FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2001

Homecoming Game

CLARION GRIDDERS HOST UNDEFEATED KUTZTOWN SATURDAY

It's ALF (Autumn Leaf Festival) week in Clarion. The culmination of this week will have Clarion hosting Kutztown the annual Homecoming Day football game at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2pm. The famous ALF Parade will begin at Noon.

Clarion enters the game with a 1-3 overall record and an 0-1 PSAC-West mark. Kutztown meanwhile was rated #17 in the latest D-2 Football.com poll (Monday) after charging to a 3-0 start. Clarion fans can hear the game on WCCR-FM, 92.7, or on the internet at www.redzonemedia.com with Mike Kalinowski and Dave Katis providing the play call.

The Golden Eagles, led by eighth year head coach Malen Luke, opened the season with a 33-27 loss at East Stroudsburg, a 44-0 loss at Div. I-AA Youngstown State, returned home for a 27-14 win over Tiffin, and opened the PSAC-West with a tough 34-29 loss at Shippensburg. Luke has a Clarion record of 38-42 and a PSAC-West mark of 20-23. His 14-year collegiate record is 75-63.

Kutztown, under fourth year head coach Dave Keeny, enters the game with a 3-0 record, which is the best start in Kutztown football history. The Golden Bears opened 2001 with at 40-12 win at Elizabeth City, then returned home for a 28-6 victory over Lock Haven and a 20-18 win last Saturday against Millersville. Keeny has a Kutztown record of 19-5 and is coming off a strong 7-4 season in 2000.

Clarion's offense is getting 314.3 yards per game (10th in PSAC), including an impressive 216.5 rushing yards (5th in PSAC) and 97.8 passing yards (13th in PSAC) per game.

Junior qb Adam Almashy has completed 23 of 70 passes for 329 yards and 3 td's. He has also rushed the pigskin 57 times for 61 yards. In his career he has completed 240 of 539 passes for 3,267 yards and 31 td's. He has also rushed for 440 yards and 8 td's on 315 carries.

The running game is paced by Demetric Gardner at tailback, and Robert Walker and Glenn Lovelace at halfbacks. Gardner ranks 9th in the PSAC with an 82.2 yard per game average. He has rushed for 331 yards and 2 td's on 59 tries. Gardner now has 1,309 career rushing yards (12th at Clarion) on 258 carries (5.1 p/c) with 9 td's.

Walker is 11th in the PSAC in rushing averaging 77.8 yards per game. He has 34 rushes for 311 yards and 9 td's, including a 9.1 yards per rush average. He now has 109 career carries for 945 yards (8.7 p/c) and 10 td's. Lovelace has 135 yards and 1 td on 25 carries. He has replaced Justin Sickeri who was injured in the Youngstown State game, played sparingly versus Tiffin, and sat out the Ship game.

The receiving corps has wide receivers Mike McCullum (11 catches, 178 yards, 2 td's) and Ed Rivers (4 catches, 79 yards, 1 td), along with tight end Andy Pore (3 grabs, 44 yards, 1 td).

Clarion's defense is giving up 399.8 yards per game (10th in PSAC) including 222.5 rushing yards (8th in PSAC) and 177.3 passing yards (11th in PSAC) per game.

Up front the Eagles are led by tackle Doug Diegelman (22 stops, 6 tfl's, 3 sacks), end George O'Brien (25 hits, 6 tfl's, 1 sack) and noseguard Tim Connolly (13 stops, 2 tfl's).

The perimeters will be guarded by Chris Janson (39 jolts, 3 tfl's) and Kevin Platz (20 tackles, 5 tfl's, 2 fumble recoveries), while the inside is anchored by Dennis Yu (17 stops, 2 tfl's, 2 fumbles caused, 1 int), Tom Pore (20 hits), Scott McGrady (11 tackles) and Tom Gaydosz (12 stops, 3 tfl's).

The secondary has Myron Hargon (6 hits, 1 int), Kevin McKeither (7 tackles, 1 int) and Emil Johnson (25 jolts) at the corners, along with Korey Eppinette (30 stops, 2 beak-ups), Jabari Weatherspoon (18 tackles, 2 tfl's) and Steve Devennie (10 jolts) at the safety spots.

