CLARION Golden Eagles (4-5, 2-4 PSAC West at EDINBORO Fighting Scots (4-5, 2-4 PSAC West)
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Kickoff: 12 noon
Sox Harrison Stadium (6,000) l Edinboro, Pa.
Radio: WFSE 88.9 FM
TV: ETV
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/edinboro/football/
Next: Saturday, November 16 at Kutztown, 1:05 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: Edinboro leads 44-38-2
Meeting for the 85th time, Edinboro has won the last three meetinsg with the Golden Eagles and nine of the last ten meetings. The lone Clarion win did come at Sox Harrison Stadium in 2009, a 30-17 triumph. Edinboro is 6-1 against Clarion under Scott Browning. In the last three meetings the Fighting Scots are averaging 33.3 ppg.

THE LAST MEETING
2012 – Edinboro 48, Clarion 13
Cody Harris threw five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth to lead the Fighting Scots to the road victory. Tied at 7-7 after one quarter, Edinboro struck for 20 points in the second quarter and ran off 34 straight points in all. Harris' five TD passes tied the school record and went to five different receivers, covering 28 yards to Kevin Sonnie, 62 yards to Marcus Johnson, three yards to Shawn Walker, 11 yards to Ben Eisel, and 59 yards to Devin Ghafoor. Harris threw for 460 yards, the second-highest single-game figure. Harris also scored on a five yard run, and freshman Jeremy Donaldson accounted for the seventh touchdown on a three yard run. Ben Fiscus accounted for both Clarion touchdowns, throwing for one score and rushing for another. He would throw for 209 yards and rush for 82 more.


LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Mercyhurst 19, Edinboro 6
In a series that had seen the visiting team win in the previous five games, Mercyhurst held serve at home on a rainy afternoon. Edinboro forced three turnovers and held the Lakers to 87 yards passing, but unfortunately 61 of that came on a touchdown pass that gave them a 9-0 lead in the first quarter. A bad punt snap that sailed through the end zone gave Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. They would up 16-0 early in the second quarter before the Fighting Scots took advantage of a fumble recovery by Greg Cunningham to close to 16-6. Keith Regis accounted for the score on a three-yard run, the first career touchdown for the redshirt freshman. Edinboro initially converted the two-point conversion, but a holding call negated it. The extra point attempt was no good, and T.J. Hardy would later have a 39-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright. Mercyhurst would tack on a 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for the only scoring in the second half. While limiting the Lakers through the air, they would finish with 266 yards rushing. Edinboro, meanwhile, could never establish a ground game, finishing with 51 yards. In fact, the Scots would end the day with a season-low 148 total yards.

Indiana(Pa.) 42, Clarion 14
The Golden Eagles were unable to celebrate Senior Day, as Indiana(Pa.) held them to 298 total yards and forced three turnovers. Clarion fell behind 14-0 after one quarter as IUP put together a pair of long drives. Travis Day closed the deficit to 14-7 on an 11-yard run, capping a 70-yard march. A pair of Clarion turnovers led to two more IUP touchdowns. A fumble was followed up by a 30-yard touchdown pass on the next play, and less than three minutes later IUP returned an interception for six more points. Clarion ended the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 35-yard pass from Darelle Carson to Jon Reid. Carson completed 9 of 21 passes for 113 yards and ran for 41 yards on 10 carries. Bobby Thomas added 74 yards on 16 rushes.



HEAD COACHES
EDINBORO
Head Coach: Scott Browning (Ohio State '81)
Record at Edinboro: 53-34, eighth year
Career Record: 53-34, eighth year

Scott Browning (Ohio State '81) took over as Edinboro's 13th head coach on January 5, 2006, and in his first six seasons he tied the record for most wins by a coach during that period. Browning is now in his eighth season with a 53-34 record. With the season-opening 35-34 win over Walsh, he became the third coach at Edinboro to reach 50 wins, joining Tom Hollman and Bill McDonald. He is now one win away from tying McDonald for second in career victories. Browning was certainly no stranger to Fighting Scot football when he was hired as head coach, serving as an assistant coach for the previous twenty years. While at Edinboro he has coached the offensive linemen, defensive backs and running backs, along with serving as the offensive coordinator. Browning became the first head coach at Edinboro to debut with a win since McDonald in 1969 when the Fighting Scots opened the 2006 season with a 28-14 win at West Chester. He went on to lead Edinboro to a 6-5 finish, the most wins ever by a first-year coach. That was followed by a 7-4 finish in 2007. His next two Fighting Scot editions recorded a school-record tying nine wins. in 2008 Edinboro ended the year at 9-2 and was ranked 20th in the final AFCA Top 25. The Fighting Scots had a 9-4 record in 2009, making the NCAA playoffs for the first time in his tenure. Edinboro would end the year 24th in the AFCA poll. The Boro posted back-to-back 7-4 finishes in 2010 and 2011. Last year's 4-6 finish represented Browning's first losing season as head coach.

