Sports
Clarion Football Falls to IUP, 38-7
Sophomore quarterback Ben Fiscus rushes for 112 yards in Clarion’s 38-7 loss to IUP. (Lunga Bechtel / The Clarion Call)
The Clarion Golden Eagles football team marched into Saturday’s game, Oct. 15, against rival Indiana University of Pennsylvania in high spirits after a 54-6
trumping of Lock Haven the previous week.
Sophomore quarterback Ben Fiscus rushed for a school-record 204 yards against Lock Haven. Junior tailback John Fuhrer added 111 of his own rushing yards to the
victory.
“For us, Ben is a Cam Newton and Tim Tebow-type of player,” said Head Coach Jay Foster.
“He’s not your typical sit-back-in-the-pocket kind of passer. His game is running.”
Saturday’s game remained in a frustrating deadlock throughout most of the first quarter until IUP’s Pat Smith tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to put his team in
the lead.
The IUP defense continued to hold off the Clarion offense at a stalwart distance.
Fiscus still managed to slither through the cracks for 112 rushing yards, on top of 72 passing yards.
However, Fiscus’ mighty offensive attempts were no match for the cannon arm of Pat Smith, who totaled up 158 passing yards and a touchdown against a Clarion
defense that looked bright and promising against Lock Haven.
“We’ve proven all year that we can compete with folks,” said Coach Foster.
“It was a game where we did a lot of good things and a couple of dumb things that ruined us.”
The Clarion offense couldn’t push past the IUP defense until the last seconds of the game.
Tarik Leftenant pounded through the opposing defensive line for a one-yard rushing touchdown with merely 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The football squad showed signs of a weakening spirit Saturday.
The team’s morale has taken a recent beating with the loss of numerous key offensive and defensive stars due to injury.
“We lost Matt Ward in the second game, a senior captain,” Coach Foster said of the team’s injury woes.
“We’ve lost so many leaders, because your leaders need to be players, and your players need to be leaders. We need to be healthy, and everything will fall into
place for us. That’s when we’ll be successful.”
Only four games remain on Clarion’s schedule until the end of the season.
With a current record of 1-6 overall, 1-3 in-conference, the team’s playoff outlook is grim at best.
However, the team will, as always, continue to put forth a top-notch effort in their remaining games against time-tenured, Erie-area rivals like Edinboro and
Mercyhurst.
With quarterback Fiscus at the helm of an option-powered offense, the Golden Eagles will fight out the remainder of the season with a bright eye toward the
future.
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