Plenty of big matchups were on display on Saturday throughout the PSAC West. Teams opened up PSAC West play and by night’s end, only one unbeaten team remains.
Seton Hill 41, Slippery Rock 38
Despite throwing three interceptions, Seton Hill quarterback Christian Strong led the Griffins past nationally-ranked Slippery Rock at home Saturday. Strong completed 29-of-52 passes for 472 yards and four touchdowns. Both Ardell Brown and Eric Brown went over 120 yards receiving and caught TDs in a back-and-forth game which improved Seton Hill to 2-2. The Rock totaled 630 yards of offense to Seton Hill’s 526 but couldn’t pull off the comeback. SRU QB Dante Nania threw for 414 yards and two scores in the loss, SRU’s first in four games this season.
Clarion 47, Gannon 31
The Golden Eagles of Clarion used its explosive offense to pick up a huge win against the Gannon Knights on the road Saturday. Clarion handed the ball to Delrece Williams 29 times and got 148 yards and two touchdowns on the day. Then, QB Connor Sims played about as good as anyone could, completing 21-of-30 passes for 350 yards and four scores without an interception. On the other hand, Clarion shut down Gannon’s Brock Jones, holding the back to just 60 yards rushing on the day, while countering Liam Nadler’s 381 yards passing. Matt Lehman caught all four scores for Clarion, which improved to 4-0. Lehman caught nine balls for 151 yards while Kevin Genevro caught four for 105. On the other side Brend Klemensic caught five for 149 yards and two scores for Gannon, which suffered its first loss in four games this year.
Cal 37, Edinboro 30
Cal got 196 yards and three touchdowns from John Franklin III on the ground en route to a win in a game the Vulcans almost let a 30-9 lead slip away. Franklin toted the ball 31 times in the game, four more times than Edinboro ran all day. Amazing enough, Franklin’s TD runs came from 1, 1 and 5 yards out. Cal QB James Harris threw for 238 yards and two scores while his counterpart Jake Sisson tossed four scores on 22-of-32 passing. Garry Brown caught 10 passes for 107 yards and a score for Cal, which improved to 3-1, and Alex Caratelli caught six for 147 and a score for Edinboro, which fell to 0-4. Darren Massey scored three times though the air for the Fighting Scots.
IUP 35, Mercyhurst 14
Luigi Lista-Brista ran for 164 yards on 26 carries to lead IUP to a convincing win over Mercyhurst on the road Saturday. Meanwhile, the Crimson Hawks defense held Brandon Brown-Dukes to just 8 yards rushing on 10 carries and picked off Brendan Boylan four times, returning three of those for touchdowns. IUP improved to 2-1 while Mercyhurst fell to 3-1.
Photo Credit: Seton Hill Athletics
