SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University won the Milk Jug Trophy, clinched the PSAC West football championship and likely a berth in the Division II playoffs with a 42-14 win over Clarion on Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

But it wants a whole lot more.

That’s why SRU head coach Shawn Lutz quickly dismissed the idea of resting anybody this Saturday, when The Rock (9-0, 6-0) wraps up the Western Division portion of the schedule at Edinboro.

“No way,” he said. “It’s hard to go undefeated and we want to do that. We want the top seed in the (Atlantic) region and the first-round bye that goes with it. We can rest some people then.

“For now, everyone who is healthy is playing.”

SRU failed to score in the first quarter despite driving to Clarion’s 2-yard line on its opening possession. Four running plays from there failed to crack the goal-line.

“That goal-line stand went against us, then they got us on a fake punt (for a first down),” Lutz said. “Besides those things, I thought we played a pretty complete football game.”

The Rock tallied 510 yards offensively, including 363 and four touchdowns through the air by quarterback Brayden Long. He connected with Logan Ramper, Kyle Sheets (twice) and Kam Kruzelyak for those scores.

Khalid Dorsey and Long scored touchdowns on the ground for SRU, which built a 35-0 lead late in the third quarter before Clarion (2-7, 1-6) got inside The Rock’s 40-yard line.

“Our goal coming in was to stop their run,” SRU defensive tackle Munchie Johnson said. “That’s what they like to do and Slippery Rock defenses are known for the ability to stop the run.

“That was our main focus today.”

The Golden Eagles were limited to 84 yards rushing, though quarterback Anthony Guercio threw for a season-high 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Johnson intercepted a deflected Guercio pass at the line of scrimmage and Eddie Faulkner had a pick-six called back by an illegal block, though SRU kept possession on the play and eventually scored.

“We came into this game wanting to run the ball, but (Clarion) was loading the box and playing a lot of single coverage. We felt like we had to exploit that,” Lutz said.

Long had little trouble doing so. Sheets caught nine passes for 106 yards, Cohen Russell six for 135.

“Brayden knows how to find the open man and keep everybody involved. That’s a credit to him,” Sheets said of The Rock’s passing game.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons offensively and it’s on me to get the ball into the right person’s hands and keep things moving,” Long said.

While SRU secured the Milk Jug Trophy for the 12th time in 13 years, Clarion put a pair of touchdown drives together in the fourth quarter, Guercio threw short TD passes to Paul Newton and Tony Powell to compete drives of 59 and 56 yards.

“I feel like our team grew up today,” Clarion coach Raymond Monica said. “We had a lot more energy on our sidelines and we continued to play hard regardless of the score.

“We could be playing for the Milk Jug, a stick ... We don't have to be playing for anything. Just go out there and compete. I feel like we did that today for four quarters.”

Notes: Selvin Haynes led SRU defensively with six tackles. ... Seneca Valley graduate Connor Lyczek had four tackles for Clarion. ... The Rock won its ninth PSAC West title in 12 years. ... Clarion’s fourth-quarter scores snapped a 14-quarter scoreless streak against The Rock. ... SRU is outscoring opponents 118-13 in the third quarter. ... Sheets had his eighth career 100-yard receiving game and is fifth on SRU’s all-time list with 13 TD catches this season and 25 in his career. “I don’t pay much attention to that,” Sheets saidf of the all-time charts. “Maybe I’ll look at it when the season’s over. Right now, I just want to help the team get to where we want to be.” ... Kevin Roberts has 55 PATs this season, third most in Rock single-season history. ... SRU is 53-6 in home games over the last decade.

Clarion 0 0 0 14 — 14

SRU 0 21 14 7 — 42

Second Quarter

SRU — Logan Ramper 10 pass from Brayden Long (Kevin Roberts kick), 8:32

SRU — Kyle Sheets 15 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 3:09

SRU — Kam Kruzelyak 2 pass from Long (Roberts kick), :13

Third Quarter

SRU — Khalid Dorsey 2 run (Roberts kick), 9:44

SRU — Long 1 run (Roberts kick), 2:59

Fourth Quarter

C — Paul Newton 2 pass from Anthony Guercio (Andrew Kurtas kick), 12:36

SRU — Sheets 3 pass from Long (Roberts kick), 7:14

C — Tony Powell 1 pass from Guercio (Kurtas kick), 3:34

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Clarion, Khalon Simmons 7-33, Anthony Guercio 7-28, Corahn Alleyne 5-13, Mathew McGregor 1-11, Ray Jackson 2-6, Amire Spencer 1-4, TEAM 1-(-1), Paul Newton 2-(-5), Oliver Van Dyke 1-(-5). SRU, Khalid Dorsey 12-60, Chris D’Or 12-48, Brayden Long 4-7, Isaiah Edwards 2-2, Brad Hoffman 1-2, TEAM 1-(-1), Zaire Hart-Hawkins 1-(-2).

Passing: Clarion, Anthony Guercio 18-24-183-2, Tony Powell 0-1-0-0. SRU, Brayden Long 27-39-363-0, Zaire Hart-Hawkins 2-2-31-0.

Receiving: Clarion, Corahn Alleyne 3-52, Amire Spencer 3-31, Trenten Smith 3-6, Khalon Simmons 2-27, Paul Newton 2-19, Tony Powell 2-18, Ben Lipinski 1-16, Andy Martin 1-7, Oliver Van Dyke 1-7. SRU, Kyle Sheets 9-106, Cohen Russell 6-135, Logan Ramper 4-45, Kam Kruzelyak 4-31, Jawon Hall 3-43, Gavyn Barnes 1-21, Tony Grimes 1-11, Chris D’Or 1-2.