Complete Game Notes (PDF)

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The ninth ranked Slippery Rock University football team will travel to West Chester University Saturday for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship game. Kickoff is set for 12:10 p.m. for the nationally televised contest.
 
Below you will find all pertinent information including directions, ticket information, live television and streaming coverage options, as well as detailed information about the game and complete game notes.
 

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LOCATION
• Google Directions to John A. Farrell Stadium
• GPS Address: 855 South New Street, West Chester, PA  19383

LIVE INTERNET COVERAGE
• Live Video Stream (ESPN3)
• Live Stats
• Live Audio (Online and Radio)  |  Provided by The Rock Station 97.7 FM (Butler).
• Twitter  |  All scoring information and in-game updates.

TICKETS (May be purchased on game day at stadium)
• Adult General Admission - $8
• Senior Citizens and Children Ages 6-18 - $5
• Current Slippery Rock Students - FREE with valid ID

PARKING AND TAILGATING
• Parking is available in the lots below the stadium
• Parking cost is $5 per vehicle
• Tailgating is allowed in lower lot (Q)

FREE STUDENT BUS TRIP
• SGA is sponsoring a free trip for SRU students to attend the game
• Current SRU students can sign up with valid ID in the SGA Bookstore
• Bus will depart at 5 a.m. Saturday from the Student Center
• Students not attending the game can attend a free watch party in the Student Center Theater at noon

LIVE TELEVISION  LISTINGS
• ESPN 3 (Accessible on line to more than 99 million households at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One).
• ESPN College Extra (Live TV available to AT&T Uverse, DirecTV, Bright House Networks, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and select NCTC  subscribers).
• WPHL 17 (17 over-the-air, Comcast Philadelphia 17, Comcast Delco 7, Comcast Lancaster 7,  Service Electric 4, Verizon Fios 17, Dish Network 17, DirecTV 17) - Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley/South Jersey/Harrisburg/Lancaster/Pottsville.
• WHP 21.2 (21.1 over-the-air, Comcast 19, Armstrong 15, Blue Ridge 133, Nittany 99, Verizon 21, DirecTV 22) - Harrisburg/Lancaster/York/Carlisle/Lebanon.
• WPNT 22 (22 over-the-air, Comcast SD 10/HD 812, Comcast Clarion SD 12/HD 812, Armstrong SD 22/HD 108, Atlantic Broadband SD 8/HD 707, Citizens SD 12/HD 812, Time Warner SD 22/HD 1022, Verizon SD 10/ HD 510, Consolidated SD 10/HD 710, DirecTV 22, Dish Network 22) - Pittsburgh.
• WJAC 6.2 (6.2 over-the-air, Comcast 110-187-202-248, Armstrong 410, Atlantic Broadband 110, Windstream 16, Laurel Highland 15) - Johnstown/Altoona/State College.
- WETM 18.2 (18.2 over-the-air, Time Warner 11, Blue Ridge 8, Haefele 204) Elmira, N.Y. & Mansfield, Pa.
• BLUE RIDGE CABLE NETWORK (BRC 113, BRC 11, BRC 13) Poconos, Eastern and Northern Pa.

REPLAY LISTINGS - THURSDAY,  NOV. 19 - 7 p.m.
• THE COMCAST NETWORK TCN/CSN+ (Eastern Pa. 6-8-16/HD846, Central and Western Pa. 9, Northeast Pa., 10/846, Pittsburgh 188 & 210, Maryland CSN+ 8-16-21-191/HD856, Virginia CSN+ 8-10-18-21-191/HD856, DirecTV 643, Dish Network, Washington D.C. CSN+ 21/HD856, Delaware 8-22/HD846, New Jersey 8-35-82/HD846, Verizon Fios 334) Pa., N.J., Del., Md., Va.

