• Score:  Edinboro 45, Clarion 10
• Records:  Edinboro (3-2, 1-1 PSAC West), Clarion (0-5, 0-2 PSAC West) 
• Location:  Edinboro, Pa. – Sox Harrison Stadium
• The Short Story:  After throwing at least 44-or-more passes in each of the first four games, Edinboro dusted off its ground game to hand Clarion a 45-10 defeat, snapping a two-game losing streak. Buoyed by a career-high 230 yards on 30 carries by Walter Fletcher, Edinboro ran for 234 yards. Fletcher rushed for touchdowns of 20 and 72 yards. The air game still made an impact, as Jake Sisson three a pair of touchdown passes to James Clark, covering 60 and three yards. For the second year in a row, Sisson caught a touchdown pass against Clarion, this one covering nine yards. Zuril Hendrick continued his outstanding season with a pair of interceptions, returning the first 35 yards for a touchdown. Mike Cushma capped the scoring with a 36-yard field goal.    

• Box Score:  Click Here

• Edinboro fumbled the opening kickoff, but would hold Clarion to a 33-yard field goal by James Metzgar. Clarion took over at the EU 28 but managed just one first down. Edinboro would fumbled the ensuing kickoff at their own 41, but the defense forced a three-and-out.
• The Fighting Scots scored on their first two possessions. The first was a 13-play, 95 yard drive, the second 95 yard drive of the season, and featured the running of Walter Fletcher. The redshirt sophomore running back carried eight times for 60, bolting the final 20 yards for a touchdown with 5:53 left in the first quarter.
• The defense forced a punt and the Fighting Scot needed just one play to score. Fletcher took a handoff and went straight up the middle, outrunning the secondary for a 72-yard TD run, the longest of his career. Mike Cushma's extra point made it 14-3 with 3:49 to play in the first quarter.
• The Edinboro defense accounted for the next score to give the Fighting Scots a 21-3 lead with 1:57 left in the quarter. Zuril Hendrick stepped in front of a Clarion receiver and intercepted Jeff Clemens' pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. The junior cornerback now has two interception returns for touchdowns this year, tying the school record.
• Edinboro scored the lone points of the second quarter to go into halftime with a 28-3 lead. Jake Sisson directed the Fighting Scots on a nine-play, 85-yard drive. He completed all four of his pass attempts for 59 yards, including a 42-yard hookup with James Clark. Facing a 2nd-and-5 from the Clarion 9, Sisson threw a lateral to Ta'Nauz Gregory, who then threw back across the field to Sisson. The senior quarterback was escorted into the end zone by four linemen to complete a nine-yard scoring play with 31 seconds left in the half.
• Clarion scored its lone touchdown on the opening possession of the third quarter on an ugly 10-play, 75-yard drive that was highlighted by four Edinboro penalties, all of the 15-yard variety. The last was a roughing the kicker penalty after the defense had held and forced a punt. Given a second life, Clarion scored on the next play, a 20-yard pass from Clemens to Mason Standard.
• Edinboro needed just three plays to match the score. After a pair of two yard runs by Fletcher, Sisson found Clark open behind the Clarion secondary for a 60-yard touchdown pass. Clark dragged a Clarion defender the final five yards for the touchdown, giving Edinboro a 35-10 lead after three quarters.
• Sisson and Clark combined for a second score early in the fourth quarter. After Hendrick intercepted his second pass of the day and returned it 35 yards to the Clarion 35, Sisson threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Clark with 13:46 left in the game. For Clark, it was his seventh TD reception of the season and sixth in the last three games. Hendrick, meanwhile, came in leading Division II in interceptions and now has seven.
• A 44-yard completion from Sisson to Gregory set up Edinboro's final score. The Fighting Scots reached the Clarion 11, but the drive stalled following a 24-yard loss on a bad shotgun snap. Cushma came in and drilled a 36-yard field goal with 7:15 to play.              
       

