CLARION, Pa. – Behind a stout defensive effort, the Clarion football team won its 2018 home opener, defeating Lincoln (Pa.) 44-7 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  The Golden Eagles (2-1) will open PSAC West play a week from now when they host Gannon. 
 
The numbers do a good job of telling the story of the game, and they are impressive.  The Golden Eagles held the Lions to just 129 total yards – including a -6 yards rushing total on 30 attempts – and five total first downs.  Seven Lincoln drives ended with negative yardage as Clarion smothered most runs in the backfield.
 
As such, it turned out to be a big day for the defensive line.  Alec Heldreth finished with 10 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, a sack and three quarterback hurries, while defensive linemate Saif Khan had eight stops, 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.  Paul Blendinger, Trent Rogers and Corey Wells all added interceptions to give Clarion nine picks in the last two games. 
 
It took a while for the Golden Eagle offense to rev up, with Clarion first scoring with 3:50 left in the first quarter.  A pass interference call on 3^rd-and-7 gave the Golden Eagles fresh life and put them on the Lincoln 25-yard line, and one play later Jovante Seard lobbed a 25-yard pass into the back of the end zone for Dervonn Holton for the score.  The Lions blocked the point-after attempt to keep the score at 6-0. 
 
Seard struck again in the second quarter, again from 25 yards out.  Facing 2^nd-and-10 on the Lions' 25-yard line, he found Marcus McCoy for the latter's third touchdown of the season, and James Metzgar's extra point put Clarion ahead 14-0.  That would end up being the decider as the defense made it stand the rest of the game, allowing just one touchdown – a 42-yard bomb from Victor Espinoza to Dashawn Brice in the third quarter – for the remainder of the game.
 
The Golden Eagles had one more score in mind before the halftime break, and Wells made sure they had their shot.  He pulled down an errant Zach Green pass at Lincoln 41-yard line with 3:09 remaining in the second quarter, and Seard finished it from there, hitting AZ Britt in the end zone in just one play to make it 20-0 after two quarters of action. 
 
Clarion rotated three quarterbacks in throughout the game, with Seard leading the way at 12-of-24 for 169 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.  Jeff Clemens entered for a period in the second half and was very efficient, completing eight of 10 passes for 74 yards and a 21-yard touchdown pass to Maverick Kelsea in the third quarter.  The touchdown was the first of Kelsea's career.
 
Also scoring the first touchdown of their careers were two players on polar opposite ends of the eligibility spectrum.  True freshman Keanu Young carried four times for 46 yards and a touchdown, first ripping off a 33-yarder to get to the eight-yard line and punching it in from there.  Conversely, senior offensive lineman Zack Morris entered in a goal-line package in the fourth quarter, going over the right side for a rushing touchdown that set the final deficit at 44-7. 
 
Scott Florence led all players with 52 yards, doing so on just eight carries, while Demetrius McKenzie helped ice the game with eight carries for 23 yards late in the fourth.  Khalil Webster had four catches for 49 yards.