Clarion, Pa. - With Millersville trailing by 20 points late in the third quarter, J.J. Paige entered and engineered a comeback that nearly helped the Marauders knock off Clarion on the road Thursday evening. That rally ended in heartbreaking fashion, though, as the Marauders fell, 27-21.
 
Paige entered with just over six minutes left in the third quarter and provided an immediate spark with his arm and legs. On his first drive, he quickly drove the Marauders 75 yards, running for 28 yards and completing three passes. He found rookie Phil Overton from 19 yards out for one of the rookie's two touchdowns catches in the game. With the score 27-14 and 4:21 left on the clock, Paige piloted the Marauder offense 72 yards with 11 yards on the ground and 54 through the air, hitting Sean Quarterman in the back of the end zone with 1:10 remaining.
 
Within six points, Millersville elected to try the onside kick and it worked. Evan Stahl's bouncing kick was nabbed by Sean Dugan, putting the Marauder offense in business at the Clarion 48-yard line with 1:07 to play. But Clarion ended Millersville's charge in one play. Jarred Davis and Matt Koerper sandwiched Paige in his dropback, causing him to lose the ball. Clarion pounced on it and subsequently melted away the clock.
 
Millersville had totaled 50 yards of offense including 5-of-18 passing for 26 yards with six punts, two fumbles and a missed field goal in the 11 drives before Paige entered. Paige led the team to 209 yards and 15 first downs the rest of the way. Paige completed 14-of-23 passes for 141 yards and rushed 10 times for 50 but also had two fourth quarter turnovers.
 
Along with Paige, Overton provided a jolt to the offense. He rushed for 81 yards on 15 totes and caught four passes for 34 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The offense did little to help the defense early. The Marauder defense gave up 20 first-half points despite surrendering 212 yards. Clarion was twice held to field goals when the defense held the home team to 41 yards on 10 plays in tough field position. This came a week after Clarion totaled 407 yards passing and more than 500 yards of offense in its week one win. The Marauders limited Clarion to 238 passing yards and 349 yards of offense. Three of Clarion's first four scoring drives came on short fields following Millersville punts and turnovers.
 
The defensive effort was admirable as the Marauders were shorthanded after losing nose guard Mike Fitzpatrick and inside linebacker Brendan Thompson in the opening game. To make matters worse, the Marauders were without top cornerback Joey Pham and also lost reigning PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week Rob Varner on the first drive of the third quarter. The offense was also without the services of top wide receiver Kevin Wiggins and running back Cimirrow Moat, who had a PSAC-high 26 carries in week one.
 
Rasheed Johnson finished with 19 tackles P.J. Santos led the defensive attack, intercepting a pass for the second week in a row and for the sixth time in the last eight games dating to 2014. He also set up Millersville's first touchdown by drilling Clarion punt returner Cory McNamara and forcing a fumble at the Clarion 16 yard line.

Brandon Lopez, stepping in for the injured Varner, recorded two of Millersville's four sacks. Millersville has totaled 12 sacks in two games.

The Marauders travel to nationally-ranked Slippery Rock on Sept. 19.