FOOTBALL
ERIE — Redshirt sophomore free safety Derek Morgan (Clearfield) recorded a career-high nine tackles for the Slippery Rock (2-1) defense that held Gannon (2-1) to 308 yards, but the Rock came out on the short end of a 38-27 final at Gannon University Field Saturday afternoon.
Morgan made five solo stops, one for a loss of four yards, in sharing game-high tackle honors with two other Rock defenders in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Association West Division opener that was seen by 856 rain-drenched fans.
Morgan’s previous high for stops was eight against Indiana University of Pennsylvania last year.
He has made two starts and is fifth on the team with 15 tackles and also has broken up one pass.
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WILLIAMSPORT — Junior kicker Zach Fannin (Clearfield) booted a 27-yard field goal in his first appearance for Lycoming (2-1) to cap the Warriors’ scoring early in the fourth quarter of their 52-14 Middle Atlantic Conference win over visiting Misericordia (0-3) at David Person Field.
A crowd of 2,107 saw the Warriors pile up a 42-7 halftime lead en rout to a 2-0 MAC start.
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LOCK HAVEN — Graduate student Jesse Hoover (Curwensville) caught a team-high three passes for 16 yards while sophomore running back Beau Swales (Clearfield) gained 13 yards on three carries and seven yards on one pass reception as Lock Haven (2-1) squeezed past Cheyney 12-10 in its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division debut that drew 1,013 fans into Hubert Jack Stadium Saturday evening.
The Bald Eagles, who previously competed in the PSAC-West Division, prevailed on a third quarter safety after Alex Boumerhi (Philipsburg) kicked a 46-yard field goal, the longest for Lock Haven in more than a decade, to knot the score.
Hoover, a starting wideout, leads Lock Haven receivers with 16 receptions for 168 yards and one touchdown.
Swales has two catches for 12 yards and shows an 18.5-yard average for six kickoff returns.
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HUNTINGDON — Freshman wide receiver Jordan Russell (Curwensville) recovered a fumble for the Juniata (3-0) kickoff unit as the Eagles delighted most of the 820 fans at Goodman Field by knocking off Centennial Conference nemesis Gettysburg (1-2) 38-16 Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles, 2-0 in the conference, have beaten all three teams by at least 20 points in their best start since the late 1950s.
Russell assisted on two tackles the previous week.
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CLARION — Sophomore long snapper Eric White (Clearfield) made the first hit on one of Clarion’s three punts in addition to snapping for two early field goals by freshman Phil Esposito (Brockway) that gave the Golden Eagles a 6-0 lead after one quarter on their way to a big 20-13 victory over Mercyhurst at Memorial Stadium Saturday evening.
Only 523 fans sat in the rain to watch the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division opener for both teams and see the Golden Eagles (3-0) continue their best start since 1996.
White has been involved in two stops.
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MILLERSVILLE — Redshirt freshman quarterback Curtis Frye (Clearfield) was stopped for a two-yard loss and recovered his own fumble on the final play of Millersville’s 48-3 loss to undefeated West Chester in front of 1,135 fans at Biemesderfer Stadium Saturday night.
The visiting Rams, ranked No. 20 in NCAA Division II, just missed their season average for points in handing the winless Marauders their third setback in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division opener.
Frye has logged five rushing attempts for minus-17 yards in his first three appearances. He connected on six of nine passes for 95 yards against Mercyhurst.
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Graduate student center Nick Redden (Clearfield) and the Duquesne (1-2) offense rolled up 410 yards against the Youngstown State (3-1) defense, but the Dukes dented the red zone only two times and suffered a 59-17 loss to the nationally-ranked Penguins Saturday afternoon.
The first meeting between the Dukes and Penguins, who were No. 25 in last week’s Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll, attracted 16,958 fans to Stambaugh Stadium for the non-conference game.
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LORETTO — Junior linebacker Andrew Redden (Clearfield) saw his first action of the season for St. Francis (1-2) in a 38-7 non-conference win over visiting Lincoln (1-2) in front of 1,226 fans who braved the rain at DeGol Field Saturday afternoon.
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BEAVER FALLS — Freshman linebacker Brad Coudriet (Curwensville) got into the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener for Thiel (0-3) in a 49-28 loss to host Geneva (3-0) with a crowd of 3,987 looking on at Reeves Field Saturday night.
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GOLF
BARNESVILLE — Sophomore John Gaylor (Clearfield) carded an 85 over the Mountain Valley Golf Course to help Penn State-DuBois finish runner-up to Penn College in the Penn State Schuylkill Invitational Thursday.
The Lions were 12 strokes back with a 340 to improve their overall record to 19-6 through four tournaments.