October 27, 2007
(CLARION, PA.): Clarion led 21-10 early in the third quarter, but IUP, ranked 20th in the latest AFCA Division II Poll, rallied and then held on to defeat a stubborn Golden Eagle squad 38-31 on Saturday afternoon.
Held at Memorial Stadium, IUP raised its record to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the PSAC-West, while Clarion dropped to 0-9 overall and 0-4 in the West.
Leading 14-10 at halftime, Clarion took advantage of a third quarter fumble by IUP on the second half kickoff that Quintyn Brazil (Jr. Pgh - Oliver) recovered at the IUP 19.
After Tyler Huether (So. Irwin - Penn Trafford) rushed 16 yards to the 4, tailback Eddie Emmanuel (Jr. Hempstead, N.Y.) rushed 4 yards for the Clarion td and the Golden Eagles led 21-10 with 12:40 left in the third quarter.
IUP came back with three td's to take a 31-21 lead early in the fourth quarter. The first td came on a 34-yard td pass from Andrew Krewatch to Garrett Lestochi at 10:50 of the third quarter to make it Clarion 21-17.
IUP took the lead on a 48-yard pass from Krewatch to Anthony Cellitti with 48-seconds left in the third quarter to make it 24-21 IUP. The Hawks drove the ball 90-yards in 6 plays.
Then, with 12:03 left in the game, Dan Pickens caught a 3-yard td pass from Krewatch on fourth down to make it 31-21 Crimson Hawks.
The Golden Eagles were not done. Clarion took the kickoff at its own 33 and drove 67-yards to paydirt. Huether hit Pierre Odom for consecutive completions of 15 and 6 yards to the IUP 46. After Huether was sacked back to his own 47, he drilled a 19-yard pass to Alfonso Hoggard to the Hawks 34. On third and 3 at the IUP 27, Huether gunned a 10-yard pass play to Jaques Robinson (Fr. Pgh - Oliver) to the 17. On third and 5 at the 12, Huether tossed a pass to Hoggard down the right sideline and the freshman did the rest pulling Clarion to within 31-28 with 9:27 remaining.
Clarion got the ball back at its own 20 and made 1 fist down, but the drive stalled and the Eagles had to punt with 6:08 remaining.
IUP seemed to lock up the game with a 33-yard td run from Poohbear McNeal with 3:51 left giving IUP a 38-28 advantage.
Again - the Golden Eagles were not done. Clarion drove 51-yards to the IUP 9 before settling for a 28-yard field goal from Nick Sipes with 1:42 remaining bringing Clarion back to within 38-31.
Clarion's onsides kick was recovered by IUP's Steve Cooper at the Clarion 41 and IUP was able to run out the clock.
Clarion drove 70-yards in 13 plays to open the scoring. Eddie Emmanuel capped the drive with an 11-yard td run and Clairon led 7-0 at 9:55 of the first.
IUP's Poohbear McNeal scored on a 6-yard run at 13:31 of the second to tie the game, but Clarion again came right back.
Clarion's Fred Robinson blocked an IUP punt at the IUP 39 and the ball was recovered by Nate Griffin at the IUP 44. On the first play after the turnover, Huether dropped back and threw a perfect strike to the streaking Pierre Odom at about the 5-yard line and Odom went in for the 44-yard td play. Nick Sipes' PAT made it 14-7 at 10:32 of the second.
IUP's Matt McNelis kicked a 25-yard field goal with 7:36 left in the first half to send the teams to the locker room with Clarion ahead 14-10.
Clarion gained 316 yards of offense on the day with 56 rushing and 260 passing. QB Tyler Huether completed 24 of 45 passes for 260 yars and 2 td's. Alfonso Hoggard had 9 grabs for 81 yards and 1 td, and Pierre Odom caught 7 passes for 119 yards and 1 td.
Garrett McMullin and Kyle Cathcart had 10 tackles each for Clairon with 1 tfl. Nick Sipes and Matt Giugliano had 9 stops each to lead the Clarion defense.
IUP had 488 yards of offense including 221 rushing and 267 passing. Krewatch completed 18 of 27 passes for 267 yards and 3 td's. Lestochi caught 9 passes for 133 yards and 1 td. Kareem Dutrieuille rushed for 192 yards on 27 carries.
Clarion travels to Edinboro next Saturday for a 2pm game that will also be televised on SportsFever.
IUP meanwhile returns home to host Shippensburg next Saturday at 1pm.
