Box Score

CLARION – Redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Cirillo had 229 yards total offense and ran and passed for a score, redshirt sophomore tailback Devante Robinson had 113 combined yards and two TD, and the East Stroudsburg University defense produced four fourth-quarter stops in a 23-17 win at Clarion in the 2018 football season finale.

Cirillo was 14-for-24 for 142 yards and ran 14 times for 87 yards, and Robinson had 17 carries for 93 yards and a TD along with five catches for 20 yards and a score, as ESU (2-9) won for the first time since a 41-34 victory vs. Seton Hill on September 8.

Interim head coach Jimmy Terwilliger notched his first career win in his second game after Denny Douds, head coach for 45 seasons, stepped aside following the final home game on October 27 with a PSAC-record 264 career victories.

The defense produced a sack and fumble deep in Clarion territory early in the fourth quarter, held on first-and-goal from the five-yard line in the middle of the period, then got an interception by redshirt senior free safety Billy Inge III at the five, and finally a stop at midfield after Clarion took over on its 35-yard line with 1:10 remaining.

Senior wide receiver Jylil Reeder had four catches for 77 yards, finishing with 54 receptions for 992 yards, 10th-most in school history, and six touchdowns.

ESU scored on three of its first four possessions to take a 16-3 lead, before Clarion (4-7) put together a pair of scoring drives – late in the second quarter, and on the final play of the third quarter – to take a 17-16 lead.

Sophomore defensive end Isaiah Reigel had a sack and forced fumble on a third-down play early in the fourth quarter, setting up a 20-yard TD run by Robinson that put the Warriors back in front, 23-17, for the final points of the game.

Clarion threatened on its next two possessions, but the ESU defense held. Dana Jackson's 81-yard reception gave CU first-and-goal at the five-yard line with 10 minutes left before the Warriors kept Scott Florence out on three straight running plays, and Jeff Clemens threw incomplete on fourth down.

After an ESU punt, Clarion drove to the ESU 23, but a late pass over the middle was intercepted by Inge to protect the Warriors' lead.

CU got one more chance, taking over at its 35 with 1:10 remaining, but only moved to the ESU 49 and redshirt junior defensive end Joseph Odebode sacked Clemens on the final play of the game.

Clemens finished 14-for-25 for 246 yards and two interceptions, the first by junior cornerback Jamal Cooley in the third quarter.

Florence had 18 carries for 111 yards and a touchdown, a 50-yard scamper on the final play of the third quarter for Clarion's only lead of the game. He also had a 48-yard reception to set up a 29-yard field goal by James Metzgar early in the second quarter.

ESU scored two first-quarter touchdowns, with Cirillo opening the scoring with a 34-yard rushing TD just 1:46 into the game to cap a five-play, 64-yard drive.

The Warriors went 12 plays and 64 yards on their third possession, with Robinson scoring on a seven-yard screen pass from Crillo for a 13-0 lead on the final play of the first quarter.

After Metzgar's field goal put Clarion on the board, junior kicker Jordan Walters made a 36-yarder for the Warriors for a 16-3 lead with 7:50 remaining in the first half.

Clarion ran a tackle-eligible play, with senior left tackle Rob Korzon scoring from seven yards out, to close a 10-play, 75-yard march and make the score 16-10 at halftime.

Inge had a 51-yard run on a fake punt near the end of the first half, but Cirillo's third-and-goal pass was intercepted in the end zone.

Terwilliger, the 2005 Harlon Hill Award winner as a record-setting quarterback at ESU and the second Harlon Hill recipient to coach his alma mater, was 3-0 vs. Clarion in his career from 2003-06.

Both Terwilliger (2005) and Clarion fourth-year head coach Chris Weibel (1996) led their respective schools to NCAA Division II semifinal appearances as quarterbacks.

Terwilliger is the ninth head coach in ESU history, after Douds led the program since 1974, finishing seventh in NCAA all-division history in games coached (471) and 16th in wins (264). Only three men coached more games at one school – John Gagliardi at St. John's, Minn. (607), Eddie Robinson at Grambling (588) and Joe Paterno at Penn State (548).

GAME NOTES

* ESU sent off 14 seniors with a victory – TB Jaymar Anderson, S Tyson Calhoun, WR Hassan Evans, OL Michael Fleming, FS Billy Inge III, DB Mark Collins, Jr., LB Larry Mills, OL Mike Nieman, P Sam O'Brien, LB Mike Poulter, DL Marc Ranaudo, WR Jylil Reeder, DL Joseph Ruggiero and OL Shane Trevorah

* Fleming made his 39th career start and can become the first PSAC offensive lineman to earn four all-conference honors since 2007

* Inge had his 5th interception of the season. He finishes his two-year career tied for ESU's record with 9 forced fumbles, and was the DII statistical champion in forced fumbles last year with 0.67 per game (6 in 9 games)

* Anderson, who missed the final three games due to injury, set ESU's career record with 102.2 rushing yards per game (1,942 in 19 games). He was 7th in DII in rushing (135.3 ypg) through seven weeks, and had 100 rushing yards in 10 of his 18 career starts, including four of seven starts this season. He had 239 rushing yards and six TD, tying a PSAC record, in the 41-34 win vs. Seton Hill in the second game of the season.