Slippery Rock University Athletics

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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Slippery Rock University football team locked up the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division title with a dominant 66-7 win over Lock Haven in front of a packed Homecoming crowd Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
 
The Rock improve to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the PSAC West and lock up the division title with a 28th straight win in the series against the Bald Eagles. Slippery Rock will host the PSAC East winner in the PSAC Championship game Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. Lock Haven, which entered the day in second place in the division by just one game, falls to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the division.
 
Slippery Rock was dominant in all three phases Saturday, racing out to a 45-0 lead at halftime and a 59-0 margin through three quarters. The Bald Eagles offense only reached midfield twice with the SRU starting defense on the field and didn't score until the fourth quarter against the SRU reserves.
 
JayJay Jordan broke a pair of SRU single-season records for scoring after tallying three touchdowns on the day to give him 23 total touchdowns and 138 total points in just eight games this fall. He broke the previous records of 21 touchdowns (LaMonte Coleman in 1994 and Henry Litwin in 2019) and 128 points (Litwin).
 
Jordan also broke another record Saturday by becoming the first SRU player to return two punts for a touchdown in the same game. He ran for 69 yards and one TD on the ground and added punt return scores of 71 yards and 75 yards to finish the day with 232 all-purpose yards and three scores.
 
Slippery Rock outgained Lock Haven 517-193 in total offense and held the PSAC's top passing offense to just 133 passing yards on 35 attempts. SRU put up 300 passing yards and outgained LHU 217-60 in rushing.
 
DaOne Owens was clinical at the QB position, completing 17-of-26 passes for 267 yards with two TD and no interceptions. He also ran for a team-high 95 yards and two scores, averaging 15.8 yards per carry. Brad Hoffman played much of the second half and was 4-for-4 for 33 yards and had one rushing TD.
 
Qalil Goode and Telly Palmer tied for team-high honors with 70 receiving yards with Palmer adding one score. John Sabo caught three passes for 45 yards and one TD.
 
The Rock defense forced two turnovers with Owen Suah and Kwalil Shepperson each coming down with one interception. Suah also had two breakups. Brett Kwoka finished with 1.5 sacks and Luke Gerovac and Elijah Halley each had one sack. Ben Lane added three tackles and two pass breakups to join with Suah to lead an SRU secondary that finished with seven pass breakups while limiting the league's top receiver to just one catch for 22 yards.
 
Connor Macek handled all of the kicking duties on the day, booting a 36-yard field goal and connecting on all nine of his PAT kicks. He also had four touchbacks on kickoffs and averaged 39.0 yards on two punts.
 
Lock Haven played three quarterbacks with starter Rob Footman Jr. going 4-of-17 for 35 yards with one interception. Carson Nagle was 9-of-15 for 83 yards with one TD and one INT and Cole Transue was 2-of-3 for 15 yards.
 
Slippery Rock will play its final regular season road game next Saturday on Halloween with a noon kickoff at Clarion. No matter what happens in the final two weeks of PSAC West play, SRU will represent the division and host the PSAC title game Nov. 14.
 
GAME NOTES: Slippery Rock is 8-0 for the third time since 2019 and the fifth time in program history … SRU won its fifth straight Homecoming game and is now 5-1 on Homecoming when Lock Haven is the opponent … SRU is now 60-26-4 all-time on Homecoming and 19-4 in the last 23 seasons … head coach Shawn Lutz improved to 96-25 at SRU … JayJay Jordan broke the SRU single-season records for total touchdowns (23) and total points (138), breaking the former records of 21 touchdowns (LaMonte Coleman in 1994 and Henry Litwin in 2019) and 128 points (Litwin in 2019) … Jordan also became the first SRU player to return two punts for a TD in the same game … His 69 rushing yards also put him over 1,000 rushing yards on the year (1,042 in 8 games) for his second straight 1,000+ yard season … SRU's offense did not turn the ball over for the sixth time in eight games this season … DaOne Owens moved up to No. 9 in career TD passes at SRU (33) … JayJay Jordan moved up to No. 6 in career touchdowns at SRU (38).
 

 

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