CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle football team clinched a winning season for the first time in a decade on Saturday afternoon, beating Seton Hill 23-17 in a spirited Homecoming effort at Al Jacks Field. In a game where both teams committed turnovers and miscues, Clarion was the one to come out on top.
 
Clarion's win came on the strength of a streak of 16 unanswered points in the second half, which turned a 10-7 deficit into a 23-10 advantage. The Golden Eagles' defense was generally solid though the final numbers did not necessarily bear that out, limiting the Griffins to field goal attempts while defending short fields.
 
Entering for an injured Anthony Guercio, quarterback Jase Ferguson helped to engineer four straight scoring drives in the second half. On 3^rd-and-6 from the Seton Hill 44-yard line, he fired a dart across the middle to Ray Jackson for 23 yards, eventually setting up a 37-yard field goal from Andrew Kurtas to tie the game at 10-10. On his first drive of the fourth quarter, he snuck a deep out to Holt Egan past the cornerback, with Egan sprinting 60 yards after the catch for an 81-yard reception to put Clarion up 17-10. The catch was his seventh touchdown of the season.
 
Special teams made their impact on the next Seton Hill drive. After forcing a fourth down at the 24-yard line, the Golden Eagles blocked Bataineh's field goal attempt, with Jaylin Miller getting a hand on it and David Adams-Prince returning the loose change all the way back to Seton Hill territory. Ferguson hit Egan on a deep pass down the sideline, setting up a chip shot for Kurtas to make it 20-10.
 
Emmanuel Ajayi blew up the next Griffin possession, picking off a pass in the flat. Kurtas made his third field goal of the day, this time from 38 yards, to give the Golden Eagles a 13-point edge. Seton Hill scored a touchdown with 33 seconds left to pull within 23-17 but their onside kick attempt failed, allowing the Golden Eagles to kneel out the clock.
 
Guercio and Ferguson combined to complete just 10 of 23 passes, but the damage on explosive plays led to 236 yards and two touchdowns. Egan had his third 100-yard receiving game of the year, catching four passes for 142 yards. Guercio was the team's leading rusher, attempting 17 runs for 88 yards. Griffin Buzzell totaled 10 tackles while Mathew McGregor had five tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
 
The Golden Eagles were the first to light the scoreboard, scoring with under three minutes to go in the first quarter to take a 7-0 advantage. The play of the drive came with a 1^st-and-10 at midfield, with Logan Kent bouncing off tacklers for a 35-yard gain down to the Seton Hill 15-yard line. Two plays later Guercio hit Davon Jones on an underneath route, with Jones finding paydirt for his eighth touchdown of the season.
 
Unlike other games this season, where the Golden Eagle offense had been churning out yards and big plays, that stood as the lone score for Clarion until late in the third quarter. The Griffins forced a number of turnovers over the ensuing two quarters and change, including two forced fumbles and two interceptions to douse Golden Eagle drives.
 
Seton Hill finally scored with just over five minutes to go in the second quarter, capping a 13-play, 83-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown rush from quarterback Boden St. Marie. The Golden Eagles marched down the field, including a 28-yard completion from Guercio to Ray Jackson, but Demetri Whitehead picked off a pass to halt the drive. The next drive was halted when Guercio had the ball punched out by Ritchie McCormack near midfield, but the Clarion defense stood tall and kept the Griffins from breaking the 7-7 tie.
 
Another Clarion turnover led to Seton Hill points midway through the third quarter, when Khalon Simmons fumbled on the punt return after a successful defensive stand. That put the ball on Clarion's 29-yard line but the Golden Eagles limited the Griffins to just four yards, and Rayyan Bataineh booted a 42-yard field goal to put Seton Hill ahead 10-7.
 
 
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