The Clarion University and Slippery Rock University football teams finally will get off the same path when they play Saturday at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

The two teams both lost their first two games this season, won three straight and now carry five-game losing streaks into their 1 p.m. kickoff for the season finale.

"Only one of us is going to enter the off-season on the heels of a win," SRU coach George Mihalik said.

Both fell victim to tough schedules down the stretch. Four of Clarion's (3-7, 1-4) last five losses have come to teams in Division II playoff contention: Edinboro, East Stroudsburg, Shippensburg and Indiana (Pa.).

The Rock (3-7, 1-4) lost to three of those teams in the past five weeks.

"George and I picked the wrong year to put young teams on the field," Clarion coach Malen Luke said. "There are a lot of experienced teams in this league, and we're not among them."

SRU has 60 redshirt or true freshmen on its roster. Clarion starts just two seniors on defense and one of them, Tim Connolly, has been injured for most of the year.

The Golden Eagles' other defensive senior starter, end Ben Heisel, leads the PSAC with 17 tackles for loss.

Junior free safety Bo Busch leads the conference with 104 tackles and sophomore defensive back Dwaon Woodard is tied for second in the league with 11 passes defended.

Linebackers Matt Morris and Zach Gourley have combined for 25 tackles for loss.

"Those two, along with my son, (Brock Luke) have given us the best linebacker play we've had in years," Luke said. "We've fought hard all year. Other than Shippensburg (44-0 loss), we've been in every game. We just haven't been good enough to get over the top."

The same could be said for The Rock, which dropped three games by a field goal this season.

A loss Saturday would mark SRU's first six-game losing streak since 1954.

"We want to be part of positive history, not that type of history," Mihalik said. "And we want to send our seniors out with a win."

The Rock will say goodbye to 15 seniors Saturday: defensive backs Asaad Allen and Kevin Johnston, defensive linemen Greg Ames, Brian Godfrey, Mike Jennings and Jesse Kelley, linebackers Greg Baker and Justin Poorbaugh, offensive linemen Justin Burgh, Pat Oster and Don Potts, running back Valdez Hails and receivers Justin Fisher, Brandon Richardson and Matt Tack.

Richardson leads SRU with 42 catches for 570 yards this year.

Junior running back Josh Kniess looks to climb The Rock's rushing charts Saturday. He enters the game with 1,072 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns.

Kniess needs 105 yards to crack SRU's top 10 for single-season rushing yardage and just 26 yards to crack the top 10 in career rushing yardage.

"Josh has been our most productive player offensively," Mihalik said. "He worked hard in the off-season to improve his durability. He's a model of what off-season work can do for a player."

Quarterback Nate Crookshank has a bad shoulder and his action might be limited this week, if he plays at all. A.J. Ruperto has taken most of the reps in practice this week.

Clarion put together more of a passing attack this season than in recent years. Brandon Dando has thrown for 1,101 yards and seven touchdowns, though Erik Yonish was worked into the lineup last week. Yonish has completed 14 of 28 passes for 124 yards.

Pierre Odom leads the Eagles with 31 catches for 406 yards and three TDs. Five other players have caught between 12 and 21 passes.

"We wanted to be more balanced last year, but just couldn't do it," Luke said. "Our offensive linemen were freshmen and we couldn't sustain pass blocking.

"Now they're sophomores and they're doing a better job."

Marcus Lowe leads the ground attack with 697 yards and eight touchdowns. Glenn Lovelace has rushed for 404 yards.

Notes:

SRU has a 41-22-3 edge in the all-time series. Clarion's 19-17 win at The Rock last year snapped a six-game losing streak against SRU. … The Rock is trying to avoid its first three-win season since 1986. … The loser of this game will finish last in the PSAC West.