Clarion Rallies Past Shepherd, Remains Unbeaten

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Shane Lux | September 20, 2025

Clarion – For the first time since 2015, the Clarion Golden Eagles are 4-0.

On a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, there was no shortage of offense, with the two schools combining for 89 points.

Clarion rattled off 24 unanswered points in the third quarter to turn a 31-24 deficit into a 48-31 lead en route to an eventual 51-38 victory.

Watch the interview with head coach Raymond Monica.

Following Jordan Barnett’s 77-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, the Rams had taken their lead back, 31-24.

The Golden Eagles quickly tied the game when Davon Jones caught a 9-yard touchdown from Anthony Guercio following a 4-play 75-yard drive.

Then the turning point of the game happened when Rams quarterback Michael Hardyway was strip-sacked for an 8-yard loss by Matthew McGregor, with McGregor falling on the loose ball at the Shepherd 20-yard line.

Two plays later, Clarion took the lead for good when Khalon Simmons scored his third touchdown of the afternoon with a 5-yard run.

Late in the third quarter, Simmons capped a 5-play 62-yard drive with a 3-yard run, and Andrew Kurtas booted his second of three field goals, giving the Golden Eagles a 48-31 lead after three quarters.

Shepherd found the end zone one final time when Marcus Nicholson caught a 9-yard touchdown from Hardyway with 5:54 to play.

Andrew Kurtas then booted his final field goal of the game from 30 yards out with 1:52 to play.

It was the Rams, however, that controlled the game early as they took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in ten plays with Kordell Batten hauling in a 12-yard touchdown from Hardyway to open the scoring.

Clarion had pulled to within 7-3 after the opening 15 minutes thanks to Andrew Kurtas’s  28-yard field goal.

The Golden Eagles then fell into a 17-3 hole, thanks to Barnett’s 96-yard touchdown run and Maxwell Barba’s 38-yard field goal.

Jordan Barnett, thanks to the two long runs, rushed for a game-high 212 yards on 15 carries.

Clarion then came storming back with a pair of touchdowns less than three minutes apart, led by quarterback Anthony Guercio, who engineered 75 and 80-yard touchdown drives capped off by Khalon Simmons’ 15-yard run and JaTawn Williams’ 46-yard reception.

Then, in a wild final 90 seconds, Shepherd retook the lead when Jaden Ashby caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Hardyway with 57 seconds remaining in the first half.

That was more than enough time for the Golden Eagles’ offense to pull even at intermission as they drove 75 in eight plays with Simmons scoring on a 2-yard run off an option pitch from Guerico with four seconds to play in the half.

Anthony Guerico had a monster game for Clarion as he completed 26 of 35 passes for 413 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 60 yards on 13 carries.

Watch the interview with Guerico.

Receivers Holt Egan and Davon Jones each went over the century mark, with Egan catching six balls for 121 yards, and Jones with 103 yards on eight grabs.

Clarion will shoot for 5-0 next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Edinboro.

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