|  Jaimire Dutrieuille's Punt Return TD Video

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 10th ranked Slippery Rock University football team left no doubt about which program would represent the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's Western Division in the league title game next weekend by posting a 65-13 victory over Clarion University Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The win is the 15th consecutive at home for The Rock and gives the program its third straight and fourth PSAC Western Division title in the last five years. Slippery Rock now sits at 9-1 overall and will enter the PSAC Championship game at West Chester next Saturday with a chance to do what no team has done since the league brought the title game back in 2008: win a second straight overall PSAC title. West Chester needed a win over East Stroudsburg and a Shippensburg loss to Kutztown Saturday to claim the Eastern Division.
 
Clarion was the hottest team in the PSAC early in the season, winning its first seven games and getting into the national rankings for the first time in program history, but has now lost three straight to drop to 7-3.
 
Slippery Rock was dominant in all three phases of the game Saturday, scoring on offense, defense and special teams, and holding the Golden Eagles prolific offense to just 237 total yards.
 
The Rock finished with a 482-237 edge in yardage after running for 308 yards and throwing for 174. Clarion, which entered the day with the fifth best passing offense in the nation at more than 340 yards per game, was held to 213 passing yards and 24 rushing yards.
 
The Rock got a highlight reel effort from wide receiver and return specialist Jaimire Dutrieuille, who finished the game with 210 all-purpose yards. He broke a 91-yard punt return touchdown early in the second quarter that changed the momentum in the game and then caught a 48-yard touchdown pass later in the same quarter that really shifted momentum for SRU.
 
Shamar Greene carried the ball just 11 times but went for 82 yards and an average of 7.5 yards per carry to lead the running back stable. Julian Durden rushed for 64 yards and two touchdowns, his 16th and 17th of the year, and Isiah Neely rushed for 68 yards. Dominic Dingle added 56 yards and one TD and Dante Nania chipped in 30 yards on the ground as SRU went with a true committee approach in the run game.
 
The four rushing touchdowns on the day give Slippery Rock 39 on the season and establish a new program record, topping the 36 set over 12 games in 1999.
 
Nania completed nine passes for 120 yards and three touchdowns. Zack Newsock completed three passes for 54 yards and one score.
 
Cornelius Raye caught five passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns to lead the receivers. Marcus Johnson added two catches for 24 yards and Dutrieuille finished with 51 yards after his 48-yard TD catch.
 
The Rock defense recorded five sacks and three interceptions on the day. Marcus Martin was responsible for two sacks, while Cody Conway was in on 1.5 sacks and Joe Phillips recorded one solo sack. Avery Anderson also recorded a half sack and finished with five tackles. Titus Howard led the team with six tackles and returned one interception 17 yards for The Rock's fifth defensive TD of the year. Derek Morgan and Alfon Cook also recorded an interception.
 
Andrew Huska was dominant in the kicking game all day. He recorded nine touchbacks on 11 kickoffs and averaged 66.0 yards per kickoff. The nine touchbacks bring his season total to 38 on kickoffs, nearly triple any other team in the PSAC (next best is 14). Huska also averaged 47.3 yards on three punts with two touchbacks and a third inside the 20.
 
Clarion was led by quarterback Connor Simmons, who entered the game averaging well over 300 passing yards per game. He completed just 16-of-40 pass attempts for 213 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked five times for a loss of 38 yards.
 
Darelle Carson relieved Simmons in the second half and ended up being Clarion's leading rusher with 41 yards on just two carries.
 
Matt Lehman entered the game averaging 104.4 receiving yards per game and was held to six catches for 48 yards and one touchdown. Kevin Genevro caught four passes for 76 yards and one score to lead the Golden Eagle receivers.
 
Slippery Rock scored points on the opening possession of the game for the fifth straight week, settling for a 32-yard Huska field goal to take an early lead with what would be the only points of the opening quarter.
 
Clarion took advantage of two Slippery Rock penalties and scored its first TD of the game with a pass from Simmons to Lehman to give the visitors a 7-3 lead with 14:30 to play in the second quarter.
 
The Rock responded with 41 unanswered points, including 23 before halftime to take a 30-7 lead into the break.
 
Durden punched in a one-yard TD run after Dutrieuille set SRU up with short field with a 37-yard punt return to put SRU back on top, 10-7 with 9:07 to play in the half.
 
Dutrieuille added to the lead with his 91-yard punt return TD less than two minutes later to make it 16-7. Raye caught a TD pass from Nania with 1:49 left in the half to make it 23-7 and Dutrieuille added the dagger with a 48-yard TD catch with just 30 seconds left before the break to make it 30-7.
 
The Rock kept pouring it on just 16 seconds into the second half when Howard returned a Simmons interception 17 yards to make it 37-7 and the scoring run was capped by another TD pass to Raye, this one from 28 yards, to make it 44-7 with 9:26 to play in the third.
 
Clarion stopped the bleeding and got on the board with a 17-yard pass to Genevro with 6:10 to play in the third, but would be shut out from there.
 
The Rock added a 21-yard TD run from Durden, an eight-yard TD pass from Newsock to Leroy McClain and a five-yard TD run from Dingle to wrap up the scoring.
 
Slippery Rock will turn its attention to next Saturday's PSAC title game at West Chester, which is set for a noon kickoff and will be televised by ESPN3 and on WPNT-22 in the Pittsburgh region.
 

Notes: George Mihalik won his 194th career game … SRU won its 15th straight home game and wrapped up its third straight undefeated regular season at home … the last SRU loss at home came in the final game of the 2012 season … SRU is now 28-4 at home since the beginning of the 2010 season … SRU won the PSAC West for the 3rd straight time and the 15th time in program history … it is the eighth PSAC West title for Mihalik … SRU will play in the PSAC title game for the third straight year … The Rock have won the last six meetings with Clarion and all six "Milk Jug" games … The 65 points are the most SRU has ever scored against Clarion and the most either team has ever scored in the series … SRU honored 19 senior players and one manager in a pregame ceremony Saturday … those seniors won three PSAC West titles in their four-year careers … Dutrieuille's 91-yard punt return was the first SRU punt return for a TD since 2013 against Bloomsburg … it is the believed to be the longest punt return TD in school history based on available records … Durden's 17 rushing TDs rank fourth in single-season history at SRU … Nania's 19 TD passes rank sixth in single-season history … Durden has scored 102 points this season, fourth most in program history … SRU broke the program record for rushing TDs in a season and now has 39 in 10 games … Greene now has 3,193 career rushing yards and moves up to fifth all-time at SRU … Dutrieuille's 17th career receiving TD moves him up to fifth all-time at SRU … he is now 18 yards away from 2,000 career receiving yards … Martin's 2.0 sacks give him 25.0 sacks in 22 games and move him up to third on the all-time list at SRU … he also has 35.0 tackles for loss and moves up to 10th on the all-time list at SRU.