ERIE, Pa. – The Clarion football team rallied from a 28-7 third quarter deficit and then held on for a wild finish in the closing seconds, as the Golden Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak with a 35-34 road win at Mercyhurst on Saturday.  The win was the first road victory for the Golden Eagles this season, as well as their first PSAC West division victory.
 
Clarion (2-2, 1-0 PSAC-W) scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to turn a three-touchdown deficit into a one-score lead, with Connor Simmons putting the Golden Eagles ahead 35-28 on a quarterback keep with 6:08 remaining in regulation.  Quinlin Lambert very nearly put the game out of reach on the next Mercyhurst possession, intercepting Lakers quarterback Doug Altavilla at the Clarion 15-yard-line with 3:33 left, but a defensive stand put the ball back in the Lakers' hands with 1:10 to play.
 
Altavilla completed a touchdown pass to Brad Novak from 19 yards out to cut Clarion's lead to 35-34, but the Lakers opted to try the two-point conversion for the win.  The Clarion defense held their ground and Altavilla's pass attempt was off the mark, giving the Golden Eagles a wild win on the road.
 
Delrece Williams was a one-man wrecking crew on the ground, recording a career-high 211 yards on just 24 carries for an eye-popping 8.8 yards per carry.  Williams provided the game-tying touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, punching it in from two yards out on just the third play of the drive.  Phil Esposito booted the extra point through the uprights to tie the score at 28-28.
 
Williams' 211 rushing yards were the most for the Golden Eagles in five years.  The last time a Clarion player eclipsed that mark was Patrick Graham-Murphy, who rushed for 266 yards against Millersville in 2011.
 
Simmons did his fair share of work on offense as well, going 21-of-38 for 313 yards passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions.  He also scored twice on the ground himself, both times from one yard out.  The last one capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive and gave the Golden Eagles their 35-28 lead with 6:08 remaining in the game.
 
Clarion trailed 14-0 before finally getting on the board with 1:08 remaining in the first half, with Simmons connecting with Kevin Genevro from eight yards out to make it 14-7.  Genevro also go on the board with a touchdown catch in the waning seconds of the third quarter to continue his streak of exemplary play, finishing with seven catches for 109 yards and two scores on the day. 
 
Matt Lehman also went over 100 yards receiving but was held out of the endzone for the first time this season, hauling in seven passes for a game-high 134 yards.  He passed Steve Witte for sixth on the all-time receiving yard list at Clarion, and is just the seventh player in program history to record more than 2,000 career receiving yards.
 
Defensively, Layne Skundrich finished with a game-high 10 tackles.  Matt Koerper had six tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack, and Saif Khan also notched six tackles and a sack.  Lambert was part of two major splash plays in the game, including the aforementioned fourth quarter interception as well as a blocked punt in the first half.  True freshman Kevin Allen stepped up for seven tackles and Myles Edmonds made his return to the field with three tackles.