SLIPPERY ROCK — The Rock rules the West — again.

No. 15 Slippery Rock University used its passing game to build a 21-point lead in the first quarter, then ground out seven minutes off the clock in the fourth to put away a 38-26 victory over third-ranked and previously unbeaten California (Pa.) Saturday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The win moved SRU (9-1, 6-1) into a first place tie with the Vulcans (8-1, 5-1) in the final PSAC West standings. By virtue of The Rock's head-to-head victory over California, it will represent the Western Division in the conference championship game at 12:05 p,m. Saturday at Kutztown.

SRU has won three straight PSAC West titles, seven of the last 10.

California's game vs. Clarion this season was not played and ruled a “no contest,” thus not hurting the Vulcans in the standings.

“I'm proud of these guys and I'm proud of our program. We earned this,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said.

“But this was like a survival of the fittest for us out there today. We overcame a lot of things today with penalties and injuries.”

SRU was flagged 15 times for 166 yards in the contest. The Rock also lost starting defensive end Garrett de Bien, running back Evyn Holtz, defensive backs Dalton Holt and Savion Harrison to injuries during the course of the day.

Noah Grover, making his second start of the season, threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Henry Litwin, 16 yards to Jermaine Wynn Jr. and 81 yards to Cinque Sweeting to give SRU a 21-0 lead with 2:58 left in the first quarter.

Grover threw for 466 yards and four touchdowns on the day. He's thrown for 905 yards and 12 TDs over the past two weeks.

“It took me a while to settle in, to get everything down, learn all the sets,” Grover said of joining The Rock as a transfer from North Dakota. “I didn't win the job in preseason.”

“I give Noah credit for staying patient and staying ready,” Lutz said. “Clearly, he's made an impact on our football team.”

California finished the first half strong. The Vulcans closed within 21-10 and avoided disaster late in the half when Dominic Solomon Jr. intercepted a Grover pass on second down from the California 1-yard line.

“Just one of those things,” Lutz said. “We called a straight pass on that play. We've got so many weapons out there ... It just didn't work out.”

California still had time on the clock when quarterback Noah Mitchell slid for a first down near the Vulcans 40. He took a hit on the play, was shaken up and left the field. His back-up, Wyatt Hirt, was intercepted by De'Vijan Franklin on the next play.

“That was a crazy way to end the half,” California coach Gary Dunn said. “If we could have cashed in on that turnover in the end zone and scored, making it 21-17 at the half, it's a whole different game.

“Then the second half didn't start out the way we hoped.”

The Rock drove 62 yards after receiving the second-half kickoff, setting up a 31-yard DJ Opsatnik field goal. Wynn Jr. caught a 47-yard bomb from Grover midway through the quarter and SRU had a 31-10 lead.

Despite getting 10 snaps — due to penalties — after gaining a first down at SRU's 6-yard line, the Vulcans had to settle for a 35-yard field goal.

A 2-yard Holtz scoring run capped a 75-yard drive and gave SRU a 38-13 lead with 34 seconds left in the quarter, essentially putting the game out of reach.

California tacked on two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but was hampered by a Rock possession that moved the ball only 24 yards on the ground, but took 7:12 off the clock in doing so.

Sweeting had seven catches for 177 yards, Wynn Jr. 10 for 169.

“We missed too many tackles on their receivers early,” Dunn said. “That 81-yard scoring play, we missed four or five tackles on that play.”

California entered the game ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division II with 339.1 yards passing per game and completing nearly 75 percent of its passes. But Mitchell hit on only 19 of 41 tosses for 230 yards and was sacked three times.

“They came out in press coverage and that surprised us,” Dunn admitted.” No one's done that against us all year.”

“I've got faith in our corners to cover one-on-one,” Lutz said. “We wanted to take away the quick throw and have time to get to the quarterback.”

Cornerback K.D. Roberts appreciated that fact.

“We were up to the challenge today,” Roberts said. “The fact our coach believes in us enough to let us play that way means everything to us.”

Notes: SRU honored its 16 seniors before the game. Those seniors are 42-8 in their Rock football careers. ... SRU is 20-1 vs. the PSAC West over the last three seasons. ... The Rock generated 552 net yards to California's 313. ... Wynn Jr. went over 4,000 all-purpose yards in his career and caught his 200th career pass. Henry Litwin is 10 catches shy of breaking Greg Hopkins' career Rock record of 215 catches while Wynn Jr. is 15 short of the mark. ... LB Trysten McDonald led SRU with seven tackles and DE Chad Kuhn registered his 28th career sack.

California (Pa.) 7 3 3 13 — 26

Slippery Rock 21 0 17 0 — 38

First Quarter

SRU — Henry Litwin 13 pass from Noah Grover (DJ Opsatnik kick), 10:40

SRU — Jermaine Wynn Jr. 16 pass from Grover (Opsatnik kick), 5:44

SRU — Cinque Sweeting 81 pass from Grover (Opsatnik kick), 2:58

C — Derek Lockhart 36 pass from Noah Mitchell (Anthony Beitko), :57

Second Quarter

C — Beitko 26 field goal, 9:47

Third Quarter

SRU — Opsatnik 31 field goal, 10:0-1

SRU — Wynn Jr. 47 pass from Grover (Opsatnik kick), 8:10

C — Beitko 35 field goal, 4:32

SRU — Evyn Holtz 2 run (Opsatnik kick), :34

Fourth Quarter

C — Isaiah Cameron 2 run (pass failed), 12:48

C — Lockhart 25 pass from Mitchell (Beitko kick), 2:07

Individual Statistics

Rushing: California, Isaiah Cameron 15-62, Noah Mitchell 8-17, Eric McKan III 1-4. SRU, Evyn Holtz 16-52, Tim Smith 9-36, Noah Grover 4-9, Chris D'Or 2-3, TEAM 3-(-14).

Passing: California, Noah Mitchell 19-41-230-0, Wyatt Hirt 0-1-0-1. SRU, Noah Grover 26-38-466-2.

Receiving: California, Derek Lockhart 5-106, JaQuae Jackson 5-60, Isaiah Cameron 3-1, Tayshaun Mack 2-35, Cam Tarrant 2-16, Tyson Hill 1-8, Ian Edenfeld 1-4. SRU, Jermaine Wynn Jr. 10-169, Cinque Sweeting 7-177, Henry Litwin 5-74, Max Maciejewski 3-35, Chris D'Or 1-11.