Kutztown's offense has been powerful and explosive. The Golden Bears are averaging a whopping 436 yards of offense (2nd in the PSAC) per game, including 254.3 rushing yards (3rd in PSAC) and 165 passing yards (6th in PSAC) per game. The Bears are getting 29.3 points per game (5th in PSAC).

Directing the offense will be qb Josh Warren. He completed 11 of 22 passes for133 yards and 1 td against Millersville. He missed the opening two games of 2001 for disciplinary reasons. Rob Flowers started those games and has connected on 33 of 52 passes for 412 yards and 4 td's.

Kutztown's explosive running back Yorel Prosser leads the way. He ranks #2 in the PSAC with 167 yards per game and will be in the top 10 in the nation when the NCAA stats come out later this week. Prosser has gained 501 yards and 5 td's on 68 attempts (7.4 p/c), plus caught 6 passes for 53 yards. He ranks fifth on the Kutztown all-time rushing list with 2,230 yards and 2nd on the overall td list with 25. Prosser was the PSAC-East "Player of the Week" last Saturday when he rushed for 244 yards and 2 td's on 29 carries against Millersville.

Also getting rushing yards will be Harry Mims (133 yards, 1 td, 26 carries).

The receiving corps will be led by Trevor Smith. Smith has a PSAC leading 22 catches for 252 yards and 3 td's. Phi Washington, who also was forced to sit outthe first two games, caught 2 passes for 40 yards and 1 td against Millersville. Tight end Dog Reynolds has 6 grabs for 43 yards.

The Kutztown defense is yielding only 244.7 yards per game (4th in PSAC) including a meager 79.7 rushing yards (2nd in PSAC) and 165 passing yards (9th in PSAC) per game.

Up front the Bears are led by tackles Dave Maloney (7 hits, 1 tfl) and Jasen Engelhardt (9 hits, 1 tfl), along with ends Corey Benson (12 stops, 2 sacks, 3 tfl's) and Jon Search (13 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tfl's).

The linebacking corps is headed by Alex Daecher (9 hits, 1 tfl) in the middle and Tyric Armstead (13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 int) and Tyheim Gaston (10 jolts) on the outside.

The secondary has Ewin Jenkins (9 hits) and Andre Davis (19 tackles, 1 tfl) at the corners, with Adam Green (10 hits) at free safety and Pete Mendez (11 stops, 1 int) at strong safety. Mendez was the East "Defensive Player of the Week" with 4 tackles, a blocked PAT, a blocked field goal and a break up in the endzone on the game's final play.

CLARION NOTES: Kutztown was also ranked 18th in the AFCA poll last week... It was not available on Monday, or was the NCAA Regional Poll which will be out late Monday... Look for Kutztown in the #6 - #8 range in the East... Clarion's rush offense against Kutztown's rushing defense could tell the tale of this game... Clarion has rushed for 262 yards vs Tiffin, 209 against East Stroudsburg and 228 against Ship... Kutztown is only yielding 79.7 per game... Kutztown's Prosser missed setting a new Kutztown single game rushing record by 3 yards... Kutztown's rushing offense is getting 254.3 per game... And with Clarion giving up 222.5 yards per game, that will also be a pivotal stat to watch... Prosser missed last year's game at Kutztown which the Bears won 17-14... Tab Musser led Clarion with 80 yards... Almashy completed 8 of 24 for 120 yards and 1 td ... Mims rushed for 40 yards... Clarion defeated Kutztown at Memorial Stadium 31-21 two years ago... Prosser rushed for 72 yards and 2 td's... Warren was 18 of 29 for 161 yards... Almashy completed 12 of 29 for 113 yards and 4 td's... The game was decided with 1:32 left when Clarion's Roosevelt Benjamin intercepted a Warren pass and returned it 60 yards for a td... Clarion defeated Kutztown 23-16 at Kutztown in 1998... Gardner had 51 yards on 10 carries... Prosser 72 yards on 12 attempts... In the series history Clarion leads 10-2, including a 15-14 win over the Bears in the 1980 PSAC title game at Memorial Stadium... Next week the Golden Eagles return to PSAC-West action hosting California at 1pm ... The Eagles travel to Edinboro in two weeks.