CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle football team dominated in the ground game on a rainy Saturday at Memorial Stadium, but they could not hold off a scrappy Mercyhurst team in the second half as Clarion fell by a 36-35 score at home.
 
What looked like a Clarion rout when it first began soon turned into a second half dogfight, as the Golden Eagles and Lakers traded blows in the final 30 minutes of play. Clarion amassed a 28-7 lead midway through the second quarter because of their ability to run the football, racking up 229 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in the first half alone.
 
Quarterback Zach Benedek was the main driver on that front, ultimately finishing the game with 163 yards and a score on the ground. He became the third different Golden Eagle player to rush for more than 100 yards in a game this year, joining Khalil Owens and Anthony Guercio. Khalon Simmons added two rushing scores as part of his 35 rushing yards, and he also threw a key block to spring Amire Spencer for the go-ahead touchdown with 9:12 left in the fourth quarter.
 
The aforementioned Spencer touchdown capped a nine-play, 67-yard drive that gave the Golden Eagles a 35-28 lead. Guercio – playing due to an apparent injury to Benedek earlier in the half – took the team down the field on the ground, with the only pass on the drive an 18-yard completion to Ray Jackson to put the team in the red zone. Spencer took a handoff on a jet sweep and followed Simmons to the end zone, with the latter throwing a block on a defensive back on the edge to allow Spencer to score.
 
The Golden Eagles forced a three-and-out on Mercyhurst's next possession ad then turned in a long drive that chewed up 5:27 of the remaining clock, but Clarion was forced to punt with 2:30 remaining in regulation. The Lakers got the ball on their own 18-yard line and pushed the ball down the field, converting a 4^th-and-6 deep in Golden Eagle territory to get 1^st-and-Goal at the one-yard line. Jaylen Butera punched it in from one yard out for the score with five second remaining, and quarterback Adam Urena connected with Braydon Black on a two-point conversion to give the Lakers the improbable win.
 
Clarion marched down the field to score on their first drive of the game, running the ball on 12 consecutive plays to travel the necessary 74 yards for the touchdown. Benedek logged a 19-yard rush to open the drive and from there the team pulled off a series of chunk runs, only getting to third down twice on the possession. Corahn Alleyne terminated the long drive with a jet swep over the right side of the line, reaching the corner for the score.
 
Benedek extended the team's second drive of the game with a screen pass to Simmons, with the latter rushing down the field for a 32-yard gain deep into Laker territory. Simmons was rewarded later in the drive with a goal line carry, punching it in for a 14-0 Golden Eagle lead. Simmons scored on the Golden Eagles' next possession as well, this time from seven yards out, to make it 21-0. Butera responded with a touchdown run to cut into the lead, but Benedek ripped off a 34-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 28-7 with 6:24 left in the half. Urena led an 11-play, 90-yard scoring drive before the end of the first half, cutting the Golden Eagles' advantage in half.
 
Simmons finished with 44 receiving yards to go with his 35 rushing yards, giving him 79 combined rushing and receiving yards and two scores. Griffin Buzzell totaled nine tackles while Jake Tarburton added six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a pass deflection and two quarterback hurries.
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