Clarion Golden Eagles (0-1, 0-0 PSAC West) at Bloomsburg Huskies (0-1, 0-0 PSAC East)
Saturday, September 10 // 2 p.m. // Bloomsburg, Pa. // Redman Stadium

MEDIA COVERAGE

Streaming Video: All PSAC member institutions stream football games free of charge on the PSAC Sports Digital Network. Games are available on the web, and fans can download the PSAC Sports Digital Network App on the following: 

• Mobile: App Store (iOS), Google Play (Android), Amazon Fire
• Streaming: Amazon Fire, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku

Live Stats: Fans can follow along with live stats via Bloomsburg's athletic website.

The Kickoff    
The Golden Eagles will play their first crossover game of the season, starting a two-game swing on the road with a date against the Bloomsburg Huskies on Sept. 10. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.

Series History

• This will be the 14th all-time meeting between Clarion and Bloomsburg, with the Huskies owning a 9-4-1 advantage in the all-time series.
• The two teams first met in a scoreless tie in the 1934 season opener, followed by a 19-0 win for Bloomsburg in the following year. They wouldn't play again for more than a decade, resuming their series with games in 1946-47... and then not again until 1992. Clarion won all three meetings in the 1990s, but the Huskies have won all seven competitions since the start of the 21st century.
• Clarion's most notable win over the Huskies is undoubtedly the 42-29 win in the 1996 NCAA First Round Playoff Game, played at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23. The Golden Eagles took a 28-14 lead at halftime on the strength of two touchdowns -- one rushing and one receiving -- from Steve Witte, as well as a touchdown pass from Chris Weibel to Jamie Sickeri. Witte and Ron DeJidas added scores in the second half to lock up the victory.
• The last time the teams met was during the 2017, when a quirk of the schedule saw the teams play twice. In the first meeting, Clarion fell by a 29-20 score on Sept. 9 at Memorial Stadium. The latter came because the Golden Eagles' scheduled PSAC East opponent West Chester earned a spot in the conference championship game, with Bloomsburg winning 31-15 at Redman Stadium on Nov. 11.

About the Opponent

• Bloomsburg was predicted to finish sixth in the PSAC East division in 2022, ahead of Millersville and next week's opponent, Lock Haven. The Huskies went 3-8 in 202, including a 2-5 mark against their East division opponents.
• Like Clarion, Bloomsburg boasts a young lineup. The Huskies opened the season with 18 starters either in their freshman or sophomore years of eligibility, and 38 total underclassmen listed on their depth chart. By comparsion, those numbers are 13 and 33, respectively, for the Golden Eagles.
• Last week the Huskies fell in a double-overtime thriller to Stonehill, 33-30. Despite gaining only 228 offensive yards (compared to 453 for the Skyhawks), the Huskies forced three turnovers and held a 27-16 lead in the fourth quarter before Stonehill came back to tie and eventually win.
• Head coach Frank Sheptock is in his third year as the head coach at his alma mater, but has only coached one season in that time, as he was hired at the conclusion of the 2019 campaign. Sheptock went 107-81 as the head coach at Division III Wilkes from 1996-2014. A four-time First Team PSAC First Team and three-time First Team Associated Press All-American linebacker in his playing career, Sheptock was inducted into the Bloomsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.

Last Week

• Playing under the lights in front of an impassioned home crowd, the Clarion football team cut their halftime deficit in half but were unable to finish off the comeback in falling 21-14 to West Liberty at Memorial Stadium.
• The Golden Eagles showcased a potent rushing offense against the Hilltoppers, totaling 199 rushing yards on 42 attempts for a 4.4 yards per carry average. Most of that damage was done by returning all-conference running back Khalil Owens, who went off for 120 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.
• Clarion's defense proved largely up to the task against the Hilltoppers; of West Liberty's two scoring drives, one came just one play after the Hilltoppers recovered a Clarion fumble at the three-yard line and punched it in for a score. The Golden Eagles held West Liberty to 284 total offensive yards, forced two interceptions and two fumbles, and sacked their quarterbacks three times.

Meet the New Boss

• Raymond Monica, a two-time American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region 1 Coach of the Year and two-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Coach of the Year with more than 30 years of experience at the college level, became the 14th coach in Golden Eagle history on Feb. 17, 2022.
• Before coming to Clarion, Monica was an assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana from 2019-21, including a one-year stint as the defensive coordinator in 2021. The Lions made the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs in 2019 and 2021, winning their first round game in both of those seasons. In 2021, the Lions finished 15th in the final FCS rankings of the year.
• Where Golden Eagle fans may best recognize Monica, though, would be his tenure as Kutztown's head football coach from 2006-12. He turned the Golden Bears into one of the leading programs in the conference, culminating with back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division II Super Region One playoffs in 2010-11.

