In a pivotal PSAC Eastern Division match-up between two teams looking to advance to the re-emerging Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game, the West Chester University Golden Rams (4-2, 3-0 PSAC East) defeated the previously unbeaten East Stroudsburg University Warriors (5-1, 2-1 PSAC East) 34-24 in come-from-behind fashion Saturday afternoon. “Very nice win considering all the mistakes we made, especially in that first half.,” head coach Bill Zwaan said. “The kids hung tough. That’s the kind of things you have to do if you want to win a championship. You got to win a game against a good team when you’re not playing your best. That’s the way it was today.”
The young players for West Chester stepped up in the face of adversity throughout the game. Playing without sophomore running back D’Andre Webb, who missed the game due to a knee injury, red-shirt freshman Jackson Fagan stepped into the starting role and did not disappoint.
“It’s nice, it’s real nice,” Fagan said. “We just wanted to come in and play our game and we knew if we played our game we would take care of business.”
The first half was a mistake-filled one for West Chester, fumbling away the ball three times, resulting in 17 points for East Stroudsburg.
On West Chester’s opening possession, junior quarterback Joe Wright found wide-receiver Steve Miller for a 28-yard pass play to put the Golden Rams inside Warrior territory. Three plays later, senior center Kennis Jones and Wright appeared to miss-communicate the snap count when Wright called for a motion while Jones snapped the ball over the head of Wright. Warriors junior defensive-end Matthew Faas would pounce on the ball setting East Stroudsburg up with great field position.
On the second play of East Stroudsburg’s opening drive, senior quarterback Tim Roken and senior tailback Joe Partridge would execute a perfect flea-flicker. Roken found a wide-open Doug Ogden along the right sideline for a 42-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring.
After Greg Knauss kicked the ball out-of-bounds on the next kickoff, West Chester wasted little time in putting some points on the board. After a short run by Wright, he found Miller down the field for a 37-yard pass setting West Chester up at the 20 yard-line of East Stroudsburg.
One play later, Wright connected with senior wide-receiver Mike Washington from 20 yards out. This touchdown tied Washington with former East Stroudsburg standout receiver Evan Prall for most touchdown receptions in career in the PSAC. West Chester missed on the point after try when Tyler Downes could not control the snap and threw an incomplete pass.
The Golden Rams defense stepped up to the challenge on East Stroudsburg’s next possession. Roken would complete a pass to Drew Stem, who was hit hard by Downes. Throughout the afternoon, Downes hit anything and everything that was wearing red on the field.
Just before the end of the first quarter, Wright connected with Washington again, this time for a 71-yard catch and run that left West Chester at the five-yard line of East Stroudsburg. Four plays later, Wright rushed the ball in from one-yard out to give West Chester the 13-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Stem returned the ball 44 yards to the West Chester 41 yard-line giving the Warriors good field position. On the first play of the second quarter, Roken hit Sam Shuman for 34 yards on third and 10. East Stroudsburg receivers dropped two passes that would have resulted in a touchdown, so they had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Knauss.
On West Chester’s next possession, they were not able to get anything going. After a 12-yard pass to Washington set the Golden Rams up for a fourth and inches, West Chester decided to go for it. Unfortunately for West Chester, Wright fumbled the snap and could not convert the fourth down try.
After a three-and-out by East Stroudsburg, West Chester looked to take control of the game. Fagan showed off his speed when Wright handed him the ball off a sweep play to the right and he exploded through the line for 63 yards down to the East Stroudsburg 17-yard line. After consecutive penalties by the West Chester offensive line, the third big mistake of the half would occur.
West Chester was setting up for a field goal attempt when the center to holder exchange went bad. Faas for the Warriors recovered the ball and rumbled 75 yards down the field for an East Stroudsburg touchdown. The Warriors took back the lead 17-13.
The West Chester defense would finally get pressure on Roken, as they sacked him two times in the final 30 seconds to push the Warriors outside of field goal range.
“We made mistakes in the first half,” Dan DePalma said. “It wasn’t our best half, but we did what we had to do in the second half.”
