) and completion percentage (66.8%) while sitting second in passing yards (7,527, just 107 shy of the record) and touchdowns (64). Long is the only player in school history to twice be named a national finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, Division II’s Heisman equivalent.
In 2023, Long threw for 3,808 yards and 35 touchdowns with just six interceptions. An impressive run through the 2024 playoffs brought him to 3,470 yards and 28 scores this year. He entered Saturday with just four interceptions all season before matching that total against Ferris State. Long also rushed for five TDs last year and six this fall.
Slippery Rock was seeded fourth in the Super Region One bracket after a 9-1 regular season, but a thrilling 25-24 overtime victory over Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Kutztown — which beat SRU twice in 2023 — sent Long’s squad to the regional final. Then came a 31-13 win at PSAC rival California (Pa.), which handed The Rock its only loss of the regular season. Long threw five touchdowns and no picks in the two road triumphs.
After graduating from Slippery Rock in May with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in sports management, Long was named a national finalist in October for the William V. Campbell Trophy, college football’s premier scholar-athlete award. He was the only D-II athlete among the 16 nominees who gathered for the award ceremony last Tuesday in Las Vegas (Alabama’s Jalen Milroe won the honor). All finalists received an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship from Fidelity Investments.
The Harlon Hill Trophy will be awarded this Friday on the eve of the national title game. Long is one of eight finalists, four of whom are two-time honorees and three of whom were finalists last year, including 2023 winner Zach Zebrowski of Central Missouri. Long was fifth in last season’s voting.
There are surely several more accolades in the near future for Long, who was previously the 2023-24 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in both the PSAC and D-II Atlantic Region.
Slippery Rock sophomore kicker Mason Yohn, a Northern York graduate, made five extra points and a 26-yard field goal while booting punts of 47 and 40 yards Saturday.
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Five York-area products have been along for a wild ride at Susquehanna, which has reached the NCAA Division III semifinals with another dramatic December win. The River Hawks (12-1) scored the go-ahead touchdown with 38 seconds left and beat Bethel, 24-21, on Saturday. They stunned No. 3-ranked Saint John’s, 41-38, on a walk-off field goal the week prior after winning their playoff opener 42-35 over Hobart.
Sophomore OL Jacob Miller (Kennard-Dale) saw the field for Susquehanna on Saturday after senior RB D.K. Wyche (York Catholic) appeared in the first two playoff games. Junior OL Ethan Watkins (New Oxford) played in the season’s first eight games; senior DL Bailey Blaschak (Northern York) has made five appearances; and sophomore OL Connor Main (New Oxford) has seen the field twice.
The River Hawks will visit North Central College (13-0) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Naperville, Illinois, on ESPN+. The winner will advance to the Stagg Bowl — the name given to the D-III national final — against either Johns Hopkins or Mount Union on Jan. 5 in Houston.
Division I: Starting Tuesday, college football bowl games will be on TV during 16 of the next 19 days, with only Christmas Day and NFL Sundays as exceptions. West Virginia begins that stretch with a Tuesday matchup against Memphis in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas. Sophomore RB Jahiem White (York High) enters the game with 936 all-purpose yards this season (817 rushing, 119 receiving) and a chance to reach 1,000 after finishing last year with 967. Mountaineers offensive coordinator Chad Scott will serve as head coach after WVU (6-6) replaced Neal Brown with Rich Rodriguez last week.
In upcoming bowl games, Pittsburgh WR Kenny Johnson (Dallastown) will close his sophomore season on Dec. 26 in the GameAbove Sports Bowl against Toledo in Detroit. Georgia Tech and WR Abdul Janneh Jr. (Long’s former running mate at New Oxford) will play Vanderbilt in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27.
As you might have heard, Penn State has a home playoff game this Saturday against SMU. But as you also might have heard, Nittany Lion backup quarterback and Central York graduate Beau Pribula won’t be available after entering the NCAA’s transfer portal to seek a starting opportunity for the 2025 season. Head coach James Franklin, fellow quarterback Drew Allar and other teammates spoke highly Monday of the redshirt sophomore, who will have two years of eligibility at his next destination.
