Clarion Golden Eagles (1-4, 0-2 PSAC West) vs. Seton Hill Griffins (1-4, 0-2 PSAC West)
Saturday, October 7 // 2:00 PM
Clarion, Pa. // Memorial Stadium

Quick Notes

• The Golden Eagle football team returns to Memorial Stadium to cap off the 70th annual Autumn Leaf Festival, when they host Seton Hill for Homecoming.
• This will be the 10th meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Griffins, with Clarion owning a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series with Seton Hill.
• The Golden Eagles are 4-1 against Seton Hill in games played in Clarion, with their only loss coming in the most recent game played at Memorial Stadium, in 2019. 
• Clarion wrapped up a two-game road swing last week when they fell by a score of 37-7 to California (PA) at Adamson Stadium. 
• Safety Legend Davis recorded 13 tackles against the Vulcans last week, the most for a Golden Eagle player this season and tied for the sixth-highest total by a PSAC player this season.
• Quarterback Zach Benedek saw significant time against California last week, leading the team in rushing with 71 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
• The Golden Eagles remain in the upper half of rushing teams in the PSAC West division, ranking fourth with an average of 144.4 yards per game on the ground. 
• Clarion has been one of the stingier teams in the conference in allowing red zone points, keeping opponents to an average of 3.64 points per red zone possession.
• Receiver Corahn Alleyne has been one of the most effective punt returners in the PSAC this season, averaging 10.1 yards per return to rank third in the conference.
• The Golden Eagles are looking for their first Homecoming win since 2019, when they topped Seton Hill 42-16 at Memorial Stadium.

Series History

• This will be the 10th-ever meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Griffins, with Clarion owning a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series. 
• The teams first met on Oct. 26, 2013 at Memorial Stadium, with the Clarion defense pitching a shutout in a 41-2 victory. Julian Howsare had 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and two blocked kicks, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Matt Lehman also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown. Seton Hill's only score of the day was a safety on a 98-yard PAT return on a fumbled exchange in the second quarter.
• Historically, the home team in this series has proven to have a distinct advantage: Clarion is 4-1 in games played in Memorial Stadium but just 2-2 away from home.
• Last year the teams met at Offutt Field in Greensburg, with the Golden Eagles winning  handily by a 40-13 score. Despite being outgained offensively by Seton Hill, the Golden Eagles used every tool in the kit to come away with the win, including a pair of touchdown passes from Corahn Alleyne to Zach Benedek and a 67-yard blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by Legend Davis.
• The last time the teams met in Clarion also featured special teams fireworks, with Clarion winning 42-16 on Oct. 5, 2019. Joe Kucenski blocked a punt that was scooped up by Rayonte Campbell, with the latter leaping into the end zone for a score. Terrell Ford later returned the opening kickoff of the second half 90 yards for a touchdown.

Scouting the Griffins

• Seton Hill was predicted to finish sixth in the PSAC West division in 2023. Last season they posted a 2-9 overall record and a 2-5 mark in PSAC West action, tying them with Clarion and Edinboro for fifth place.
• Seton Hill returns 16 total starters - nine offensive and seven defensive - from last year.
• This year the Griffins are off to a 1-4 overall record and an 0-2 start in divisional play. Their win was a home victory over Shippensburg on Sept. 9, followed by a road loss at East Stroudsburg (55-21). They opened West play with back-to-back home losses to Slippery Rock (35-14) and Gannon (20-6).
• To date the Golden Knights are the sole common opponent between Clarion and Seton Hill. Gannon's defense shut out the Griffin offense, with Seton Hill's only score of the day coming on a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Demetri Whitehead.
• Whitehead has been a special teams demon for the Griffins this season. He was named the PSAC West Special Teams Athlete of the Week for Sept. 11 after he led his unit with a blocked punt, a fumble recovery and two special teams tackles against Shippensburg. 

Last Week

The Golden Eagle football team struggled to gain offensive traction on Sept. 30, as they fell by a 37-7 score to Calfornia (PA) at Adamson Stadium in a PSAC West game.

Defensively the Golden Eagles maintained a decent grasp on the game in the first half, preventing the Vulcans from running away with it early as they did in last year's meeting at Memorial Stadium. Clarion gave up the first 10 points of the game but responded with a touchdown of their own early in the second quarter, and the Golden Eagles lagged behind only by 10 points at the halftime break.

Clarion trailed 10-0 early in the second quarter but the Golden Eagles pulled to within three points after a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Quarterback Zach Benedek converted a 3rd-and-4 from inside his own territory with a 31-yard run, and the junior signal caller extended the drive in California territory with an eight-yard run later in the possession. It was fitting, then, that he got to cap off the drive, scoring on a five-yard run to slice the lead to 10-7.

That was all the closer the Golden Eagles would get to the Vulcans, though, as California added another touchdown before the halftime break to make it 17-7. Cal also received the opening kickoff of the second half and turned it into a scoring drive, upping their lead to 17 points less than five minutes into the third quarter.

