September 1, 2007
(CLARION, PA.): Tiffin's Alvin McKnight rushed for 170 yards and quarterback Matt Root tossed 5 touchdown passes as #27 ranked Tiffin notched a 38-10 win over Clarion on Saturday night.
Held at Clarion's Memorial Stadium, Tiffin, ranked #27 in the latest D-II Poll, upped its record to 2-0, while Clarion dropped to 0-1.
Before the crowd at Memorial Stadium could even get settled, Root put Tiffin ahead 7-0 on the second play of the game. He tossed a 68-yard touchdown pass to Dyshaun Edwards, who caught the ball at about the Clarion 35, and cut to his left across the field and into the endzone.
Clarion took the pigskin and drove to the Tiffin 28 on its first possession. But the drive stalled and freshman qb Gino Rometo was sacked at the tiffin 43 on third down, bringing up a punting situation. Clarion punter Nick Perla had trouble handling the snap on fourth down and Tiffin tackled PErla at the Clarion 48.
Root drove the Dragons again, this time capping the drive with a 2-yard td pass to Donnie Johnson and at the 10:33 mark of the first quarter Tiffin held a 14-0 lead.
Clarion drove 44-yards late in the first quarter to get its first points of the 2007 season. Rometo hit Herb Carraway for a first down to the Tiffin 44. On fourth and 2 at the Tiffin 36, Eddie Emmanuel dashed 22 yards off right tackle to the Dragon 14 and Clarion was in business. The drive stalled however and freshman placekicker Robert Mamula (Canon McMillan) stepped in and booted a 29-yard field goal to cut Tiffin's lead to 14-3 at 5:57 of the first.
Tiffin drive 66 yards in 5 plays to score again. This time Donnie Johnson caught his second td pass from Root from 10-yards out, and the Dragons led 21-3 at 3:28 of the first quarter.
Clarion bounced back to score in the second quarter and narrow the Tiffin lead to 21-10. A Nick Perla punt was touched by Troy Brookins, and Clarion's John Dominic recovered the fumble at the Dragon 35. After a first down to the 15, Rometo hit freshman Alfonso Hoggard on an out pattern at the Tiffin 5, and Hoggard broke two tackles to get into the endzone for the touchdown. Mamula's PAT drew Clarion to within 21-10 at 7:54 of the second.
But Tiffin added a 25-yard field goal and 12-yard td pass from Root to Lamar Tipton for a td before intermission to give the Dragons a commanding 31-10 lead at halftime.
Tiffin added a 6-yard td pass fro Root to Donnie Johnson in the fourth quarter to make the final Tiffin 38 Clarion 10.
In the third quarter Clarion reached the Tiffin 18 and 32 without scoring, then in the fourth quarter the Golden Eagles drove to the Tiffin 21 on two occasions, but also did not score.
Clarion totaled 273 yards of offense on the night. Rometo, in his first college start, completed 19 of 46 passes for 196 yards and 1 td. Receiver Pierre Odom grabbed 10 passes for 93 yards, Herb Carraway latched onto 5 for 60 yards and Hoggard caught 3 for 41 yards and 1 td. For Odom, he now has 118 career catches, placing him 8th on the all-time list at Clarion. He passed Marlon Worthy (117; 1991-94), Chris Skultety (110; 93-96), and Rick Terza (108; 1968-70) and Bob Betts (108; 191978-81). His 93 receiving yards gives him 1,675 yards placing him 9th on the all-time Clairon list. He passed Betts (1,619) and Skultety (1,605).
Tailback Eddie Emmanuel rushed 15 times for 84 yards to lead the ground game.
Clarion's defense was led by Quintyn Brazil who had 15 tackles, Erik Yonish who had 13 and Kyle Cathcart who had 7 hits and 1 tfl.
Tiffin posted 617 yards of offense with 309 passing and 308 rushing. Root completed 20 of 27 passes for 269 yards and 5 td's. Donnie Johnson caught 9 for 79 yards and 3 td's, while Dyshaun Edwards grabbed 6 passes for 146 yards and 1 td.
McKnight meanwhile rushed for a game high 170 yards on 20 carries.
Clarion returns to Memorial Stadium next Saturday to host Kutztown at 6pm. Tiffin hosts Glenville State at 7pm.
