Slippery Rock Maintains Domination of Milk Jug Game with 15-point Win Over Clarion


CLARION, Pa. – For the eighth time in nine editions of the Milk Jug Game, the Jug goes to Slippery Rock after The Rock went on the road and beat Clarion, 28-13, at Memorial Stadium.

(Photo of Wes Hills, who ran for over 200 yards Saturday. Photo courtesy of Slippery Rock University)

The victory keeps SRU (7-1 overall, 5-0 PSAC West) unbeaten in conference play while Clarion (4-4, 2-3) dropped its third consecutive decision after a four-game win streak.

Slippery Rock dominated on the stat sheet outgaining the Golden Eagles 505 yards to 214 yards including 288 to 53 on the ground, but the game stayed close because of Slippery Rock mistakes.

SRU turned the ball over three times and had 15 penalties for 163 yards. One of those turnovers resulted in Clarion’s lone touchdown on an abbreviated 1-yard drive that came after Chris Gildea intercepted a Ronald Rivers III pass on The Rock’s second play of the second half at the SRU 38 and returned it to the 1-yard line.

That led to a 1-yard run by Mylique McGriff on second down that cut a 14-3 Slippery Rock halftime lead to 14-10.

But Clarion attempted an on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff that Slippery Rock recovered at midfield leading to a 5-play, 50-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard Rivers to Jermaine Wynn Jr. touchdown pass to make it 21-10.

Wes Hills rushed through the Clarion defense, which came into the game ranked 11th in the nation in rushing defense holding opponents to 87.6 yards per game. Hills had 106 yards in the first half on 10 carries and finished with 206 on the day. Hills became the first SRU running back to top 200 yards in a single game in more than four years and added five catches for 24 yards to finish with 230 yards of total offense and one touchdown.

Rivers completed 17-of-29 passes for 217 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions on the way to improving to 6-0 as the SRU starting quarterback. He added 72 rushing yards on just 11 carries to finish with 299 yards of total offense. Rivers hit seven different receivers in the game, led by Wynn Jr. with six catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Austin Scott had one 36-yard grab, Henry Litwin had a 25-yard grab and Zach Cirillo caught two passes for 22 yards.

Tim Vernick led the defensive effort for SRU with 12 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and one forced fumble. Brad Zaffram added 10 tackles and one TFL, Chad Kuhn had eight stops, 1.5 TFL and one sack, Tim Soave had seven tackles and 1.5 TFL, Trey Blandford had one sack and one fumble recovery and Dalton Holt forced one fumble. The Rock defense combined for 11 tackles for loss, three sacks and five QB hurries and had two interceptions taken away, one for an inadvertent whistle and one for a penalty away from the play.

Clarion was led by starting QB Jeff Clemens, who completed 12-of-25 passes for 109 yards and rushed for 39 yards on eight carries. McGriff, who rushed for more than 100 yards last year against SRU, was held to 27 yards on 19 carries while scoring the lone TD of the game from the one-yard line. Mark Lewis caught five passes for 66 yards.

Defensively, Layne Skundrich tied for the game-high with 12 tackles. The senior linebacker is now just seven tackles away from becoming the ninth player in Clarion history with 300 career stops. Gildea finished with 10 tackles, a tackle for loss and the interception, while Sam Fareri had nine stops.

The Golden Eagles will try to even their PSAC West record Saturday when they host Edinboro.

Slippery Rock will now turn its focus to a road trip to California (Pa.) Saturday, where a victory would lock up the PSAC West title and guarantee a home game in the PSAC Championship Nov. 10.


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