Game 5 // Clarion Golden Eagles (2-2) vs. Edinboro Fighting Scots (3-1)
Saturday, Oct. 1 // 2 p.m. // Clarion, Pa. // Memorial Stadium (5,000)

Clarion Game Notes // Edinboro Game Notes // Live Stats // Live Audio // Live Video

Two-Minute Drill

• The Clarion Golden Eagles return home after three weeks away to host the Edinboro Fighting Scots in a PSAC West division clash at Memorial Stadium
• Edinboro owns a modest 44-40-2 advantage in the all-time series with Clarion
• Clarion snapped a five-game losing skid against the Fighting Scots with a victory in Edinboro last year
• The Golden Eagles rallied back from a 28-7 deficit in the second half to shock Mercyhurst 35-34 last week at Tullio Field, Clarion's first road win since Oct. 10, 2015
• Junior Delrece Williams went off for a career-high 211 yards rushing in Clarion's win over Mercyhurst last week, the most for a Clarion running back in a game since 2011
• Williams now ranks foufth in the PSAC with an average of 105.5 rushing yards/game
• Senior Connor Simmons accounted for four total touchdowns last week - two rushing and two passing - while throwing for 313 yards and zero interceptions
• Simmons now has 57 career passing touchdowns and needs nine more to become the program's all-time leader in that category
• Senior wide receivers Matt Lehman and Kevin Genevro each went over 100 yards in the air last week, with Genevro catch two touchdown passes
• Lehman passed Steve Witte for sixth on the all-time receiving yards list at Clarion and became the seventh player in program history to top 2,000 career receiving yards
• Genevro is now tied for second in the PSAC with five touchdown receptions and his 99.0 yards/game average ranks fourth
• Freshman Quinlin Lambert recorded both an interception and a blocked punt against Mercyhurst last week
• Three games this season - 9/10 at Bloomsburg, 10/1 vs. Edinboro and 10/15 vs. California (Pa.) - will be covered by Sports Fever, which will air live broadcasts of the games on affiliate networks.  The games will also be available on ESPN3 via the Watch ESPN app.

The Lead
The Clarion Golden Eagles will enjoy a homecoming - both literally and abstractly - when they host the Edinboro Fighting Scots on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Memorial Stadium.  The game is the centerpiece of Homecoming festivities on Clarion's campus and also marks the final day of Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion.  It is also the first home game for the Golden Eagles since the season opener against Lock Haven, which occurred exactly one month before this contest.

Mike Kalinowski and Joe Lodanosky will have the radio call for the game on 92.9 WCCR-FM and  96.3 WKQW-FM an hour before kickoff.  Live audio streaming will be available on ClarionGoldenEagles.com.  The game will be aired live on SPORTSfever and as such will also be available on the Watch ESPN app.

Series History
This will be the 87th meeting between Clarion and Edinboro, with the Fighting Scots owning a 44-40-2 record in the all-time series.  Edinboro is in fact the very first PSAC opponent the Golden Eagles every played, back in Clarion's inaugural 1926 season.  The only seasons in which the teams did not meet was 1927.

Last year Clarion broke a five-year losing streak against the Fighting Scots with a 36-23 road win over Edinboro on Oct. 10, 2015.  Connor Simmons threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns and the defense forced three turnovers - one forced fumble and interceptions by Adam Lynch and Jacob Craig.

Scouting the Fighting Scots
Edinboro enjoyed three straight wins to start the season, including a 44-38 win over shared opponent Lock Haven, but last week fell by a 56-28 score to IUP.  They are averaging a very healthy 39.2 points per game to start the year but are giving up a boatload of points as well, an average of 43.8 points per game.

Most of Edinboro's offensive success has been predicated on the pass.  Jake Sisson is averaging 322.5 passing yards per game and already has 16 touchdown passes on the year, but he has been intercepted six times.  James Clark is one of the PSAC's best with 394 receiving yards and four touchdowns.  Defensively, Victor Hudson has already totaled 11.0 tackles for loss and is among the league's leaders with six sacks through four games.

Last Week
The Golden Eagles 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.

Unstoppable
Delrece Williams had one of the best days for a Clarion running back in five years with a dominant performance in Clarion's 35-34 victory over Mercyhurst on Sept. 24.  He rushed for 211 yards on 24 carries for an eye-popping 8.8 yards per carry, and also added a rushing touchdown.  Williams also recorded one catch for 24 yards to give him a total of 235 all-purpose yards.  Many of those rushing yards came as the result of big plays; Williams had six runs of 24 or more yards in the contest.  Williams' rushing touchdown came in the fourth quarter and tied the game at 28-28, as Clarion came back from a 28-7 deficit to win 35-34.

> Williams' 211 rushing yards are the most in a game for the Golden Eagles since Patrick Graham-Murphy ran for 266 against Millersville on Nov. 12, 2011.  It is the second 200-yard rushing game in Williams' career; he ran for 201 yards against Seton Hill last season.  His 235 all-purpose yards are the most for a Golden Eagle since Williams himself had 309 against Seton Hill last year.

Will to Win
Connor Simmons showed there was nothing he wouldn't do to lead the Golden Eagles to their comeback victory over Mercyhurst, as the senior quarterback threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for two more, to account for four of the Golden Eagles' five total scores.  He scored the go-ahead touchdown with 6:08 to play in the fourth quarter, reaching the endzone on a quarterback keep to make it 35-28.  He also took care of the football, throwing no interceptions for the first time since the season opener against Lock Haven.