CLARION
Head Coach: Jay Foster (Plymouth State '85)
Record at Clarion: 27-59, 8th year
Career Record: 27-59, 8th year
Jay Foster (Plymouth State '85) is completing his eighth season after being named the 11th head coach at Clarion in 2006. He owns a 27-59 record, including an 8-3 record in 2009, when the Golden Eagles were 6-1 in the PSAC West to finish second. Foster was named the PSAC?West Coach of the Year following the season. He previously coached at Slippery Rock for 18 seasons, including the last 17 as defensive coordinator. He helped The Rock to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances and four PSAC West titles.


RADIO/TV
Radio: WFSE?FM 88.9 -- The Edinboro-Mercyhurst game can be heard live on WFSE FM 88.9, with Michael Fenner and Jeff Snyder providing the commentary.
TV: Edinboro's student television station, ETV, will televise the game. It can be seen on the internet at www.edinboro.tv, along with being televised to Coaxial customers on Channel 4 and on-campus on Channel 77.
Twitter updates at @BoroAthletics


THE GAME STORY

Edinboro will celebrate Senior Day as the Fighting Scots host Clarion in the final home game of 2103. Eight seniors will be recognized prior to the game, then Edinboro and Clarion will take the field for the 85th time. Both come in with identical 4-5 overall records and 2-4 in the PSAC West. The loser is assured of finishing with a losing record with two games remaining in the season. Both are also coming off losses, with Edinboro seeking an end to a two-game skid after losing at Mercyhurst last Saturday by a 19-6 score. Clarion was a 42-14 loser to Indiana(Pa.) in its final home game of the season.

Clarion opened the season with three straight wins, including a 20-13 triumph over Mercyhurst. The Golden Eagles then dropped their next four games before ending the slump with a 41-2 victory over Seton Hill.

It has been an up-and-down season for the Fighting Scots, and injuries have played a major role. The most obvious loss was starting quarterback Cody Harris after two games. The defense has been missing a pair of projected starters at linebacker most of the season. The Scots were probably the healthiest they had been in weeks when they played at Indiana(Pa.), and the result was a 36-30 upset of the 22nd-ranked Crimson Hawks. Unfortunately, the injury bug has hit again, starting with the IUP contest and continuing in back-to-back losses to Slippery Rock (44-20) and Mercyhurst (19-6). Against the Lakers, the offense regularly had seven redshirt freshmen on the field. Defensively, three true freshman and another redshirt freshmen were regular contributors. It got so bad that one point Edinboro was on its fourth string quarterback and fourth string tailback. While the experience the young players are gaining bodes well for the future, it leaves for a tough present.

Edinboro pulled off one of its best wins in the Browning Era with the 36-30 upset at IUP. It snapped a three-game losing streak to IUP and marked the first home loss for the Crimson Hawks in almost two years. The win was the first against a nationally-ranked opponent since 2010, when Edinboro started the season with a 20-19 win at seventh-ranked West Liberty.

The Edinboro-Clarion game could be billed as the Battle of the Backup Quarterbacks. When the season first began it was an enticing matchup of Edinboro's Cody Harris, a two-time second team All-PSAC West selection, and Ben Fiscus of Clarion, the 2012 first team All-PSAC West quarterback. Both suffered season-ending injuries and played just two games. In their stead are promising but young quarterbacks. Edinboro has used three freshman signalcallers, with redshirt freshman Jon Girvin seeing the majority of the action. However, he left the Mercyhurst game with an injury, as did backup quarterback Matt Bodamer a series later. Cameron Sheppard, like Bodamer a true freshman, finished the rest of the third quarter and the fourth period. Clarion has relied on Darelle Carson, a redshirt freshman, since Fiscus went down.

Edinboro and Clarion have played seven common opponents. Both defeated Lock Haven and Seton Hill, while losing to California(Pa.), Gannon and Slippery Rock. Where the differ is results vs. IUP and Mercyhurst. Edinboro claimed a 36-30 win over IUP while the Golden Eagles lost 42-14 last week. Clarion owns a 20-13 win over Mercyhurst, while the Fighting Scots dropped a 19-6 decision.

Edinboro was picked to finish sixth in the PSAC West in the coaches' preseason poll, while Clarion was chosen seventh.

Edinboro head coach Scott Browning needs one more win to tie Bill McDonald for second place in career wins at Edinboro. He became just the third coach at Edinboro to reach 50 career wins with the Walsh victory. Now in his eighth season at the helm, the Fighting Scots are 53-34 under Browning. McDonald won 54 games in ten seasons.

Browning Comments ... on the Fighting Scots
"It was a tough loss. We had so many injuries and we're playing so many young kids right now. But that doesn't make it acceptable. We snapped a ball over the punter's head for a safety. But again it's a freshman. We missed a field goal and an extra point. Another freshman. We shot ourselves in the foot and I don't want to make excuses. We had opportunities."


Browning Comments ... on the Golden Eagles
"We have to find a way to win this week. We'll see who's healthy to start up. We're trying to put it together."