• Edinboro had been outscored 41-3 in the first quarter in the first four games, but it was the Fighting Scots who got off to the fast start. Edinboro jumped to a 21-3 lead after one period. The Fighting Scots had gone scoreless the last three games.
• Edinboro finished with 234 yards rushing, which could have been even more if not for a bad snap that led to a 24-yard loss. As it was, the 234 yards was the highest total since a 309-yard effort against Lock Haven in 2010.
• Edinboro converted an incredible 10-of-12 third down plays after coming into the game ranked 14th in the PSAC at 32.2 percent.
• The Fighting Scots totaled a season-high 459 total yards whole holding Clarion to 250 yards, the best defensive performance of the year. The emphasis on the ground game gave Edinboro a large advantage in time of possession (35:49 to 24:11). It was just the second time Edinboro won the time of possession battle. The Boro defense came up with two turnovers and three sacks, along with several key stops. In addition to holding Clarion to just a field goal following back-to-back fumbles on kickoff returns, the Edinboro defense put together a goal line stand in the second quarter. On 4th-and-goal from the one, Kyle Evans was thrown for a one-yard loss by David Ballew III and Derek Dorr.  
• After turning the ball over 15 times in the last three games and 18 times overall, Edinboro turned the ball over three more times. Two came on the first two kickoff returns of the day in the first five minutes of the contest, but the Boro defense limited Clarion to just a field goal despite the Golden Eagles running nine straight plays in Edinboro territory.
• The penalty-filled game featured both teams being whistled for 10 penalties. Edinboro's covered 101 yards and Clarion 95.
  James Clark caught eight passes for 147 yards and 2 TDs. The junior entered the game leading the PSAC and ranked sixth in Division II in receptions per game. He has caught 38 passes over the last four weeks. Clark has three 100-yard receiving games this season and eight in his career.
• Zuril Hendrick entered the game leading Division II in interceptions with five. The junior cornerback boosted that total to seven with two more pickoffs. He returned both 35 yards, the first for a touchdown. It marked his second pick-six of the season.
• Quarterback Jake Sisson has now caught a touchdown pass two years in a row against Clarion. On Saturday, he hauled in a nine-yard touchdown pass from Ta'Nauz Gregory.
• Edinboro has now won seven of the last eight meetings with Clarion. The last two have been by a combined 107-24.
  The Edinboro offensive line did not allow a sack for the second straight game, covering 66 pass attempts.
  Strong safety Brandon Anderson led Edinboro in tackles with 10. A member of the secondary has now led the team in tackles in all five games.
   

• James Clark has moved up to a tie for 14^th in career receptions with 107, becoming the 15^th Fighting Scot with 100-or-more receptions. The junior wide receiver remains 16^th in career receiving yards with 1,498. With eight receptions on Saturday, Clark has now caught 30 passes over the last three weeks.
• Walter Fletcher rushed for a career-high 230 yards on 30 carries, also a career high. The last time an Edinboro runner carried 30 times was Drew Herrell against Lock Haven in 2010. Fletcher had nine carries for 132 yards and 2 TDs in the first quarter alone. The 230 yards is the ninth-highest single-game total. The redshirt sophomore became the 30th Edinboro runner with 1,000 career yards. He now has 1,210 yards to move into 22nd place in career rushing. Clark now has three games of 100-or-more yards rushing in 2017 and five for his career.
• James Clark has moved up to a tie for 12th in career receptions with 115. In addition, he is now 15th in career receiving yards (1,645), and is now tied for fifth with 18 career touchdown receptions.
• Zuril Hendrick now has seven interceptions on the season, tied for fourth in a season. The school record is nine by Raji El-Amin in 2003. Hendrick has now returned two interceptions for a touchdown this year, tying the school record held by Branden Williams and Michael Sims. He has 12 career interceptions, which is tied for seventh at Edinboro.
• Jake Sisson moved into fourth place in career passing yards with 7,131. He completed 13-of-18 passes for 216 yards with 2 TDs and an interception.
  Though just a sophomore, Ta'Nauz Gregory has moved into sixth place in career kickoff return yards with 1,058. The wide receiver had a pair of returns for 60 yards at IUP.
  

UP NEXT

• The Fighting Scots make the short trip up I-79 to face PSAC and local rival Gannon on Saturday, October 6. Gannon owns a 1-4 record after suffering a 24-22 loss at Mercyhurst today.
• Edinboro will have to try and find a way to slow down Gannon running back Marc Jones. The 5'11", 225 lb. junior came into the game leading division II in rushing with 878 yards. He ran for a PSAC record 354 yards vs. Slippery Rock on Sept. 23. He finished with 154 yards at Mercyhurst and has already gone over 1,000 yards with 1,032 yards
• Edinboro was picked to finish fourth in the PSAC West, while Gannon was voted fifth. Edinboro holds a 8-3 lead in the all-time series with the Golden Knights. The Fighting Scots snapped a three-game losing streak to Gannon last year with a 41-17 victory at Sox Harrison Stadium. Edinboro last won at Gannon in 2011.