The Gunslinger
Connor Simmons continued his climb in the all-time record books at Clarion with his game against Mercyhurst:

• He reached 6,624 career passing yards, and now needs just 1,222 more to become the program's career leader;
• He now has 57 passing touchdowns, needing just nine more for the program record;
• Simmons now ranks third all-time in pass completions with 441 and third in attempts with 821.

> Simmons was named the PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week after going off in the Golden Eagles' season opener, throwing for 396 yards on 25-of-41 passing with four touchdowns and no picks as Clarion defeated Lock Haven 41-24.  

> Last year Simmons produced one of the best seasons under center in program history.  He broke the passing records of current head coach Chris Weibel with 3,582 passing yards and 34 touchdowns last year, ranking fifth in NCAA Division II in both categories. 

Deep Threat
Kevin Genevro is leading  the Golden Eagles in a number of receiving categories this year, including catches (23), yards (396) and yards per catch (17.2).  That last mark ranks ninth in the league among all receivers with 10 or more catches this year; among players with at least 23 catches, it ranks third.

> Genevro went off against Mercyhurst on Saturday, pulling in seven passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns.  He now ranks fourth in the league with a 99.0 receiving yards per game average.

Making a Splash
Quinlin Lambert produced two of the biggest plays of the game against Mercyhurst on Sept. 24, blocking a Laker punt in the first half and recording a key interception in the fourth quarter.  Lambert's blocked punt was Clarion's first blocked kick of any kind since Kwame Bell got a piece of a Seton Hill kick on Oct. 17, 2015.

Cleaning It Up
The Clarion defensive backfield has been heavily populated with younger players, and so far the young guns have delivered.  Wade Stieren ranks second on the team with an average of 6.5 tackles per game, while teammate Tyrone Cromwell has also added 22 total tackles.

> Stieren posted 12 tackles in Week 1 against Lock Haven, the top total in the PSAC that week.

Stack 'Em Up
Sophomore linebacker Layne Skundrich has shot to the top of the Clarion defense in regards to tackles over the last two weeks.  He has totaled 19 tackles in the last two games, including 10 stops against Mercyhurst on Sept. 24.

2K Sports
Matt Lehman notched seven receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown against Mercyhurst to become just the seventh player in program history to top 2,000 career receiving yards.  He jumped Steve Witte to enter sixth place on that list in program history and now has 2,053 career receiving yards. 

> Lehman ranks fourth in program history with his 127 career receptions, and his 21 career touchdown receptions ranks eighth.

> Lehman was held out of the endzone against Mercyhurst, marking the first time since Oct. 24, 2015 that he played a game and did not score a touchdown.  He has caught a touchdown in 13 of the last 15 games he's played, dating back to the 2014 season finale.

On the Road Again
After playing three straight games away from home, Clarion is returning to the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium.  The Golden Eagles are 5-1 at home under head coach Chris Weibel and are a respectable 4-5  on the road under his tutelage as well.  Things will balance out late in the year, when Clarion plays three straight games at home to close out the regular season.

Lights, Camera, Action!
Clarion University will continue its fruitful partnership with the Pennsylvania Sports Fever Television Network in 2016, with three contests – 9/10 at Bloomsburg, 10/1 vs. Edinboro and 10/15 vs. California (Pa.) – airing live on affiliates across the state of Pennsylvania and made available to millions in the Keystone State.  The selected games will also be streamed on ESPN3 via the Watch ESPN app. 

Airborne Rangers
2015 Don Hansen Third Team All-American wide receiver Matt Lehman and fellow returning starter Kevin Genevro return to wreak havoc on opposing defenses in 2016, with the duo accounting for a total of 26 touchdowns last year.  Lehman set a new program record with 15 receiving touchdowns last year, breaking Alvin Slaughter's record of 13 set in 1998, while hauling in a total of 67 passes (fifth all-time) for 979 yards (third).  Genevro provided a strong counter-punch for Lehman, catching 42 passes for 886 yards (21.1 yards per catch) and 11 scores.

Those two won't be the only ones looking to make noise this year.  Kyle Evans provided a slot option for the offense last year and will try to take more strides forward in 2016, while tight end Gage Clark averaged nearly 20 yards per catch last year with one touchdown.

Double Threat
Junior running back and 2016 co-captain Delrece Williams provides a multi-dimensional threat to the Golden Eagles in the backfield.  The 2015 second team all-conference selection ran for 978 yards and six touchdowns last year but was also effective in the passing game, ranking third on the team in receptions (31) and receiving yards (465) while also catching four touchdown passes.

The Buck Stops Here
The Clarion defense returns just three players that started more than half of last year's games, but that doesn't mean there isn't a considerable amount of experience taking the field.  Second Team All-PSAC West and CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American Matt Koerper returns to the defensive line after his best year as a Golden Eagle.

The secondary features veteran leadership in senior Adam Lynch and junior Colton McKay, while senior Jacob Craig is the ranking leader in the linebacking corps for the Golden Eagles' 3-3-5 formation.  Myles Edmonds is another veteran hand in the secondary, having started 20 straight games before missing the first three of the season due to injury.

Up Next
Clarion will travel to Greensburg to take on the Seton Hill Griffins on Saturday, Oct. 8.