Clarion, Pa. – The Edinboro football team dropped a difficult 29-28 decision to host Clarion Saturday afternoon in PSAC West competition at Memorial Stadium.
 
The Scots held a 28-9 lead getting the ball back with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter after CJ Waldier forced a fumble and Wilfredo Diaz recovered. Bernard found Jacob Coburn to move the ball to the Clarion 48 on a 16-yard gain. On the next play, Bernard had his pass deflected and Griffin Buzzell intercepted the pass.
 
Clarion cut the lead to 28-16 with a 67-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Guercio to Ray Jackson on the first play after the interception.
 
Edinboro picked up a first down on the next drive but had to punt giving the Golden Eagles the ball back at their own 14 with 12:12 to play. Guercio hit Trevon Tate for 68 yards to move the ball to the Edinboro 18. Two plays later, Guercio scored on an eight-yard rush cutting the lead to 28-23.
 
Clarion grabbed the lead with 4:12 to play on a Guercio 12-yard strike to Nick Maher. The Scots stopped the two-point conversion making the score 29-28. On the final drive, Edinboro moved the ball to the Clarion 40, but on third-and-10 Bernard was intercepted by Christopher Shackleford to secure the win.
 
The game started on a bizarre note, with the Scots being penalized for uniform violation which meant that the Scots were charged a timeout at the beginning of each quarter as well as a 15-yard penalty on the kickoff of each half. 

After punting on the Scots opening drive, Cory Gross Jr. halted the Clarion drive with an interception in the end zone. The Scots went three-and-out, but the defense stepped up again with Gross forcing a Guercio fumble and Jermaine Atkins scooping the ball up and returning it 73 yards for the touchdown with 5:44 left in the first.
 
The Scots extended their lead in the second when Bo Swartz scored from two yards out capping 69-yard drive at the 10:14 mark of the second quarter.
 
Clarion responded on a 10-yard Guercio touchdown pass to Logan Kent with 5:30 to play in the second. The Golden Eagles missed the extra point to make the score 14-6. Edinboro answered right back marching the ball down the field covering 65 yards in 3:33 capped by a four-yard touchdown from Bernard to Jeremiah Neeley with 1:57 play.
 
The Golden Eagles picked up a field goal with 7 seconds left in the first half to trim the halftime deficit to 21-9.
 
Zidane Thomas extended the Scots lead with a five-yard touchdown run with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter pushing the Edinboro advantage to 28-9.
 
Bernard finished the day 26-for-42 for 223 yards and a touchdown. Coburn caught three balls for 59 yards while Teagan Brown hauled in a team-high six passes. Wilfredo Diaz notched 12 tackles, eight solo, to go with .5 a sack and a fumble recovery. Cross tallied four stops a forced fumble and an interception.
 
Guercio threw for 372 yards and three scores while rushing for 88 and a touchdown. Tate was the leading receiver with 173 yards on eight catches. Griffin Buzzell tallied seven tackles and an interception.
 
The Scots are back in action on Saturday when they host Seton Hill at noon inside Sox Harrison Stadium.