Clarion Athletics

CLARION, Pa. --- Aided by another spate of chunk plays as well as some timely turnovers, the Golden Eagle football team opened up divisional play with a 30-19 home win over Edinboro at Memorial Stadium. Clarion racked up nearly 449 total offensive yards, making up for a deficit in the time of possession battle with nine explosives.
 
As they have done all season long, Clarion showcased the ability to amass long gains when most needed, with 264 of their 449 yards coming on nine plays. Perhaps the most important came late in the fourth quarter with the Golden Eagles attempting to hold a 24-19 lead. Clarion had previously held the line on their biggest defensive stand of the game, stuffing Jordan Theodore twice in a row on third and fourth downs to force a turnover on downs near midfield.
 
The Fighting Scots still possessed two timeouts and harbored dreams of a comeback when, on 2^nd and 14 from the Clarion 48-yard line, Ferguson sprinted left for a 50-yard run carrying the ball all the way to the Edinboro 2-yard line. The redshirt freshman pushed up the middle on the ensuing snap for the touchdown, giving the Golden Eagles a 30-19 lead.
 
Ferguson and his wide receiver corps were effective at stretching the field against the Fighting Scot defense, especially on in-breaking routes deep the down the field. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 312 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, with Tsirell Curry pulling down six of those passes for a team-high 91 yards and a score.
 
The longest play of the day came on the first snap from scrimmage, with Ja'Tawn Williams taking the first pass attempt of the game 75 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0. Edinboro responded with a methodical eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that ended with a Bo Swartz rush, but Swartz was stopped short of the goal line on the two-point conversion to keep it 7-6. After Avante George rushed for a first down to push the ball over midfield on the subsequent drive, Ferguson found Davon Jones deep for a 47-yard touchdown to make it 14-6.
 
Swartz struck again early in the second quarter with a five-yard touchdown rush, but both offenses went quiet until Clarion scored with nine seconds remaining in the first half. Taking over at their own 25-yard line with 1:12 left in the second quarter, Ferguson marched the team down the field, including a pair of first down darts to Austin VanHuss across the middle. The dam broke with 14 seconds left when Ferguson found Curry for the score from 22 yards out, making it 21-13 at half.
 
The defense defused two Edinboro drives in the third quarter, first when Drew Parker fumbled deep in his own end with 2:57 left to go. Clarion didn't punch it in but they did put points on the board on a 20 yard field goal by Ty Woods. On the next drive, Nassim Adams picked off a Nico Marchitelli pass after Eli Zasadni flushed the latter from the pocket.
 
The Fighting Scots got the ball back two plays later on an interception but did not score again until there was 5:45 left to play, on a Marchitelli rush up the middle to make it 24-19. The two-point conversion pass attempt to Theodore failed, keeping it a five-point game.
 
Gabriel Laws led the defense with nine total tackles, three solo, and added a quarterback hit. Ky'ian Mims was credited with three pass break-ups.
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