CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion football team hung tough with one of the nation's best but could not quite overcome California (Pa.) as the seventh-ranked Vulcans beat the Golden Eagles 48-20 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.  Clarion (2-5, 1-3 PSAC West) will be back in action next weekend when they take on IUP on the road.
 
The depleted Golden Eagles played without a number of key players due to injuries over the course of the evening but still managed to stay close with the Vulcans through the first half of the game.  California led by just eight points late in the second quarter before scoring with seven seconds left, and Clarion trailed just 31-20 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Matt Lehman caught three passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns, moving him into a tie with Alvin Slaughter for second place on the career receiving touchdowns list at Clarion.  With 23 receiving scores in his career, he needs just two more to tie and three more to pass Terry McFetridge's career record on 25 set in 1985.
 
Lehman's first score tied the game at 7-7 less than a minute after the Vulcans scored the first touchdown of the game in the first quarter.  After Nick Grissom's rushing touchdown made it 7-0, a combined 30 yards of penalties on the ensuing kickoff gave Clarion the ball on the California 31-yard-line to start the next drive.  Redshirt freshman Jeff Clemens connected with Kevin Genevro for a 22-yard gain and then found Lehman in the back of the end zone to tie the score at 7-7.
 
The second touchdown was a thing of beauty, coming late in the second quarter to cut the lead to one score again.  Clarion trailed 21-6 and was facing a 3rd-and-6 on their own 47 when Delrece Williams busted loose for a 21-yard gain.  On the very next play Clemens lofted a ball to Lehman, who fought through traffic in the back of the end zone and pulled the ball in while still keeping both feet inbounds.
 
The third score came with 2:11 remaining in the third quarter and gave Clarion some life late in the game.  Tyrone Cromwell set up the scoring drive with his first interception of the year, picking off Michael Keir at the Clarion 23-yard-line.  Clemens led a six-play, 77-yard drive that culminated in a three-yard score by freshman Greg Leonard, the first of his career.
 
Cromwell finished with seven tackles and the interception, while Robert Zilhaver had eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and two total tackles for loss.  Layne Skundrich had a game-high 11 tackles while Colton McKay was just behind him with 10 tackles.