ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon football team has found its offensive stride. The Golden Knights reached the 40-point plateau in consecutive games for only the second time in school history and rolled to a 45-17 victory against Indiana (Pa.) Saturday afternoon during Homecoming Weekend at Gannon University Field.

One week after rolling up 42 points at Lock Haven, Gannon netted 45 more during a game that started in sunny and warm conditions. But featured high wind gusts throughout and ended in the rain. The last time the Golden Knights scored at least 40 points in consecutive games came when the program ending the 2004 campaign with home victories against Wayne State (Mich.) (42-15) and Tiffin (50-39). The back-to-back performances also represent the first time in school history the program won consecutive games by at least 28 points.

Saturday's Homecoming start didn't look too promising as Indiana (Pa.) led 10-0 after one quarter. The Crimson Hawks converted a short field after a Gannon fumble for their first touchdown at the 7:25 mark. The visitors added a 42-yard field goal by Craig Burgess with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

It was all Gannon the rest of the way. On its next possession, the offense was kick started by a 66-yard pass from Zach Boedicker (Northfield, Ohio/Nordonia) to Geoff Hicks (Buffalo, N.Y./Cleveland Hill) on the first play of the second quarter. Two plays later, Boedicker scampered into the endzone from 12 yards out 1:19 into the quarter, cutting the deficit to 10-7.

Head coach Jim Kiernan's squad eventually scored on all three second-quarter possessions. Following an IUP three-and-out, Gannon drove 53 yards on eight plays to assume its first lead at 14-10 with 8:58 left in the first half. Tyler Batts (Homestead, Pa./Penn-Trafford) accumulated 35 of the 53 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown run that capped the drive.

The Gannon defense forced another three-and-out, before the Golden Knights drove 82 yards on 10 plays for another touchdown. Boedicker started the drive with a 29-yard pass to a wide-open Matt Davis (Cheswick, Pa./Shaler).

Other than a Batts 14-yard run on the next play, Gannon used eight consecutive plays that picked up less than 10 yards to methodically move down the field. The end result was a Levar Goff (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) six-yard touchdown catch from Boedicker with 1:31 showing on the clock.

Gannon dominated the second quarter, holding the ball for 10 minutes and 35 seconds. The Golden Knights produced large advantages in first downs (9-0), rushing yards (82-2), passing yards (134-0) and total yards (216-2).

The Homecoming crowd of 1,763 started to put the game to rest early in the third quarter. A Kevin Minor (South Euclid, Ohio/Shaw) 48-yard interception return for a touchdown on IUP's first possession of the second half and a Batts' four-yard touchdown run on Gannon's first offensive possession of the second half pushed the lead to 35-10 with 9:02 left in the third quarter. Minor's interception return was Gannon's first returned for a touchdown since Aaron Roberson did it against Lock Haven October 25, 2008.

Indiana (Pa.) added a touchdown late in the third quarter, before Gannon salted away the victory with 10 points in the fourth quarter. Jeremy Ditzler (Erie, Pa./Iroquois) kicked a 20-yard field goal and Goff returned a punt 46 yards for a touchdown in the final frame. The punt return was Gannon's first for a touchdown since Ronald Keels performed the feat against Northern Michigan September 25, 2005.

Gannon led in just about every statistical category - first downs (15-11), rushing yards (179-112), passing yards (186-107), total yards (365-219) and possession time (35:06-24:54).

Boedicker and Batts led the offensive unit. Boedicker was 11-of-18 for 186 and one touchdown through the air. The senior added 89 yards and one score on the ground. The 186 passing yards tied a season-high and the 89 rushing yards equaled his most since rushing for 109 yards in the season opener against Lake Erie.

Batts carried the ball for 79 yards and two touchdowns on 19 attempts. It was his first career two-touchdown game. Goff hauled in a game-high four catches for 26 yards and a touchdown.

Matthew Neal-Mink (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) headlined a stellar defensive group with a season-high 11 tackles. The senior moved past Owen Rhodes (2000-03) and into fourth place all-time at Gannon in tackles, ending the game with 278 career stops.

Keith Yager (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory) fell one tackle shy of a season-high with eight tackles. Chris Cook (Cleveland, Ohio/Shaw) and Jon Petrigac (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) chipped in six stops each.

Gannon improved to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division with its second consecutive victory. The Golden Knights have their best eight-game record since the 2003 squad was 7-1. Indiana (Pa.) dropped to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play with its third straight loss. The Golden Knights complete a brief two-game homestand Saturday, October 30 against Clarion at Gannon University Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. A victory against the Golden Eagles would guarantee back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1995.

For a complete box score from Saturday's Gannon-Indiana (Pa.) football game, please click here.