PSAC Announces Preseason Coaches Poll
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) announced the results of their preseason coaches poll on August 4. The Golden Eagles were predicted to finish eighth in the PSAC West division in 2022.

PSAC West Division (First Place Votes)
T1.    Slippery Rock (3)
T1.    IUP (3)
3.    Cal U (2)
4.    Gannon
T5.    Edinboro
T5.    Seton Hill
7.    Mercyhurst
8.    Clarion

PSAC East Division (First Place Votes)

1. Shepherd (4)
2. Kutztown (4)
3. West Chester
4. Shippensburg
5. East Stroudsburg
6. Bloomsburg
7. Millersville
8. Lock Haven

Hager Brings Experience, Championship Lineage to Clarion

• Defensive coordinator Josh Hager enters his first season on the Golden Eagle staff in 2022, one year after service as the defensive coordinator at NCAA Division III Alvernia. Prior to that, he ran the defense at Missouri Southern from 2019-20, where he tutored the top two tacklers in the MIAA.
• As the defensive coordinator for Garden City Community College from 2016-18, Hager produced one of the top defensive units in the nation, and helped the Broncbusters win the 2016 NJCAA national championship.
• Among those players coached by Hager at GCCC were one national Defensive Player of the Year, two conference Defensive Players of the Year, two conference Defensive Linemen of the Year, 11 All-Americans, 41 First Team All-Conference players, and one first round draft pick in Mike Hughes (Minnesota Vikings - 2018).
• Hager is the son of legendary football coach Rocky Hager, whose career highlights include leading North Dakota State to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and two NCAA Division II championships (1988, 90).

Pioneer of "The Fly" Comes to Clarion 

• The Golden Eagle offense will be under the tutelage of veteran coach Mark Speckman, who brings more than 40 years of coaching experience to the program.
• The pioneer of the Fly offense that is widely used across high school, collegiate and professional ranks, Speckman spent the previous five seasons as the assistant head coach and running backs coach at UC Davis. He was part of the Aggies' 2018 Big Sky conference championship season.
• Speckman spent 15 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including 14 years at Willamette. He guided the team to an 82-59 record from 1997-2011, including two Northwest Conference championships, eight league title games and three NCAA Division III postseason appearances. Speckman's 2008 team finished 11-1 and ranked fourth nationally, earning him his second Northwest Conference Coach of the Year award and AFCA Division III West Region Coach of the Year acclaim.
• In addition to coaching football, Speckman has also become well-known for his motivational speaking engagements. Born without hands, he avoided drawing attention to himself as a younger athlete but has since embraced his own story to the point of earning numerous speaking appearances, including bookings at Boeing, Nike, Northwest Mutual, Patterson Dental, the Million Dollar Roundtable and other organizations.

Ground to a Halt

• The Clarion defense clamped down on West Liberty in Week 1, holding the Hilltoppers to just 284 total yards and one scoring drive longer than three yards.
• It was the first time the Golden Eagles held an opponent under 300 total yards of offense since restricting Lock Haven to just 264 yards on Sept. 14, 2019 in a game played at Memorial Stadium, a span of 18 games. 
• The team was exceptional in limiting damage on the ground (3.0 yards per carry) and through the air (6.8 yards per attempt), shutting down the Hilltoppers.
• Statistically, it was Clarion's best defensive effort since their 2021 effort against Millersville, when the Golden Eagles held the Marauders to 2.1 yards per rush (34 att / 70 yds), 6.25 yards per pass (10-of-20 for 125 yds) and 4.2 yards per play (54 plays, 195 yards).

What to "Take Away" From Game 1

• The Golden Eagles forced four turnovers against West Liberty in the first game of the season, intercepting two passes and forcing/recovering two fumbles.
• It was the most turnovers the Golden Eagles have forced in a game since taking the ball away eight times in a 30-21 win over Lock Haven, on Sept. 8, 2018. 
• Legend Davis and Connor Lyczek both intercepted passes in the game, Alex Huzicka and Griffin Buzzell forced fumbles, and Shane Kemper and Jeremy Ford recovered those fumbles.
• Only seven teams in the nation forced more turnovers in their season opener, with Clarion the only PSAC school to do so.
• Coincidentally, Bloomsburg is the only school in the conference with a better turnover margin in the first game, coming in a +3.
• Clarion forced multiple turnovers in a game just four times last year, after doing it eight times in each of the previous two seasons.

