Murphy’s Law states that whatever can go wrong will go wrong. The Golden Rams embodied that statement in Saturday’s 34-29 hold your breath victory over Shippensburg.West Chester entered the locker room at halftime with a comfortable 31-7 lead over the Shippensburg Red Raiders. Then, seemingly without warning, the floodgates opened.
Many red-clad Shippensburg fans hit the exits and wandered disappointed into the night, but the ones that stuck it out, nearly witnessed a monumental comeback from their hometown eleven.
The Golden Rams who looked efficient in the first half, scoring five times on drives lasting anywhere from one to seven plays, fell victim to ineffectiveness on offense, and lackadaisical defensive play in the second half.
While leading 31-15 with 7:41 remaining in the third quarter, head coach Bill Zwaan elected to go for it on fourth and three. Shippensburg made the stop and had both momentum and the clock on its side in an effort to upset the #19 Golden Rams.
Shippensburg went on to score 16 unanswered points from there, and a total of 23 to open the second half. The Golden Rams failed to establish any semblance of an offense to counteract the Red Raiders assault, coming up empty on their first three possessions.
The Golden Rams had the opportunity to put this game on ice when the offense took over possession at their own 18-yard line and 5:41 remaining in regulation, leading by 5. On first down, running back Osagie Osunde ran up the middle, but was stopped for a one yard loss. On second down, Zwaan Jr. threw incomplete to Ryan Paulson along the sidelines, and on third and eleven floated a pass over the head of Mike Washington.
West Chester managed three plays, minus one yard and just one-minute time of possession, before turning the ball over to the Red Raiders.
“We’ve never been a run the clock out kind of team” head coach Zwaan said. “I didn’t want to sit back and do nothing, I thought we had to score another touchdown and that’s what we tried to do”
Due in part to Zwaan’s perplexing play calling on the previous drive, the game hung in the balance until the last possible second, as Shippensburg orchestrated a nine play, fifty eight yard drive to the West Chester one yard line, before coming up empty when Tyler Downes batted away a sure touchdown pass from the outstretched hands of Red Raider tight end Mike Harris.
“Its one of those things, you can’t really figure it out,” linebacker Mike Dell said of his club’s second half collapse. “But I guess we didn’t come out to play.”
Shippensburg quarterback Gabe Maiocco carved up the Golden Ram defense while completing 19 of 31 passes for 247 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Maicco’s favorite target was Harris, who hauled in seven passes for 114 yards and a touchdown.
For West Chester, Quarterback Bill Zwaan Jr. struggled with his accuracy all afternoon, and was unable to find several open receivers on key third downs down the stretch. The senior completed just 36 percent of his passes, going 13 for 35 for 175 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I really didn’t have a good game,” Zwaan Jr. said. “When you play Shippensburg you know that its going to be a tough game, at least offensively.”
The offensive standout for the Golden Rams was once again Osunde. Osunde rushed for two first half touchdowns and 144 yards on 20 carries against Shippensburg. The fifth year senior tailback notched an astounding 6.8 yards per carry Saturday as well. With his next touchdown, Osunde will enter the school record book as the school’s all time leading scorerl.
For the second straight week, Mike Washington reached pay dirt for the Golden Rams, as the red shirt junior made five catches for 33 yards and the club’s final touchdown of the game, a thirteen yard catch in the corner of the endzone.
Defensively, reigning PSAC Defensive Player of The Year, senior linebacker Lateef Ferguson led all defenders with 16 tackles and seemed to be around the ball all day long. Not far behind, was his fellow linebacker Dell. The standout sophomore had nine tackles and also broke up a pass.
Despite their numerous mistakes and uninspired play in the second half, West Chester improves to 3-1 and begins PSAC East play with a homecoming showdown against archrival Bloomsburg at Farrell Stadium this Saturday at 2 p.m. The game can be heard live and exclusively on 91.7 FM WCUR, and worldwide on the web at www.redzonemedia.com
Matt Lombardo is a third-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at ML606516@wcupa.edu.