Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion quarterback Zach Switzer attempts to steal the ball from a Shepherd University football player, during Saturday’s game at Al Jacks Stadium. Courtesy photo

CLARION, Pa. — Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion had lost all five football games it had ever played against Shepherd University. That all ended last Saturday on a sun-saturated afternoon inside Al Jacks Stadium, when the Golden Eagles amassed 603 yards of total offense and constantly scored on lengthy drives in stopping the winless Rams, 51-38. Clarion is off to a 4-0 start to its season for the first time since 10 years ago in 2015.

Shepherd actually held a 17-3 lead at one point, but the consistent offensive fireworks provided by quarterback Anthony Guercio (a transfer from Fairmont) and company eventually produced scoring drives of 75, 80, 75, 75 and 62 yards as the Golden Eagles snapped a 24-24 halftime tie in an offense-laden second half of the PSAC crossover game.

Guercio passed for some 413 yards and his always-evident ability to avoid any pass rush and throw on the run made him mostly invulnerable to any Ram pressure. He threw 35 times and had 26 completions.

Khalon Simmons was able to notch four scores of his own.

The Golden Eagles had 33 first downs among their 76 offensive plays.

Shepherd finished with 530 yards of total offense that included touchdown runs of 96 and 77 yards by Jordan Barnett and a 27-for-40 passing afternoon from Thomas Hardyway. Caysen Lanza has nine receptions for 99 yards and Grant Swinehart caught eight passes out of the backfield for another 74 yards. Barnett ground out 212 yards in only 15 rushing attempts.

Both offenses dominated throughout the football-perfect, 72-degree day. Shepherd’s first possession only ended after it scored to complete a 75-yard drive with a 12-yard Hardyway to Kordell Batten touchdown pass. The Ram lead was extended to 17-3, before Golden Eagle heroics finally finished the opening half with a scoring run with just four seconds to play, making it 24-24 at the intermission.

Shepherd scored first in the seamlessly offensive second half. But of course, Clarion came right back with points of its own. It was then that the game’s only turnover — a lost Ram fumble — paved the way for Clarion’s first lead.

Once it led, 38-31, Clarion moved ahead, 48-31, and the third quarter ended with that same score.

As the scant crowd of a little over 1,000 smilingly filed out of Jacks Stadium, it tried to remember the never-ending offensive display it had witnessed, Over a thousand yards of combined offense, extended scoring drives, so many individuals trying for their three hours of excellence and then Clarion beating the Rams for the first time and getting off to a 4-0 beginning to a season for such a long time.

Shepherd’s 0-3 beginning to its season marks the first time since 2004 that has happened.

The Rams are at home for the first time this season on Saturday, when they will see unbeaten Kutztown at noon.