Offensive Woes Continue for Clarion University Football in Loss to Shippensburg

| September 17, 2017


CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Clarion University football team’s offensive struggles continued Saturday afternoon in a 31-0 loss to Bloomsburg.

(Photo: Greg Leonard had over 150 yards receiving for the Golden Eagles Saturday. Photo courtesy of Clarion University Athletics. Photo by Bri Nellis)

It was the second time in three games this season that the Golden Eagles (0-3) have been shutout.

The symptoms were pretty much the same on offense as they were in the first two games – third-down struggles, a two-dimensional quarterback again being one-dimensional, dropped passes and an inability to run the football.

Clarion was 3 of 16 on third down in the game leaving the Golden Eagles, who are averaging 6.7 points per game on the year, 4 of 42 on third-down conversions of the season.

Meanwhile, quarterback Asiantii Woulard, the much-hyped Division I transfer who was rated as the top-dual threat quarterback in the country coming out of high school, was once-again a one-dimensional player.

And the one dimension wasn’t a strong one, as Woulard was 12 of 31 passing for 167 yards and two interceptions and was replaced by backup Jeff Clement, who was 4 of 9 for 73 yards.

On the year, Woulard is completing 32.1 percent of his passes (27 of 84) for 395 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Even more puzzling is his lack of running. The 6-foot-4 athlete, who was in competition for the starting QB job at South Florida last season, has run the ball six times for negative 20 yards through three games and had two carries for negative one yard vs. Shippensburg. One of the carries vs. the Raiders was a sack.

Not all of Woulard’s passing issues are directly his fault, as the Golden Eagle receivers continue to drop numerous passes thrown his way.

But it’s not like Clarion can stop passing.

Against Shippensburg, the Golden Eagles managed 19 total yards rushing led by 11 yards apiece from Kyle Evans and Mylique McGriff, and Clarion is averaging 59.3 yards per game this year and a stunningly low 2.1 yards per attempt.

With the offense going nowhere, the defense has had a lot of pressure on it, and that was the case again Saturday when Clarion yielded 17 unanswered second-half points after holding Shippensburg to seven in the opening 30 minutes – the final Raiders touchdown came on an interception return for a touchdown of 57 yards by Chavez Cheatham early in the fourth quarter.

But while the Golden Eagles didn’t yield a ton of points, they did give up a lot of yards – 513 to be exact – and had trouble getting off the field on third down – the Raiders were 11 of 19 on third-down conversions.

The inability to get off the field was part of the reason Shippensburg had three scoring drives of at least nine plays including a 10-play, 93-yard drive to start the scoring and another 13-play, 89-yard drive that ended in a field goal that made it 24-0.

In between, Clarion also allowed a nine-play, 80-yard scoring drive and gave up an 83-yard drive that took only three plays at the start of the second half thanks to an 80-yard Ryan Zapoticky to Winston Eubanks touchdown pass.

It was the second scoring toss of the day for Zapoticky, who also started the scoring by hitting Abel Hoff on a 34-yard scoring strike. Zapoticky was 21 of 38 for 340 yards and the two touchdowns.

The Raiders also scored on a 5-yard Colin McDermott run and a 22-yard Billy Deane field goal.

Eubanks and Hoff were both over 100 yards receiving with Eubanks catching three passes for 123 yards and Hoff seven for 110 yards.

Greg Leonard gave Clarion a 100-yard receiver of its own with seven grabs for 157 yards.

The Golden Eagles will see if they can turn things around when they start PSAC West play at 1 p.m. Saturday vs. Mercyhurst, which is 1-2 on the year following a 25-20 win over East Stroudsburg Saturday, at home.


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