Benedek finished with just 65 passing yards in relief, but he also led the team with 71 rushing yards and the touchdown. Andy Martin pulled in four passes for 30 yards. Safety Legend Davis had a team-high 13 tackles while Mathew McGregor tacked on six tackles and a sack.

Tarburton on the Rush

Jake Tarburton enters Week 6 tied for eighth in the PSAC with three sacks, a number that also ranks sixth in the PSAC West. 

Tarburton now has nine career sacks. He is one away from tying his career-high of four sacks set last season. He is among active PSAC players in sacks per game, and his nine career sacks ranks sixth among active players.

Stout Defense Sets Early Tone

In the game against at Gannon on Sept. 23, the Golden Eagle defense swallowed up the Golden Knights for much of the first half, and ultimately held their opponent to fewer than 300 offensive yards for the first time since last year's season opener. Clarion held Gannon to just 14 offensive yards in the first quarter and 47 yards for the first half; in fact the Golden Knights had -6 total yards until Todd Braxton's 11-yard run with 1:24 left in the first quarter.

Gannon picked things up in the second half but the Golden Eagles still managed to hold their opponent to under 300 total yards of offense, their best outing since keeping West Liberty to 282 yards on Sept. 1, 2022. 

Kareem of the Crop

Senior linebacker Kareem Hamdan has been a mainstay in the Golden Eagle defense for three years now, and as a result he's turned into one of the most consistent performers in the PSAC. Hamdan currently ranks fourth among active conference leaders in tackles per game with a 7.3 per game average, and his 256 total career tackles ranks third in the PSAC behind only Millersvile's Isaiah Onuschak (278) and Slippery Rock's Kyle Kudla (261). 

Consider This Your Warning

If there's one thing that has been consistent in the all-time series between Seton Hill and Clarion, it's that the Golden Eagles have shown an uncanny knack for making big plays on special teams. Clarion has blocked eleven kicks in the previous nine meetings with Seton Hill, with four of those blocks turning into touchdowns. They also had a kickoff returned for a touchdown in 2019, and an extra point returned for two points in 2014. 

Simmons Makes His Clarion Debut

Running back Khalon Simmons saw his first serious action of the 2023 season against Lock Haven on Sept. 23, and he made a strong impression in his debut. He rushed 13 times for 51 yards against the Bald Eagles.

Force on the Ground

The Golden Eagle rushing attack ranked fourth overall in the PSAC and tops in the PSAC West division in 2022, with the team averaging 161.5 yards per game on the ground. Clarion's 4.4 yards per carry average last year ranked second only the Shepherd, and the team's 17 rushing touchdowns ranked fifth overall and third in the West division behind Slippery Rock and California (Pa.).

Clarion is off to a similar start in 2023. They are seventh in the PSAC but fourth in the West division with an average of 144.4 rushing yards per game. They have had two different players top the 100-yard rushing mark through five weeks of the season; Khalil Owens broke the century mark rushing against Bloomsburg on Sept. 16, while Anthony Guercio did it on Sept. 23 against Lock Haven. 

More on Owens' Day vs. Bloomsburg

Owens ran for 126 yards against Bloomsburg on Sept. 9, marking his fourth game over 100 rushing yards in a Golden Eagle uniform and the first since his 124-yard game against Lock Haven on Sept. 17, 2022.

The 126 yards gained on the ground are the most for Owens since his went off for 179 yards rushing against Edinboro on Nov. 6, 2021. His 188 combined rushing and receiving yards are also his greatest total since that same day, when he had 194.

Alleyne Playing with Purpose

Receiver Corahn Alleyne ranks among the national leaders in all-purpose yardage through four weeks, thanks to his ability to contribute on offense and special teams. Alleyne enters the game against the Vulcans with an average of 138.8 all-purpose yards per game and has racked up 1,624 all-purpose yards in just 11 games played as a Golden Eagle. 

On special teams, Alleyne has two of the five best single-game punt return totals in the PSAC, with his 51 yards against Bloomsburg on Sept. 9 the second-best mark in the league. He also has the sixth- and seventh-longest punt returns in the PSAC to date, including a season-long 32-yarder against Lincoln (Pa.) in the opening game. 

Not Seeing Yellow

In 2022 Clarion was one of the best teams in the conference at not harrming their own cause with penalties. The Golden Eagles ranked fourth in the conference and second in the PSAC West division in fewest penalties against, committing an average of just 5.1 infractions per game. Consequently, their average of just 45.4 penalty yards lost per game ranked third in the conference and 20th in the nation. 

Through five weeks of the season, Clarion has had just 27 penalties accepted against them, for an average of 45.4 yards per game. The former number is the third-lowest among all PSAC schools that have played four games this season, and the penalty yardage average is second best behind only Kutztown. 

Next Week

The Golden Eagles will stay home for another PSAC West contest, when they welcome Mercyhurst to Memorial Stadium for a noon kickoff. Last year Clarion beat the Lakers 23-21 on the road on a Jarrett Esposito field goal as time expired.