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THE GAME
No. 9 Slippery Rock looks to become the first team in the PSAC to repeat as league champion since the state game was reinstated in 2008. The Rock are the first team to reach the final three years in a row and will be looking to bounce back after being eliminated by West Chester in the NCAA playoffs last fall. The Golden Rams dropped two early games this year but rallied back to win the Eastern Division with a 7-3 overall record.



GAME NO. 1,000 FOR THE ROCK
This week's PSAC Championship game against West Chester will be the 1,000th documented football game in Slippery Rock program history. The first documented football games at The Rock took place in 1898. SRU head coach George Mihalik will have been involved in 465 SRU games as a player, assistant coach and head coach with Saturday's game as his 309th game as head coach. He will have been involved in 30.9 percent of the programs game as a head coach and will have been on the field or sideline for 46.5 percent of all games played at The Rock.
 
ROCK CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Slippery Rock has won at least a share of the PSAC-West title 15 times, including eight times under George Mihalik. The Rock have claimed the outright PSAC Championship 10 times and are looking to become the first team in the PSAC to repeat as champion since the league brought the title game back in 2008. SRU is making its fourth appearance in the league title game since the reinstatement and is 5-4 all-time in PSAC title games with wins from 1972-74 over West Chester, a victory over East Stroudsburg in 1962 and last year's win over Bloomsburg. The title game was played 1960-87 and has been played each year since 2008.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Slippery Rock and West Chester have met just 15 times in a series that began in 1929. The Golden Rams broke the tie last year and own an 8-7 edge in the series. The two teams have met just twice since 2011 with the most recent meeting coming in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament last fall at West Chester.
 
First Meeting: 1929 (SRU won 13-6)
Last Meeting: 2014 (WCU won 46-20)
Current Streak: West Chester +2
at West Chester: WCU leads 6-3
at Slippery Rock: SRU leads 4-2
Most Points Scored (WCU): 46 (2015)
Biggest Win Margin (WCU): 36-6 (1963)
Most Points Scored (SRU): 33 (2010)
Biggest Win Margin (SRU): 28-14 (1973)
Last SRU Win: 2010 at SRU (33-27)
 
COACHING MATCHUP
Slippery Rock head coach George Mihalik, a 1974 Slippery Rock graduate, is in his 28th season as the head coach at The Rock and his 40th overall season as a member of the coaching staff. In total, Mihalik has been involved in Rock football for 43 of the last 44 years. He was the starting quarterback for the PSAC championship teams in 1972 and 1973 and became a graduate assistant at SRU immediately following graduation. He went on to earn his master's degree from Slippery Rock in 1976. The head coach since 1988, Mihalik ranks fourth on the all-time wins list in the PSAC and ranks fourth among all active Division II head coaches with 194 wins. He was the starting and winning QB for SRU the last time The Rock played for a PSAC title at West Chester, in 1973.
 
West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan is in his 13th year as the head coach of the Golden Rams and his 19th year as a collegiate head coach. He went 54-14 in six seasons at Division III Widener before moving to West Chester in 2003. He is 108-50 at West Chester (.684) and ranks eighth all-time in PSAC wins (108) and fifth among active Division II head coaches with 162 career NCAA victories. Zwaan has led West Chester to four PSAC East titles and seven trips to the NCAA Playoffs. His 108 wins are the second most in program history and rank third among all current PSAC head coaches behind SRU alums Denny Douds (ESU) and Mihalik.
 
BACK IN THE TOP 10
Slippery Rock cracked the top 10 in the AFCA Division II national rankings last week for the first time since the beginning of the 2000 season. The Rock moved up one spot to No. 9 this week in both the AFCA and D2football.com national polls. The complete polls can be found on page eight of the PDF notes linked above.
 
LAST MEETING WITH WEST CHESTER  |  Box Score
Slippery Rock played without starting quarterback Jared Buck and lost first team All-PSAC linebacker Austin Miele in the first series of a 46-20 setback at West Chester last November in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.
 
