EDINBORO Fighting Scots (0-5, 0-4 PSAC West) at CLARION Golden Eagles (2-3, 2-2 PSAC West)

Date:  Saturday, October 11, 2014 
Site:  Clarion, Pa.
Stadium:  Memorial Stadium (5,000)
Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. 
Next:  Thursday, October 16 vs. Gannon, 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats:   http://www.sidearmstats.com/clarion/football/

Edinboro Game Notes
Clarion Game Notes
PSAC Weekly Notes

The Game Story

Edinboro looks for its first win of the season on Saturday, October 11 with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Clarion. It will be the first of three straight night games and is the fourth road contest in the first six games. The Fighting Scots fell to 0-5 with an 18-8 loss to Indiana(Pa.) on Homecoming last Saturday. That is the worst start since the 1955 edition also lost its first five games. The 1954 Fighting Scots started the year 0-6.

Head coach Scott Browning knew that the first half of the 2014 schedule was going to be difficult, but it may have been even more arduous than he imagined. Along the way Edinboro faced the top two preseason favorites in the PSAC West, two of the top four in the Eastern Division, plus a nationally-ranked team in Carson-Newman. The combined record of the first five opponents is 18-7, with four of the five teams checking in at 4-1 (Carson-Newman, East Stroudsburg, California(Pa.), IUP). The combined record of the six remaining teams on the schedule is 13-17, and that includes a Slippery Rock team that is 5-0 and a Gannon team that is 4-1.

Clarion brings a record of 2-3 into the contest and seeks to end a two-game losing skid. The Golden Eagles have been outscored 61-7 in those games, a 33-7 loss to Gannon followed by a 28-0 defeat at Mercyhurst last Saturday. Clarion will be playing just its second game at home.

A young Edinboro defense that is playing five freshmen or redshirt freshmen grew up a little bit on Saturday. The Fighting Scots had a bend-but-don't-break showing, holding Indiana(Pa.) to a sole touchdown and three field goals. The defense held IUP to 351 total yards and sacked IUP quarterback Chase Haslett four times after he had been sacked just three times in the previous four games.

The unit had the misfortune of facing four high-powered yet distinct offenses in the first four games. First came the bruising veer option attack run by a Carson-Newman team that finished fourth in the country in rushing last year. The Eagles finished with 342 yards rushing.  The next week Edinboro had to try to slow down a multi-faceted Shippensburg offense that ended up rushing for 246 yards and passing for 233 more.  Two weeks ago they had to contend with East Stroudsburg's high-flying passing game.  ESU?quarterback Matt Soltes would throw for 502 yards as the Warriors finished with 590 total yards. A balanced California(Pa.) team finished with 382 yards. The defense struggled in the first half but limited the Vulcans to just a pair of field goals in the second half. After four games Edinboro had allowed 166 points. It marks the first time in school history the first four opponents had scored 30-or-more points.

The Edinboro offense had made strides over the first three weeks but has struggled the last two weeks against the strong California(Pa.) and IUP defenses. At the heart of the problem has been an inability to generate a running game or protect the quarterback. The Fighting Scots were held to 325 total yards, and finished with minus 12 yards rushing at Cal. That is the third-lowest single game total in school history. This past weekend the Scots were held to 129 total yards and had minus 6 yards rushing, the fourth-lowest total ever. Edinboro quarterbacks have been sacked a league-high 32 times in five games, including nine times by IUP. Edinboro ranks 165th out of 167 teams in Division II in sacks allowed.  

Granted a sixth season of eligibility, Cody Harris is off to a strong start. He has thrown for 1,192 yards and has 10 TDs compared to just one interception. He has added four touchdowns rushing as he has accounted for all 14 Edinboro touchdowns. Harris played in just the first two games a year ago before suffering a season-ending injury. Edinboro averaged 35 points and 454.5 total yards in the first two games but just 19.6 points and 283.1 total yards over the final nine contests.  Harris was a second team All-PSAC?West selection in 2011 and '12.   

Edinboro was picked to finish sixth in the PSAC?West in the coaches' preseason poll for the second straight year. Clarion was right behind the Fighting Scots in seventh place after a 4-7 finish year ago.

The Carson-Newman contest was the first of three Thursday games the Fighting Scots will play in 2014. Edinboro will also face local rivals Gannon and Mercyhurst on Thursday evenings. The Scots will host Gannon on Thursday, October 16 in the first Thursday night contest at Sox Harrison Stadium since 2008. A week later Edinboro will play for the first time at Erie Veterans Stadium since 1982 as Mercyhurst hosts the Scots on Thursday, October 23.
 
