SHIPPENSBURG - His football career isn't ending the way he had hoped.

The fact that it's ending at all is enough motivation for Seneca Valley graduate and Slippery Rock University senior defensive end Mike Jennings.

Fighting the flu bug all week and right up to game time, Jennings took the field at Shippensburg Saturday for the final road game of his career.

"Two games to go," Jennings said in reference to Shippensburg and this Saturday's home game against Clarion. "I was gonna be out there.

"I've been playing football for 13 years. I'm aware it's about to be finished. But I won't really miss it until next August. That's annually the beginning of football time and I won't be out there," he added.

Jennings has made the most of the time he's had out there, however.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound end is in his third year as a starter at SRU. The Rock is in the process of leading the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in quarterback sacks for the third time in four years.

Jennings leads SRU with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss this season. Brian Godfrey and Jesse Kelly have three sacks each for The Rock. Godfrey has eight tackles for loss.

The Rock has 28 quarterback sacks, the most in the conference.

"Mike Jennings has been our most consistent player on defense," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "He doesn't say much. He just very quietly goes out there and goes about his business."

Mihalik said Jennings is having "an all-conference caliber season."

Defensive line coach Shawn Lutz goes a step further.

"Mike's the best defensive end I've coached here," he said. "Teams double up on Godfrey on his side, and he knows how to take advantage of it."

Defensive line mates Godfrey and Matt Mager earned first team All-PSAC West last season.

"Mike belongs on that list this year," Lutz declared.

Jennings has 25½ tackles for loss and 13 sacks in his three years as a starter. He has 24 tackles - 14 solo - this season.

An environmental science major, Jennings graduates from The Rock in December.

"It's time to start looking for a job," he said. "That's a weird feeling."

Going into this season, Jennings said his goal was to increase his sack total and have more of a presence behind the line of scrimmage.

The result: His seven sacks lead the PSAC and his 11 tackles for loss are sixth-best in the conference.

"He set a goal and did what had to be done to attain it," Mihalik said. "Anyone who knows Mike Jennings isn't surprised by that.

"He's such a competitor. He gives all he has to give every game, every play."

Yet he's been doing so this year on a team that is fighting to avoid the program's first six-game losing streak in 47 years.

"It's been frustrating, but all you can do is keep battling," Jennings said. "It's a privilege to be able to go out there and play football each Saturday.

"Our linebackers are hurting, but they're still giving what they have. As an individual, you have to give your best because you know your teammates are doing the same thing."

Lutz said Jennings' enthusiasm has never waned during the losing streak.

"He's so steady and he doesn't make mistakes," Lutz said. "He never takes a play off."

"No matter how it's going for us, we could always count on Mike Jennings being there," Mihalik said. "Talk about a productive player who never quit. We're gonna miss him."