The Golden Rams scored 40 unanswered points and ran away with the game after the two teams traded scores on their first possessions.
 
SRU struggled without Buck, who suffered an injury while being named MVP of the PSAC Championship game one week earlier. The Rock managed a season-low 158 yards of total offense, while West Chester, behind senior QB Sean McCartney, compiled 573 yards of offense.
 
Zack Newsock completed 13-of-31 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns for SRU. Jaimire Dutrieuille caught three passes for 31 yards and one score.
 
McCartney completed 23-of-40 passes for 405 yards and five touchdowns, three of which went to All-American tight end Tim Brown, who finished with 164 receiving yards. Mike Doty added 108 receiving yards and one touchdown.
 
LAST WEEK FOR SLIPPERY ROCK  |  Box Score
Slippery Rock needed a win over Clarion, which entered the game at 7-2, to lock up a third straight PSAC West title. The Rock left no doubt by putting up one of their most dominant performances of the season in posting a 65-13 victory.
 
Clarion entered the game scoring more than 35 points per game and with the fifth best passing attack in the nation at 340 yards per game. The Golden Eagles were held to just 213 passing yards and 237 yards of total offense. Slippery Rock ran for 308 yards and added 174 through the air to finish with 482 yards of offense.
 
Five different players averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry in the game for SRU, led by Shamar Greene with 82 yards on just 11 touches. Julian Durden rushed for 64 yards and two TDs on 14 carries and Isiah Neely added 68 yards on 16 carries. Dominic Dingle closed it out by rushing for 56 yards and one score on nine carries.
 
Dante Nania completed nine passes for 120 yards, three touchdowns and no INT. Cornelius Raye caught five passes for 69 yards and two TD and Jaimire Dutrieuille finished with 210 all-purpose yards after a 91-yard punt return TD and a 48-yard TD reception.
 
Titus Howard recorded a pick six and Alfon Cook and Derek Morgan also came down with an INT. Marcus Martin recorded two sacks.
 
TV GAME SUCCESS
This week's game will mark the fifth live television game of the season for Slippery Rock and the sixth that will at least appear on a delay. The Rock are 4-0 in live TV games this year and 5-0 in overall TV games. SRU defeated East Stroudsburg in the NCAA Showcase Game of the Week, defeated Mercyhurst, Indiana and Edinboro in SportsFever TV games and defeated California in a game aired by Armstrong Cable. This week's game will be produced by SportsFever TV.


 
GREENE JOINS 3,000-YARD CLUB
Shamar Greene now has 3,193 career rushing yards in 31 games at SRU, which has him sitting fifth on the all-time ledger. He can move up to fourth with 140 more yards and has his sights set on the all-time record of 3,932 yards, set by Stan Kennedy in 2000. Greene, who still has another year of eligibility, has 23 rushing TDs, the ninth most in school history. He is averaging 103.0 yards per game over his career and is averaging 123.3 yards per game over the last two seasons.
 
DUTY CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS TOO
Jaimire Dutrieuille's 32 catches so far this year bring his career total to 154 receptions and moved him into third on the SRU all-time list. "Duty" has caught at least one pass in 40 of the 43 career games he has played in. He ranks fifth on the career touchdown receptions list at SRU with 17 TDs and his 1,985 receiving yards are good for sixth on the all-time list at The Rock. He also ranks 11th in all-purpose yards at 3,563, fifth in punt return yards at 426 and second in yards per punt return (16.4).
 
NANIA MAKING NAME FOR HIMSELF
Dante Nania ranks third in SRU history in single-season passing completions and attempts (178-316), sixth in passing TDs (19), fifth in passing yards per game (216.7) and sixth in total offense per game (2,487). His 19 TD passes rank 11th in career passing TDs at SRU.
 
