The PSAC West slate has now come to a close and for the third straight season, Slippery Rock will represent the division in the PSAC title game. SRU will compete against West Chester for the PSAC championship this weekend. With a win, SRU will become the first program since the championship game was reinstated to win the title back to back. SRU and IUP both locked up a share of the PSAC West with a 6-1 conference mark. The Rock won out on a tiebreaker to represent the West in the title game.
The final standings in the PSAC West finished up like this: Slippery Rock (9-1, 6-1), IUP (7-2, 6-1), Cal (7-3, 5-2), Clarion (7-3, 4-3), Gannon (6-4, 3-4), Mercyhurst (5-5, 2-5), Seton Hill (3-7, 2-5) and Edinboro (0-10, 0-7).
Updated Regional Rankings: Shepherd, Bowie State, Charleston (WV), Slippery Rock, Assumption, IUP, Virginia Union, Cal, New Haven, Glenville State.
Last Week’s Games
Slippery Rock 65, Clarion 13
Slippery Rock scored 55 points between the second and third quarters en route to a blowout win over Clarion on Saturday to claim the PSAC West title. The Rock amassed 308 yards on the ground, let by Shamar Greene’s 82 and Julian Durden’s 64. Durden also scored twice in the win. SRU ran the ball 65 times with six different ballcarriers over the course of the game. Jaimire Dutrieulle finished the game with 210 all-purpose yards, including a 91-yard punt return for a TD that is believed to be the longest in school history. Defensively, SRU held Clarion quarterback Connor Simmons to just 16-of-40 passing for 213 yards and two scores while forcing two interceptions. He also had minus-38 yards rushing in the game. Simmons did, however, set a new single-season record for passing yards at Clarion as he sits at 3,257 for the year. He needs just one more TD to break the single-season record of 32 this year. Both were set by this year’s head coach, Chris Weibel. Clarion was without top running back Delrece Williams, who sat out with an injury. SRU improved to 9-1 on the year while Clarion fell to 7-3, suffering its third-straight loss.
Seton Hill 44, Edinboro 23
Seton Hill scored 20 points in the third quarter to separate itself in what otherwise was a close game Saturday against Edinboro. Backup quarterback Dan Pietrangelo completed 35-of-48 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns in the win for Seton Hill. Nine of those passes went to Ardell Brown for 137 yards and a TD. For Edinboro, Darren Massey continues to add to his career totals as he hauled in 11 passes for 89 yards and a TD, breaking his own single-season record for receptions. His teammate Alex Caratelli caught 13 passes for a game-high 139 yards and one score. Seton Hill improved to 3-7 while Edinboro fell to 0-10.
Cal 31, Meryhurst 21
Cal QB James Harris threw for 316 yards and two TDs in a game that the Vulcans never trailed to Mercyhurst. Harris completed 13 of his 16 passes in the win for Cal. Harris passed the 7,000 yard mark for his career, becoming just the third QB in school history to do so. His favorite target on the day was Garry Brown, who caught six passes for 155 yards and a TD. Kowan Short caught ???, which put him into second place on the career receiving yardage list for Cal. He needs just nine yards to break the school record. Brandon Brown-Dukes led the Lakers offensive attack with 116 yards on the ground while Mercyhurst used a two-quarterback passing attack to close out the game. Cal improved to 7-3 while Mercyhurst fell to 5-5.
IUP 26, Gannon 14
With Gannon QB Liam Nadler on the shelf, the IUP defense went after redshirt freshman Zach Phillips, forcing him to the ground four times and into throwing two interceptions on the day in a win over the Knights. Meanwhile, IUP QB Lenny Williams continued his offensive assault, throwing for 124 yards and a TD while rushing for 140 more and another score. Chris Temple added 142 more yards on the ground and one more TD for IUP in the win, which improved the Crimson Hawks to 7-2. Brock Jones finished with just 43 yards and a TD to lead Gannon, which fell to 6-4. Despite the rough day, Jones went over 1,000 yards rushing on the season, making him the second player in school history to accomplish that feat twice.
Photo Credit: SRU Athletics
