(Photo: Connor Simmons)

Held at Memorial Stadium, Clarion dropped to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the PSAC-West, while Cal raised its record to 7-1 overall and leading the PSAC-West with a 6-1 mark.

Cal jumped on the board and led 7-0 on its first series when Harris completed a 25-yard td pass to Tom Greene, capping a 58-yard, 6-play drive at 13:09 of the first quarter. Cal got the ball on an Eagle turnover on the first play from scrimmage, when Connor Simmons hit Bobby Thomas with a 28-yard pass to the Cal 44, but Corey Ford caused and recovered a fumble that helped setup the Vulcans first score.

8170 Clarion bounced back to take an 8-7 lead later in the first when Clarion drove 81-yards in only 7 plays. The big play was a 62-yard pass from Simmons to Jaron Moorer to the Cal 9. Simmons ran for the Eagles td two plays later, then hit Mike Deitrick (photo left) for the two point conversion and an 8-7 lead at 5:20 of the first.

Cal drove 63-yards to take the lead for good when Terrell Roberson scored on a 1-yard run with 3:22 left in the first quarter.

Clarion turned the ball over late in the first quarter when a Simmons pass was intercepted by Aaron Terry at the Cal 45. Cal turned that into a td when Harris tossed a 22-yard td pass to Garry Brown at 13:34 of the second and a 21-8 lead.

Cal made it 28-8 later in the second when Harris hit Kowan Scott on a 37-yard td pass at 10:47 – but the Golden Eagles fought back.

Clarion drove 80-yards in 15 plays to draw back into the game. Simmons completed 6 of 9 aerials on the drive for 71 yards, setting up a 1-yard td run for Simmons at 2:15 of the second quarter and the Eagles cut the deficit to 28-14 at halftime.

8158 Clarion All-America defensive end Julian Howsare (photo right) made a fantastic interception on Cal’s next possession, intercepting a Harris pass at the Cal 30, and returned it down the left sideline for 24 yards to the Cal 6.

Clarion capitalized on the very next play when Connor Simmons ran the pigskin into the endone bringing Clarion to within 28-20 at 13:01 of the third quarter. Clarion’s two-point conversion attempt failed.

Cal drove 82-yards and scored on a Cody Nuzzo 20-yard field goal and Cal led 31-20 at 9:15 of the third.

Again Clarion’s offense responded with an 84-yard scoring drive in only 4 plays. On third and ten at the Clarion 27, Simmons dropped back and heaved a long pass down the left sideline to Matt Lehman (left below) who beat the Cal secondary, took the ball in stride and went 73 yards for the Clarion score. The two-point conversion failed and Clarion trailed 31-26 t 8:26 of the third.

8165 Cal went ahead 38-26 on its next possession when Roberson scored on a 3-yard td run with 6:00 left in the third, and Cal made it 41-26 when Nuzzo hit a 20-yard field goal with 13 minutes left in the game.

Clarion was not finished. The Golden Eagles drove 86-yards in 16 plays to pull within 41-32. Connor Simmons converted a huge 4th and 11 at the Clarion 39 to keep the drive alive. Flushed out of the pocket, he was hit at the Clarion 44, but managed to stay on his feet, and part of a huge pile of players, the pile pushed forward to the Cal 45 and a 15-yard run for a first down. Bobby Thomas later scored on a 4-yard run – so Clarion trailed 41-32 with 7:00 left.

Cal put the game away with a safety with 44-seconds left in the game.

The game had 885 yards of total offense, with Clarion getting 445 and Cal 440.

Clarion passed for 376 yards and rushed for 69. Simmons completed 25 of 51 passes for 376 yards and 1 td. The 376 passing yards were the seventh most in a single game, and the 51 attempts the fourth highest in school history. He also rushed for 21 yards and 3 td’s.

Matt Lehman caught 3 passes for 101 yards and 1 td, while Mike Deitrick led the Eagles with a personal high of 9 catches for 6 yards and Bobby Thomas caught 5 passes for 57 yards and rushed for 32 yards and 1 score.

Clarion’s defense was led by Julian Howsare who had 5 tackes, 3 qb sacks, 1 interception, 1 fumble caused, and pass break-up and a qb hurry. Rocco Yauger had 12 tackles and 1 tfl, Chris Liberto 10 hits and 1 tfl and Cory McNamara 9 jolts, 1 tfl and 1 break-up.

Cal ran for 156 yards and passed for 284 yards on the day. QB James Harris completed 18 of 33 passes for 284 yards and 3 td’s. Garry Brown had 4 catches for 73 yards and 1 td, and Kowan Scot 3 grabs for 69 yards and 1 td.

Terrell Roberson led the running game with 19 rushes for 79 yards and 2 td’s.

Clarion hits the road next Saturday t visit Indiana (IUP) for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.