Bloomsburg Claws its Way Past Clarion with 12 Second-Half Points

| September 10, 2017


CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Clarion University football team went toe-to-toe with favored Bloomsburg Saturday afternoon, but the Huskies scored 12 unanswered second-half points to spoil the Golden Eagles home opener with a 29-20 win at Memorial Stadium.

(Photo courtesy of Clarion University Athletics)

Clarion (0-2) rallied from a 14-3 first-quarter deficit to take a 20-17 halftime lead thanks to a pair of Asianttii Woulard touchdown passes – one to Clay Byerly and another to Greg Leonard, the latter coming from 44 yards out with just 1:52 to play in the half.

But Bloomsburg used a pair of Ryan Abbott field goals – one from 33 and one from 35 – in the third quarter to regain the lead, 23-20.

Clarion had a golden opportunity to either tie the game or retake the lead early in the fourth quarter when it started a drive from midfield and moved to the Bloomsburg 33-yard line. But a holding penalty helped kill the drive and forced a punt.

The Golden Eagles never challenged after that, and the Huskies put the game away with a 12-play, 50-yard drive that took 5:50 off the clock and ended with a 1-yard Chris Palubinsky touchdown run with only 48 seconds to play.

Woulard, the double transfer from USC and then South Florida, improved upon his season-opening 2-for-22 performance against Tennessee-Martin by going 13 of 31 for 175 yards and the two scores. But the quarterback who was ranked as one of the top dual-threat QBs in the nation again didn’t carry the ball running just three times for negative 15 yards with one of those carries being a sack.

The Golden Eagles were outgained 315 to 241 on the day including 141 to 66 on the ground. Kyle Evans did most of the ground damage rushing for 59 yards on 17 carries, while Leonard caught three balls for 61 yards and the score. James Metzgar made a pair of field goal attempts, the first two of his career.

Clarion again struggled on third down going 1-for-13 in the game. The Golden Eagles are now 1-for-26 on the season in third-down conversions.

Qmac Quiteh ran for 118 yards for Bloomsburg with no carry longer than 15 yards. Palubinsky was 17 of 32 passing for 174 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Overall, Bloomsburg held the ball for 37:07 and ran 78 plays to Clarion’s 55 partly because the Huskies were 10 of 18 on third down conversions. The game was also marred by penalties with the teams combining to commit 28 for 297 including 15 for 145 by Bloomsburg and 13 for 152 by Clarion with each team picking up seven first downs via penalties.

Defensively for Clarion, Layne Skundrich had the game-high in tackles for the second straight game, totaling 14 stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. Colton McKay and Quinlin Lambert both finished with 10 tackles, while Lambert and Tyrone Archie combined for a sack of Bloomsburg’s Chris Palubinsky.

Metzgar started the game with a 33-yard field goal, but Bloomsburg responded with two touchdowns before the end of the first quarter, taking a 14-3 lead after Palubinsky found Aaron Allison in the end zone with 1:58 left in the period.

Metzgar booted another through the uprights early in the second quarter to make it 14-6, and the Golden Eagle offense began to find its rhythm.

“Rhythm” was the key word for Clarion’s first touchdown drive, as Woulard found one with his receivers in moving the team 71 yards down the field for the score. He completed four straight passes on the drive, starting with a 20-yard gain by Seneca Williams and a 12-yarder to Byerly to enter deep into Husky territory. He closed out the drive with a perfect pass to Byerly on a slant, notching his first touchdown pass as a Golden Eagle to cut the lead to 14-13.

His second score of the game came as Clarion took advantage of a Bloomsburg gaffe late in the second half with the Huskies leading 17-13.

Bloomsburg forced a Clarion punt, but Chris Monaco got too much of Metzgar coming in for the block and was called for roughing the kicker.

Woulard wasted zero time, firing a strike to Leonard for a 44-yard touchdown that gave Clarion a 20-17 edge at the break.

Clarion returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Shippensburg.


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