Brandon Lombardy ran for a career-high 202 yards and tied a school record with five rushing touchdowns as visiting California defeated Clarion, 41-14, yesterday to clinch at least a tie for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West title.

Lombardy, who carried 37 times, scored on runs of 3, 1, 9, 1 and 4 yards. Lombardy is the fourth player in school history to score five touchdowns in a game.

California (8-2, 5-0), ranked 23rd in NCAA Division II, won its sixth in a row to set up a showdown against IUP in the season finale Saturday.

For Clarion (1-9, 0-5), Tyler Huether completed 10 of 25 passes for 133 yards and a score and ran 7 yards for a touchdown. He was intercepted three times.

California entered fifth in the Northeast Region, with the top six teams advancing to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Other games

Duquesne 38, La Salle 0: Sophomore quarterback Scott Knapp threw four touchdown passes in leading the Dukes (7-3, 3-1 MAAC) to the win at La Salle. The win, coupled with Iona's loss to Saint Peter's, gives Duquesne a share of the conference title. Knapp has thrown 28 touchdown passes this season.

Youngstown State 31, Southern Illinois 24: Marcus Mason rushed for 249 yards and scored on a 22-yard run with 1:33 remaining to lift the host Penguins (8-2, 5-1), ranked seventh in I-AA, past the Salukis (6-3, 3-3) in the Gateway Football Conference. Youngstown, which rallied from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter, remained in a tie for first place in the conference. Mason also scored on a 5-yard run and Tom Zetts threw two touchdown passes. Youngstown stopped Southern Illinois on the 2 as time expired.

W&J 21, Thomas More 12: Bobby Swallow passed for 195 yards and three touchdowns and Ryan Mendel rushed for 104 yards to lead the host Presidents (8-1, 5-0) to the Presidents' Athletic Conference win. It was the eighth consecutive win for W&J, which can earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. After Thomas More took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter Swallow threw touchdown passes of 9 yards to Kevin Mathews and 28 and 10 yards to Tom McCafferty.

Thiel 45, Westminster 27: Dan Hess rushed for 90 yards and three touchdowns and Billy Blankenship passed for 205 yards and three touchdowns as the host Tomcats defeated the Titans in the PAC. Westminster, which led, 21-17, at halftime, was paced by Kevin Franz' 311 yards passing and two touchdowns and 53 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

Grove City 40, Case Western 33: Andrew DiDonato passed for 236 yards and three touchdowns, caught a touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown to lead the host Wolverines (2-7).

Geneva 24, Urbana 21: For visiting Geneva (5-4), quarterback Justin Sciarro passed for 294 yards and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Mike Lehman, who had 10 catches for 142 yards.