HIGH SPEED, HIGH POWER OFFENSE
Slippery Rock has recorded total offensive outputs of more than 475 yards in 23 of the 33 games dating back to the first game of 2013. The Rock have gone for more than 500 yards in 19 of those 33 games and more than 600 yards 10 times. One thing you won't see when SRU has the ball is a huddle. The Rock goes no-huddle for 60 minutes and has twice reached the 100-play mark in a game this year. No team in the nation has run more plays than SRU (879 plays - 87.9 plays per game).
 
RUNNING BACK DEPTH
Slippery Rock is the only team in the PSAC to have two running backs ranked in the top 10 rushers in the league. Shamar Greene ranks second in the PSAC and 13th in the country at 123.0 yards per game. Julian Durden ranks eighth in the league at 78.2 yards per game. Isiah Neely is 22nd in the PSAC at 51.1 yards per game. Dominic Dingle is 27th (40.4) and Dante Nania is 35th (32.0) giving SRU five rushers in the top 35 in the 16-team PSAC. SRU averages 5.2 yards per carry as a team.
 
ROCK SHATTERS PROGRAM RUSHING TD RECORD
Slippery Rock's three rushing TDs last week brought the 2015 season total to 38 and broke the previous program record of 36 that was set over 12 games in 1999. Julian Durden ranks ninth in the nation with 17 rushing TDs alone, the fourth most in a single-season in program history. Shamar Greene has nine rushing TDs in eight games. Isiah Neely has five, Dante Nania and Dominic Dingle each have three and Jaimire Dutrieuille has one. The 38 rushing TDs this year rank fifth in the nation.
 
NO FAVORITE TARGETS
One issue The Rock offense presents to opposing defenses is which receiver to key on. Dante Nania has connected with 13 different receivers through 10 games and six of those have at least 17 catches. No one on the team has more than 41 catches and seven players have caught at least one touchdown. Cornelius Raye (41 catches, 507 yards, 6 TD) and Jaimire Dutrieuille (32-442-5) lead the way, while Taishan Tucker (27-334-3) and Marcus Carter (29-401-2) have provided the threat on the outside. Those four all have at least 27 catches for at least 330 yards and average at least 37 yards per game.
 
OFFENSE AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
All of these skill position players putting up big numbers and sharing the ball has Slippery Rock sitting high in multiple national statistical rankings. The Rock own the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation at 47.5 points per game, the fourth best total offense at 513.1 yards per game, the fourth most first downs with 260 and the 10th best rushing offense at 286.1 yards per game.
 
DEFENSE RANKS HIGH AS WELL
The defense has kept pace with the offense by ranking near the top in many categories. SRU owns the No. 1 rushing defense in all of college football at just 64 yards per game. The Rock also rank third in turnovers gained (32), 10th in sacks (3.3 per game), second in fourth down conversion defense (18.5%), fourth in defensive touchdowns scored (5) and 20th in scoring defense (18.4 points per game) among DII programs.
 
TAKEAWAYS
Slippery Rock ranks third in the country in total takeaways with 32, second in the nation in fumbles recovered with 15 and ranks 12th in interceptions with 17. The Rock have had at least one takeaway in each game of the season and are coming off a three takeaway effort against Clarion. Derrick Fulmore has four INTs, Deonte Flemings, Alfon Cook and Titus Howard each have three, Derek Morgan has two and Teven Williams and TJ Matrascia each have one INT. Cook and Marcus Martin have recovered three fumbles and Mike Grata has recovered two fumbles. Howard, T. Williams, Erik Johnson, Kris Williams, Bob Vernick, John Conglose and Kyle Hall all have one fumble recovery.
 
DEFENSIVE SCORING
The Rock defense has also scored five touchdowns and recorded three safeties so far this season to account for 36 points. The five touchdowns scored by the SRU defense are the fourth most of any Division II team this fall. Alfon Cook, Titus Howard and TJ Matrascia each have one INT return for a TD and Kyle Hall and Erik Johnson each have a fumble return for a TD. The Rock defense recorded its fifth TD of the year last week with a pick six from Howard against Clarion.
 
