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CLARION, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University football team claimed its second straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division championship and earned hosting rights for the PSAC title game with a dominant 45-8 victory over Clarion Saturday at Memorial Field.

Slippery Rock also retained possession of the "Milk Jug" trophy that was introduced into the series between The Rock and Clarion five years ago. SRU has won all five meetings since the trophy was introduced.
 
The Rock improved to 8-2 overall and finishes the divisional portion of the schedule with a 7-2 record, tied with Gannon for the top spot in the PSAC-West. Clarion drops to 2-8 overall and 2-7 in divisional play. Slippery Rock's head-to-head 31-28 win over Gannon earlier this year puts The Rock in the PSAC title game next week for the third time in the last four years. Slippery Rock was forced to scoreboard watch for nearly 15 minutes after its game concluded Saturday, waiting on the final results of the California at Mercyhurst game. SRU needed a California loss as the Vulcans were tied for first in the division and owned the tiebreaker, but Mercyhurst won a wild game, 59-49, to secure the division title for The Rock.
 
Slippery Rock will host undefeated and fifth ranked Bloomsburg University, winners of the PSAC-East, for the league title next Saturday, Nov. 15 at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. More details will be available early in the week, but the game will be streamed for free online thanks to the SRU athletic communication office and it will air live on television on the PCN Network in Pennsylvania.
 
Saturday's game featured a slow start from The Rock, as Clarion scored the first points of the game and racked up 97 yards of offense in the first quarter, but the team responded by scoring 45 unanswered points and holding the Golden Eagles to just 51 yards of total offense over the final three quarters.
 
Slippery Rock finished with a 600-148 edge in total yards, crossing the 600-yard mark on offense for the seventh time in the last two seasons. The Rock threw for a season-high 398 yards and added 202 yards on the ground. Clarion was held to just 40 yards rushing, marking the sixth time in 10 games that an opponent has run for less than 75 yards against The Rock defense this season. The Golden Eagles added 108 yards through the air.
 
Jared Buck passed for a career-high 345 yards and matched his career-high with three touchdowns. He completed 22-of-35 passes, including a career-high 65 yarder, and was intercepted for the first time this season. His previous career high of 341 yards was set in the final game of the 2012 season against Bloomsburg. Zack Newsock entered the game in the fourth quarter and completed all three of his pass attempts and added a rushing touchdown.
 
Melvin German also saw time at quarterback Saturday for the first time this season, finishing the game two-of-three for 36 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Leroy McClain. He also caught three passes for 76 yards, including a career-high 61-yarder.
 
Shamar Greene topped 100 yards rushing for the third week in a row and the seventh time this season. He finished with 114 yards on 26 carries to bring his season total to 1,343 yards through 10 games. Greene moved up sixth in SRU history in single-season rushing yards and can move into fifth with nine yards next week.
 
Isiah Neely handled the backup running back duties for most of the game and finished with a career-high 16 carries for 56 yards and one touchdown.
 
Jaimire Dutrieuille had his best performance of the season to lead The Rock in all-purpose yards with 202. He caught seven passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yarder. He also added two punt returns for 22 yards and two kickoff returns for 53 yards.
 
Drew Scales caught six passes for 42 yards and one touchdown and McClain finished with three catches for 81 yards and one score.
 
The Rock's defense was once again led by Marcus Martin, who had another big day in the pass rush. The program's single-season record holder in sacks already, Martin added three more solo sacks and four solo tackles for loss. He leads the PSAC in both categories and now has 16.0 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss through 10 games. He also led the team with six total tackles Saturday.
 
Nick Dahlstrom started for Joe Phillips on the defensive line and also recorded six tackles. Austin Miele added four tackles, one tackle for loss and four pass breakups. Cody Conway recorded 1.5 tackles for loss and Kris Williams, Levi Sager and Sam Funk all recorded a half tackle for loss.