On TV/Radio
The Edinboro-Clarion will be televised live on ESPN3 courtesy of the SPORTSfever Television Network. In addition, it will be shown on a replay basis on Fox Sports Ohio and Root Sports.  Scott Bacon and Dan Watson will provide the commentary.  The complete schedule is below. The game can be heard live on WFSE FM?88.9, with Ron Raymond providing the play-by-play and Mike Fenner the commentary.
 
LIVE
ESPN GAMEPLAN and ESPN 3
Blue Ridge Cable Network
Tribune Broadcasting
WPMT
WPHL (Philadelphia, Lancaster, South Jersey, Delaware, Lehigh Valley)
 
WETM (Elmira, Northern PA: 18.2, Blue Ridge 8, Time Warner 11)
 
SAME DAY DELAY
Fox Sports Ohio -- Midnight
 
REPLAY
Fox Sports Ohio Tuesday -- Oct. 14 -- 5 a.m.
Root Sports Wednesday -- Oct. 15 -- 9 p.m
  
The All-Time Series
Edinboro leads 45-38-2
The Fighting Scots made it four straight wins over Clarion with a 9-7 triumph at Sox Harrison Stadium last year. During that period Edinboro has outscored the Golden Eagles 109-44. The Scots have won 10 of the last 11 meetings, interrupted by a 30-17 loss in 2009. Edinboro has won six straight games at Memorial Stadium, last losing in 2000.
 
The Last Meeting
2013 -- Edinboro 9, Clarion 7
Defenses dominated the action on a windy afternoon at Sox Harrison Stadium.  Edinboro would gain just 257 total yards, but the Boro D stepped up and held the Golden Eagles to 237 yards.  The defense accounted for the first points of the game with a safety late in the first quarter.  Clarion would grab a 7-2 lead with an 87-yard drive with 5:23 left in the second quarter.  The Fighting Scots answered with a 71-yard march of their own.  The final 30 yards came on a Jon Girvin touchdown pass to Marcus Johnson with 1:29 left in the half.  There would be no scoring in the second half, although Clarion missed a pair of potential game-winning field goals.  Girvin would complete 16 of 34 passes for 146 yards, with Johnson hauling in five passes for 65 yards.  The offense did not commit a turnover, but the story of the day was the defense.  Domenic Principale had a career-high 10 tackles, with 4.5 for losses and 2 sacks.  The effort earned him PSAC?West Defensive Player of the Week honors.  Mike Hanhauser led all tacklers with a career-high 11 stops.    
 
Last Week
Indiana(Pa.) 16, Edinboro 8
A much-maligned Edinboro defense limited IUP to  one touchdown and three field goals. The Crimson Hawks were held to 351 total yards and were sacked four times after giving up just three sacks in their first four games. But strong winds and poor field position severely limited the Boro offense all day long. Edinboro would manage just 129 total yards, including minus 6 yards rushing, the fourth-lowest total in school history. Cody Harris completed 16 of 22 passes for 135 yards but was sacked nine times, two shy of the school record. IUP grabbed a 6-0 lead at the half thanks to 37 and 25 yards field goals     

Mercyhurst 28, Clarion 0
Clarion also played in a Homecoming game last Saturday, as the Golden Eagles lost 28-0 at Mercyhurst's Homecoming. Clarion was held to 191 total yards with several key offensive performers missing due to injury. Backup quarterback Darelle Carson stepped in for Connor Simmons and threw for 113 yards but completed just 9 of 29 passes. Bobby Thomas paced the ground game with 42 yards on 11 carries as Clarion totaled 78 yards rushing. The Clarion defense limited Mercyhurst to 304 total yards including just 63 yards rushing. 
         
The Coaches
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 in his ninth season with a 54-40 record, and is in his 29th season as a member of the Edinboro staff.  With last year's season-opening 35-34 win over Walsh, he became the third coach at Edinboro to reach 50 wins, joining Tom Hollman and Bill McDonald.   The win over Clarion was his 54th, tying him with 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.  The 4-6 finish in 2012 represented Browning's first losing season as head coach. 

Jay Foster (Plymouth State '85) is in his ninth season after being named the 11th head coach at Clarion in 2006.  He owns a 29-64 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.   
 
Browning Comments ... on the Fighting Scots
"Our kids played hard. They played for 60 minutes. We put ourselves in a position to win the thing. We killed ourselves on special teams with the kickoff returns. Right now we can't run the ball at all. Our running game is non-existant, and Anfreenee (Williams) is as good a running back as we have had in awhile."
 
Browning Comments ... on the Golden Eagles
"Clarion is 2-3. They've played pretty well this year. They play two quarterbacks that both have their strengths. They are solid defensively."