CLARION, Pa. – A number of electrifying plays in the return game nearly drove the Golden Eagles to a come-from-behind victory, but the Clarion football team (0-1) came up just short at home in falling 31-26 to Lake Erie at Memorial Stadium. The Golden Eagles outscored the Storm 19-10 in the second half but couldn't not complete the rally.
 
The special teams units provided a pair of huge plays in the return game, with the Golden Eagles notching both a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown. After the Storm opened the scoring with a touchdown run by Devin Brown in the second quarter, the Clarion defense forced a punt from the Lake Erie 16. Jalen Smith hauled in a bouncing kick from Hamady Diallo at his own 45-yard line. He juked two charging defenders before finding daylight and taking it to the house, tying the game at 7-7. It marked the first punt return for a touchdown by a Clarion player since Matt Lehman took one 27 yards for a score against Edinboro on Oct. 11, 2014.
 
Not to be outdone, receiver Terrell Ford posted his second career kickoff return for a touchdown, starting the wheels turning as Clarion tried to come back from a 28-7 deficit. With 6:06 remaining in the third quarter, and coming on the heels of another touchdown by Brown, Ford took a short kick at his own 30-yard line and blew through the Lake Erie coverage unit, racing for the touchdown to cut it to 28-14.
 
The special teams coverage unit nearly made a big play of their own on the ensuing kickoff. Ben Lipinski came flying in on Raphael Jones Jr. and stripped the ball loose at the Lake Erie 23, but Jones pounced on the ball to maintain possession. A turnover did come three plays later when Legend Davis picked off Gerald Gardner along the sidelines, setting up a 31-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Knight to Jimmy Johnson. That pulled Clarion to within 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Storm tacked onto their lead with a field goal to make it 31-20, but the defense forced their second turnover of the game to help set up another score. This time it was Drew Blon coming in on Gardner's rushing attempt, popping the ball out and into the arms of Jake Baker for the recovery. Taylor Eggers found Quinn Zinobile from four yards out for a touchdown, but the two-point conversion failed and left Clarion behind 31-26.
 
Kyle Knight started at quarterback for Clarion and finished with 69 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception, while also rushing for a game-high 73 yards on nine attempts. Khalil Owens had eight carries for 49 yards. Kareem Hamdan had a game-high 12 tackles and a tackle for loss, and Ridge Pierre added a sack.