Derrick Fulmore recorded his team-leading fifth interception of the year and Admire Carter recorded two pass breakups to move up to second in SRU history for single-season breakups with 14 so far this year. He also remained second on the all-time career pass breakup list at SRU, increasing his total to 33.
 
The Rock defense has allowed just 15 total points and 93 rushing yards combined in the last two weeks in wins over Edinboro and Clarion.
 
Clarion was paced by quarterback Connor Simmons, who completed just eight-of-28 pass attempts for 108 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
 
Delrece Williams was the leading rusher with 32 yards on six carries and Bobby Thomas added nine carries for 20 yards.
 
Zach Deitrick led the Golden Eagle receivers with two catches for 29 yards and one touchdown and Julian Howsare led the defense with a game-high 16 total tackles.
 
Clarion was the first to score in the game when Deitrick caught a 22-yard TD pass from Simmons with 4:31 to play in the first quarter after Simmons escaped what looked like a sure sack. The Golden Eagles went for the two-point conversion and converted when Simmons' pass slipped through the hands of a Rock defender and was caught by Jaron Moorer to make it 8-0.
 
From there, it was all Slippery Rock.
 
Dutrieuille kicked off the scoring with an 18-yard TD pass on the next possession to make it 8-7 with 2:42 to play in the quarter and Scales added an eight-yard TD pass from Buck with 45 seconds left in the period to make it 14-8 in favor of SRU.
 
Mike Wainauskis booted his 10th field goal of the year from 30 yards with 6:56 to play in the second quarter to make it 17-8 and account for the final points of the opening half. That kick moved him into fifth at SRU in single-season field goals made.
 
Slippery Rock tacked on seven more points at the 8:44 mark of the third quarter when Dutrieuille caught a 65-yard TD pass over the middle from Buck to make it 24-8.
 
McClain reeled in a 33-yard TD pass from German, who lined up at quarterback in the wildcat formation, at the 3:19 mark of the third to make it 31-8.
 
The Rock added two more scores in the final quarter, first a one-yard rushing TD from Neely after a 61-yard pass to German put the ball at the one on the first play of the quarter to make it 38-8. The final score came with 4:43 to play after a 14-play, 38 yard drive that took 6:20 off the clock was capped by a Newsock one-yard TD keeper.
 
Slippery Rock claims its 14th PSAC-Western Division title, including its second straight and third in the last four years. This marks the first time out of the last three appearances in the State Game that Slippery Rock will get to host. The Rock previously lost at Kutztown in 2011 and fell by four points last year at Bloomsburg.
 
Complete game notes, coverage information, ticket information and tailgating information will be available at www.RockAthletics.com by Wednesday.
 
 
NOTES: Slippery Rock won at Clarion for the 11th consecutive time in the series with the last Clarion home win coming in 1993 … it was the fifth straight win in the series for SRU and fifth time SRU has won the Milk Jug trophy … Marcus Martin increased his school sack record with 3.0 more sacks and has 16.0 on the season already … Jared Buck threw for a career-high 345 yards … Shamar Greene ran for more than 100 yards for the third week in a row and the seventh time this season … Greene moved up to sixth on the single-season rushing ledger at SRU and has 1,343 yards so far this year, nearly doubling his former career-high of 727 set last fall … George Mihalik won his 184th career game and coached his 296th game as the head coach at SRU … Mihalik also won his 110th PSAC-West game … The Rock held Clarion to just 40 rushing yards, marking the sixth time this season a team ran for less than 75 yards against SRU … SRU has allowed just 15 points and 93 total rushing yards in the last two games combined … Mike Wainauskis kicked his 10th field goal of the year to move into fifth in single-season made field goals at SRU ... SRU won the PSAC-West for the second year in a row, the third time in the last four years and the 14th total time … SRU will play for the PSAC title for the third time in the last four years and will host the State Game for the first time in that stretch … kickoff against Bloomsburg in a rematch of last year's title game is set for 12:30 p.m. at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium Nov. 15.