MARTIN BEST SACK RATIO IN ENTIRE NCAA
No college football player in the country is better at getting to the quarterback than Rock defensive end Marcus Martin, who broke the single-season sack record as a freshman (16.0) last year and already ranks third on the career list at SRU (25). His 1.14 sack per game average is the best in the NCAA among all active players in any division. The only other players in the country at any level of the NCAA that averages more than 1.00 sacks per game in their career is Texas A&M standout Myles Garrett, who averages 1.05.
 
HUSKA COMING UP HUGE
Rock punter Andrew Huska boomed a 78-yard punt in the win at Gannon that broke the SRU program record for longest punt ever. Huska has been dominant in flipping the field for SRU with kickoffs and punts all year. He has 38 touchbacks on kickoffs. The next highest total for any team in the PSAC is 14. Huska also leads the PSAC and ranks 10th in the nation in punting average at 42.3 yards per punt. He is averaging 63.3 yards per kickoff and has boomed six punts of 50 yards or more. Huska also took over PK duties midway through the season after an injury to Mike Wainauskis. Since then he is 3-for-4 on field goals and 31-for-32 on extra point tries. Huska's career average of 39.1 yards per punt ranks sixth all-time at Slippery Rock.
 
FLEMINGS MOVES TO SAFETY
Slippery Rock's All-America caliber safety Derrick Fulmore was lost for the season with an injury in the win over Mercyhurst. To help fill the void, cornerback Deonte Flemings made the move to safety two weeks ago. He has recorded nine tackles, one interception and three pass breakups in the two games since making the move.
 


STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
New Haven, East Stroudsburg, Gannon, California (Pa.), Mercyhurst, Indiana (Pa.) and West Chester combined for a 52-25 (.675) record in 2014, giving SRU one of the toughest schedules in the Super Region entering the year.
 
10 weeks into this season, eight of Slippery Rock's 11 scheduled opponents are .500 or better and five of those have at least seven wins.
 
SRU's overall strength of schedule is altered by winless Edinboro and one-win Millersville, but the other nine opponents on the schedule are a combined 54-35 (.607). Slippery Rock is currently 7-0 against teams with .500 or better records this season and is the only team in Super Region One that can make that claim.
 
SUPER REGION ONE RANKINGS
The third set of NCAA Super Region One rankings were released this week and show SRU fourth in the region still. The Rock are 3-0 against teams ranked in the top 10 in this week's poll.
 

Rank	Team	DII Record	SRU Result
1	Shepherd	9-0
2	Bowie St.	9-0
3	Charleston (WV)	9-1
4	SLIPPERY ROCK	9-1
5	Assumption	9-1
6	Indiana (PA)	7-2	Home - W, 40-39  |  Box Score
7	Virginia Union	8-1
8	California (PA)	7-3	Home - W, 56-21  |  Box Score
9	New Haven	7-3	Away - W, 39-13  |  Box Score
10	Glenville St.	7-3

WINNING SEASON STREAK
With a winning record already assured this year, Slippery Rock has now put together seven straight winning seasons, has been above .500 in nine of the last 10 years and has finished in winning fashion in 23 of the 28 seasons in head coach George Mihalik's career. Only three teams in the PSAC had managed at least six straight winning seasons entering 2015 (Bloomsburg, California).
 
LINEUP NOTES AND CHANGES
Right tackle Cory Tucker has now started 44 straight games and left guard Kyle Henderson has started 35 straight. Tucker, Henderson, center Joe LoSchiavo and right guard Nate Ehrlich have started every game this year.
 
Wide receiver and return specialist Drew Scales is expected to be out for the third straight week. Scales is the only offensive starter expected to be out. Cornelius Raye will start in the opposite slot as Jaimire Dutrieuille.
 
