The Griffins hosted Clarion in PSAC action on a cloudy and cool Saturday afternoon at Offutt Field in Greensburg. Clarion led 23-10 entering the third quarter but the Griffins outscored the Golden Eagles by a 17-0 margin in the fourth quarter for a come from behind 27-23 win. SHU improves to 4-2 on the season and 1-2 in PSAC West play while Clarion drops to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in PSAC West action.
Seton Hill won the toss and deferred their choice til the second half. The Griffins were able to force a punt on the first Clarion drive and took over at their own 11 yard line. Two twelve yard runs from
Khalil Howard opened up the drive and moved the Griffins out of the shadows of their own endzone. A Clarion personal foul moved the Griffins closer and
Christian Strong connected with
Logan Carns for a 19 yard touchdown pass to give the Griffins a 7-0 lead. The touchdown capped an 11 play, 89 yard drive. Clarion answered right back with a 7 play, 56 yard drive to tie the score at seven with 5:09 to play in the first half. Both teams punted on their next possession as the game moved into the second quarter.
SHU drove all the way to the Clarion ten yard line on their first drive of the second quarter but missed a 27 yard field goal. On the very next play,
Keyshawn Petit-Frere forced a fumble and
Jahquan Thompson recovered it at the Clarion 21 yard line. Strong hit
Norman Darden for 12 yards on second down to move inside the ten yard line but the Griffins could not punch it in and settled for a 22 yard field goal from
Santiago Henao to take a 10-7 lead with 7:12 to play in the half. Clarion took advantage of a bad snap and took over on the Griffins 44 yard line. It only took the Golden Eagles 2 plays to punch it in and take a 13-10 lead after a missed PAT. Clarion took that 13-10 lead into the halftime break.
After an 11 yard run on first down by Strong on the Griffins first drive of the second half, SHU failed to convert a fourth down and gave Clarion the ball at their own 44. The Eagles were able to take advantage of the field position and kicked a 39 yard field goal to extend the lead to 16-10 with 9:49 to play in the quarter. The Griffins were forced to punt on their next drive and Clarion missed a 39 yard field goal on theirs. Clarion then picked the Griffins off on their next drive and returned it back to the SHU 5 yard line. The Golden Eagles punched it in on their first play and led 23-10 with 33 seconds to play in the quarter.
The Griffins drive continued over into the fourth quarter as they marched 91 yard in 15 plays for a touchdown. Howard capped off the drive with a 2 yard touchdown plunge to trim the lead to 23-17 with 9:45 to play in the quarter. Clarion was forced to punt on their next drive and a rolling snap caused a 0 yard punt, giving the Griffins the ball at the Clarion 23. SHU took advantage of the short field and Howard scored again from two yards out to put the Griffins ahead 24-23 and complete the rally. The next Clarion possession ended with a botched snap on a punt with SHU taking over at the Clarion 17 yard line. SHU settled for a 20 yard field goal by Henao to take a 27-23 lead with 3:01 to play. On the first play of the Clarion drive the Golden Eagles got a gift pass interference call to move the ball to the Clarion 37. After another first down, the Griffin defense made a play on fourth down when
Nicholas Boynton stopped the Clarion QB short of the first down to turn the ball over on downs with 1:23 to play. The Griffins were then able to go into the best formation in football, the victory formation.
Seton Hill had 33 first downs to 17 for Clarion. SHU outgained the Golden Eagles 507-291 including 314-176 in the air.
Khalil Howard led the Griffins on the ground with 140 yards on 27 carries with 2 touchdowns.
Christian Strong finished the game 21-35 for 198 yards and 1 touchdown.
Cory Cavanaugh finished 9-12 for 116 yards.
Logan Carns had 6 receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown.
Norman Darden also had 6 receptions for 55 yards.
Nicholas Boynton led SHU with 8 total tackles including one for a loss.
Seton Hill will hit the road next weekend when they travel to Erie to take on Gannon in a noon kickoff.