In the first half, Fagan led all rushers with 95 yards on nine carries. Wright had 176 yards passing and one touchdown. Washington had three catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. West Chester had four fumbles, two of which were recovered by East Stroudsburg.
East Stroudsburg received the ball to start the second half and continued to put pressure on the defense of West Chester. After Roken hooked up with Shuman for a 35-yard pass completion, Roken went to the end zone trying to find Ed Kiser. Jay Nelson was on the coverage and was called for a pass interference, which set the Warriors up inside the West Chester 20-yard line. One play later, Roken hooked up with Ogden for his second touchdown reception of the game, to increase the East Stroudsburg lead to 24-13.
West Chester was determined to show their hearts. After Fagan rushed for 24 yards, fullback Pat McDermott took the handoff off the left side of the line and scampered into the end zone from 13 yards out to put West Chester within four points, 24-20.
The defense for West Chester did not allow East Stroudsburg to sniff the end zone the rest of the game. On the Warriors next possession, sophomore linebacker Ronnie Koons intercepted a pass tipped by Downes to put the ball back into the hands of the West Chester offense.
“Our defense, once we got that momentum, really stepped it up and made some big plays,” DePalma said. “We really stepped it up after the [touchdown] to open the half.”
The offense stalled, but the special teams made a big play. Alex Walsh punted a high end-over-end punt that hit off Mike Gnall of East Stroudsburg, which was recovered by Abe Brooks of West Chester. Even with the great field position, West Chester could not convert on a fourth down.
On East Stroudsburg’s first play in the fourth quarter, Roken dropped back and eyed down his receiver. DePalma read Roken’s eyes and picked him off and returned the ball 40 yards to give West Chester the lead 27-24. This was DePalma’s first career interception return for touchdown.
“We were in cover two, and we knew they were passing the ball,” DePalma said of his interception. “We made adjustments at halftime to take away and jump that route. I saw [Stem] coming out and I got flat anyway and jumped the route. I made the play and ran for the end zone.”
After a 67-yard punt by Nick Krut of East Stroudsburg, West Chester went to work trying to extend their lead and put a clamp on this victory. Following a series of Fagan runs that resulted in a pair of first downs, Wright hit Washington from 23 yards out to extend the lead to 34-24 and to put Washington alone as the top pass catcher in conference history. The touchdown also makes Washington just the sixth receiver in NCAA Division II history to record 50 touchdown receptions or more in a career.
“[Washington] broke the record to put the game away,” Zwaan said. “He’ll feel good about that.”
This was the first time this season that West Chester’s offense was productive both on the ground and in the air in the same game. The Golden Rams racked up 216 yard
s rushing, 178 yards from Fagan. Wright finished with 259 yards passing and two touchdowns. Washington finished with 126 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
“To be honest with you, there was nothing really I was doing special,” Fagan said. “There were holes everywhere. I had two, three to choose from. I got to give it all to the big boys. I just run mad. I’ve always run like that. I try to run as mad as possible.”
“Jackson kept running hard, running hard, running hard,” Zwaan said. “He did what we had to get out of him.”
The defense for West Chester held East Stroudsburg to 74 yards rushing and 289 yards of total offense. The defense recorded five sacks, two of which came from senior Mike Walter.
“Truthfully, I thought our defense would play them pretty tough,” Zwaan said. “We gave them two touchdowns in the first half offensively. Put them in great field position twice. I knew our defense would play them tough. I think they went above and beyond in that second half.”
Next week, West Chester hosts newcomer to the PSAC East CW Post for a 6 p.m. match up at Farrell Stadium. This game is the first of three consecutive home games for the Golden Rams.
NOTES
Joe Wright was named PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week last week for his performance against Kutztown . Mike Washington eclipsed the 4,000 yard mark for his career … West Chester now owns a 53-20 record against East Stroudsburg, including winning the last six games . West Chester has won 12 consecutive PSAC East games . West Chester held the ball for 38 minutes, compared to East Stroudsburg holding the ball for 22 minutes in the game
LJ Harrell is a third-year student majoring in business. He can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.