SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 15th ranked Slippery Rock University football team scored 21 points in the first quarter and upended previously undefeated No. 3 California University (Pa.) 38-26 Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium to claim a third straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division title and a trip to the PSAC Championship game next week.
 
The Rock improve to 9-1 overall and close PSAC West play with a 6-1 record after picking up their first win over a top three ranked opponent since 1998. Cal U drops to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in PSAC West games. Slippery Rock will travel to No. 19 Kutztown next Saturday for the PSAC Championship with kickoff set for 12:05 p.m.
 
California entered the game ranked third in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll, which marked just the third time since 2000 that SRU played against a top three ranked opponent. Entering the day, SRU was 1-9 all-time against opponents ranked in the top three with the lone win coming against No.2 IUP in 1998.
 
The Vulcans entered the game with the fourth ranked defense in the nation, allowing just 214.9 yards per game. Slippery Rock eclipsed that in less than 20 minutes and finished the game with 552 yards of total offense. Cal was ranked ninth in the nation in passing defense, allowing just 136.1 yards per game, and SRU threw for 304 yards in the first half and finished with 466 passing yards in the game.
 
Cal's offense entered the day ranked No. 1 in the nation in passing at 339.1 yards per game and was completing nearly 75 percent of its passes on the season. Slippery Rock caused havoc in the passing game all day, limiting the Vulcans to 19-of-42 for 230 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Cal put together an 88-yard drive late in the fourth quarter to account for a bulk of its 313 total yards of offense on the day.
 
Slippery Rock finished with a 552-313 advantage in total offense with 466 passing yards and 86 rushing yards. The offensive advantage was large enough that The Rock's significant penalty yardage didn't have much of an impact on the outcome. SRU was flagged 15 times for 160 yards and handed Cal seven of its 24 total first downs via penalty. Cal threw for 230 yards, ran for 83 yards and was flagged five times for 41 yards.
 
Noah Grover made his second straight start at quarterback and picked up right where he left off after throwing an SRU record eight TD passes in his debut last week at Gannon. Grover threw three TD passes in the first quarter and finished the game 26-of-38 for 466 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. In two games as the starter, Grover is completing 74.4 percent of his passes for 905 yards (452.5 per game) with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions. The Rock offense has averaged 611.5 yards per game over that stretch.
 
Grover completed passes to five different players with the main targets being the three-headed monster of Jermaine Wynn Jr., Cinque Sweeting and Henry Litwin. Wynn caught 10 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, Sweeting grabbed seven passes for 177 yards and one touchdown and Litwin caught five passes for 74 yards and one score. Max Maciejewski caught three passes for 35 yards anc Chris D'Or caught one pass for 11 yards.
 
Evyn Holtz rushed for 52 yards and one touchdown to lead the ground game. Tim Smith added 36 yards on nine carries and Grover chipped in nine yards.
 
The Rock defense got three sacks with Garrett de Bien, Chad Kuhn and Matt Wilwohl all recording a solo sack. SRU came up with one interception on the day from De'Vijan Franklin and had two forced fumbles from Selvin Haynes and Dalton Holt. Trysten McDonald led the defense with seven total tackles and one tackle for loss. Isaiah Manning had 1.5 tackles for loss and Khadir Roberts had 1.0 tackle for loss and three pass breakups.
 
DJ Opsatnik was perfect in the kicking game, scoring eight points with five PAT kicks and a 31-yard field goal. Opsatnik has now made his last three field goal attempts and is 6-for-8 on the season. 

Cal QB Noah Mitchell, who is the likely frontrunner for the first team All-PSAC West honor, completed 19-of-41 passes for 230 yards with two touchdowns and three sacks. Wyatt Hirt played one snap and threw an interception on his lone attempt of the game. Drew Lockhart caught five passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to next Saturday's PSAC Championship game at Kutztown, which is a repeat of the 2019 PSAC title game that was also played at Kutztown. SRU is looking for its second straight PSAC title after winning that game 37-35 and is trying to repeat as champions again after also winning both the 2014 and 2015 titles as the only team in the PSAC to win back-to-back titles since the championship game was reinstated in 2008.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock won its third straight PSAC West title and is headed to the PSAC Championship for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons … no other program in the entire PSAC has made more than four appearances in the title game in that stretch (Kutztown is making its fourth next week) … SRU has represented the PSAC West seven times in the PSAC title game since 2011, while IUP (2) and Cal (1) are the only other programs to reach the title game from the West … SRU celebrated Senior Day Saturday and honored its 16 senior players in a pregame ceremony … those seniors improved to 4-0 against Cal U and 42-8 overall in their careers over the last four years … Slippery Rock closed PSAC West play with a 6-1 record this fall and is now 20-1 against the PSAC West the last three seasons … Shawn Lutz improved to 48-12 as the SRU head coach … Noah Grover improved to 2-0 as the SRU starting QB and threw for more than 400 yards for the second straight week with a career-high 466 yards … Henry Litwin increased his SRU career record for TD catches to 41 … Jermaine Wynn Jr. caught his 200th pass at SRU to move up to No. 3 all-time at The Rock … he is now five catches behind Henry Litwin (206) and 15 catches shy of the SRU career record of 215 (Greg Hopkins) … Wynn went over 4,000 all-purpose yards at SRU and now has 4,133 yards to rank sixth all-time at SRU … his 2,849 receiving yards are third most all-time at SRU … Cinque Sweeting caught his 16th TD at SRU to rank 11th all-time … Chad Kuhn recorded his 28th career sack and is ranked third all-time at SRU … Kuhn also picked up his 43rd tackle for loss to move up to No. 4 all-time at SRU … Khadir Roberts had three pass breakups to bring his career total to 27 breakups.
 
 

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