Marcus Martin has started 21 straight games for SRU, while Avery Anderson has made 20 straight starts. Derrick Fulmore is out for the season. Deonte Flemings moved to safety two weeks ago and will start there this week. Cody Conway missed his first start in two years two weeks ago but returned last week and has made 21 starts in the last 22 games. Johnny Davis made his first career start last week in place of Mike Grata, who had 16 straight starts, but that move was based on scheme and not injury.
 
PK Mike Wainauskis returned to action last week.


 
WEST CHESTER QUICK HITS
• West Chester has now claimed at least a share of the PSAC East title 21 times since 1960.
• The Golden Rams are making their 15th appearance in the PSAC Championship game and their first since 2008.
• West Chester is 6-8 all-time in the PSAC Championship game and is 2-3 against SRU in the title game.
• West Chester is scoring 36.2 points per game and allowing 23.8 points per game. They do it with a balanced attack that has gained 1,834 yards on the ground (183.4 per game) and 2,703 yards through the air (270.3 yards per game).
• QB Pat Moriarty has completed 183-of-320 passes for 2,491 yards with 26 TDs and 12 INT.
• West Chester uses a two-man tandem at running back with Brandon Monk and Jarel Elder seeing most of the touches. Elder has rushed for 551 yards (61.2 per game) and five TDs on 112 carries. Monk has 527 yards (65.8) and five TDs on 107 carries.
• West Chester got bad news two weeks ago against Cheyney when All-American tight end Tim Brown, the leading receiver, went down with an injury and was lost for the season. Brown dominated SRU to the tune of 164 yards and three TD last year and had 444 yards and five TDs in seven games this fall.
• Jim Hurley (22 catches, 432 yards, 5 TD) is the leading receiver, while Eddie Elliott (29-412-1), Adam Dempsey (27-339-1), Shannon Mayer (17-319-5) and Tyler Karpinski (24-293-3) are all top targets for Moriarty.
• DE Andrew Cohen is among the top pass rushers in the PSAC and sits second on the team with 48 total tackles. He leads WCU with 11.5 sacks and 17.0 tackles for loss.
• CB Ted Patton has four interceptions on the year, while Nydair Rouse has three. Ralph Reeves leads the team in tackles with 53. Kevin Duggan has 45 stops, Pete Galiano has 38 and Shaquil James has 32 to round out the top five tacklers.
 
PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME NOTES
This is the 36th PSAC Football Championship Game matching the top representative from the Eastern and Western Divisions. The game was played annually from 1960 through 1987 one week after the end of the regular season. Additional opportunities for teams to make the Division II playoffs led the league to eliminate the game as to not interfere with those opportunities. The PSAC reinstated the game in 2008, this time matching the Divisional representatives in the last game of the regular season. West Chester and Slippery Rock have played in the game five times (1961, 1963, 1972-74) with SRU owning a 3-2 edge.

FIRST THREE PEAT SINCE 2008
Slippery Rock is the first team in the league to reach the PSAC title game three years in a row since it was reinstated in 2008. Bloomsburg and California both reached the title game two times in a row, winning it once each. SRU has the chance to be the first to win two titles since 2008, while West Chester has the chance to give the league its eighth different champion in the last eight years.
 
HOME TEAMS WINNING STREAK
The home team has won each of the seven PSAC Championship games since the 2008 reinstatement with each division champion winning on its home field in alternating years. California won in 2008, Mercyhurst in 2010, Indiana in 2012 and Slippery Rock in 2014 from the West, while Shippensburg won in 2009, Kutztown in 2011 and Bloomsburg in 2013 from the East. No team in the PSAC has two titles since 2008.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The PSAC has crowned a football champion in every year since 1934. A sportswriters poll was used to crown the champions from 1934-49. The Saylor Points System was used from 1950-59. The Championship game was used from 1960-87 and again from 2008 to today. From 1988-2007, the Division champions were recognized. West Chester has won 18 PSAC titles under these formats, while Slippery Rock has claimed 10.