Marching Down the Field

• Getting contributions from a number of players, the Golden Eagle running attack against West Liberty  on September 1 showed the ability to control the action as well as the clock.
• Clarion rushers carried the ball 42 times for 185 yards, an average of 4.4 yards per rush. It was the Golden Eagles' best single-game rushing total in 19 games, since they rushed for a collective 214 yards against Lock Haven in the second game of the 2018 season.
• Khalil Owens was Clarion's leading rusher with 28 carries for 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Corahn Alleyne carried five times for 33 yards, and Zach Benedek rushed five times for 27 yards.
• The running game's effectiveness led to Clarion controlling the time of possession, with a mark of 31:40.

Alleyne and Hungry Look...

• Making his debut in the Blue & Gold against West Liberty, Corahn Alleyne showed himself to be deadly in three facets of the game.
• Alleyne finished the game with 73 kick return yards, 36 receiving yards and 33 rushing yards, giving him 142 all-purpose yards against the Hilltoppers.
• Alleyne finished the first week eighth in the PSAC in all-purpose yards. He is one of only two players in the conference -- Slippery Rock's Russell Cohen is the other -- to record at least 30 yards in three different statistical categories in the season opener.

Hamdan Takes Control

• Linebacker Kareem Hamdan has established himself as a sure tackler, and is one of the stars of the PSAC in terms of bringing down the ball carrier.
• In 2021, Hamdan earned Don Hansen Football All-America Honorable Mention honors after leading the conference in tackles, averaging 10.0 per game for exactly 100 on the season. He is the first Golden Eagle to hit the 100-tackle mark in a single-season since Layne Skundrich in 2017.
• Hamdan is one of two returning all-conference players from 2021, having earned Second Team All-PSAC West laurels at the conclusion of the season.

Owens and the Ground Game

• Now in his second full season with the Golden Eagles, running back Khalil Owens will try to build on the end of last year's campaign, when he became a major force toting the rock.
• Owens finished the season with 149 carries for 510 yards, but over the last four games of the year he totaled 95 touches and averaged more than 100 all-purpose yards per game.
• He had his best game of the season against Edinboro on November 6, 2021, rushing for 179 yards against the Fighting Scots.
• Like Hamdan, Owens was a Second Team All-PSAC West selection at running back in 2021. He is only the third different Golden Eagle running back to earn all-conference honors in the last decade, joining Mylique McGriff (2019) and Delrece Williams (2015).
• Owens' Week 1 performance against West Liberty - 120 rushing yards and two scores - ranked third among PSAC running backs in the first week of the season. Only California's Eric McKan III (152 yards) and Mercyhurst's David Alize (125 yards) had more production on the ground, and the two rushing scores tied for first in the league.

Cracking the Books

• Senior defensive back Drew Blon showed his ability to excel in the classroom as well as on the field in 2021, earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors last year.
• Blon, who finished his Bachelor's degree in Sport Management in December 2021, posted a 3.64 GPA while also starting every game on the back end of the Golden Eagle defense.
• Blon finished second on the team in total tackles with 71 stops in 2021, but his biggest contribution came in disrupting opposing offenses with turnovers and tight coverage. Blon finished second on the team in interceptions with three picks and led the team in both fumbles forced and fumble recoveries with two each.He also tied for the team-high with five pass break-ups in 2021. 
• Blon was a force at the line of scrimmage, ranking second on the team with 8.0 tackles for loss.

Legend in the Making?

• Defensive back Legend Davis got his career off on the right foot in 2021, showing a knack for taking away the football.
• Davis led the Golden Eagles with four interceptions last season, tying him with five other players for second in the PSAC.
• With that total, Davis became the first Golden Eagle to record four picks in a year since Dorian Johnson and Sam Fareri each notched four interceptions in the 2018 season. That year the Golden Eagles held opponents to just a 49.7 complete percentage.
• Davis picked off his fifth career pass in the season-opener against West Liberty on Sept. 1.

PSAC Maintains Partnership with BlueFrame Technology for PSAC Sports Digital Network

• The PSAC is in the midst of a five-year partnership with BlueFrame technology to create an end-to-end digital network for all 18 member institutions.
• The PSAC Sports Digital Network is available on the web along with streaming applications for television and mobile devices for Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku (TV), iOS, Android (mobile) and Amazon Fire Tablet. The app can be found and installed by searching for the PSAC Sports Digital Network.

Next Week

• The Golden Eagles play their second straight PSAC East opponent on the road when they go to Lock Haven to face the Bald Eagles. 
• Clarion has dominated the all-time series with the Bald Eagles, leading it 50-16-1. The Golden Eagles have won 10 straight meetings with Lock Haven dating back to the 2008 season, and have scored 30 or more points in each of the last seven games.
• The last time the teams played at Hubert Jack Stadium was during the 2018 season, when Clarion forced eight turnovers in a 30-21 victory.