The West Chester Golden Rams beat the Bloomsburg Huskies Saturday night at Farrell Stadium 35-24, winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division outright. It is West Chester?s first division title since 1999.”That was the number one goal this season,” said head coach Bill Zwaan, “to win the division. It?s my best win ever.” “He?s the best coach I?ve ever had,” said senior wide receiver Cory DeForrest of Zwaan.
Zwaan won the division title in just his second season at West Chester after coming from Widener.
After coming up empty on their first couple of drives, West Chester ignited their offensive power. “Danny Hill did a great job with the secondary. The O-line did a great job giving me all day to throw back there,” said senior quarterback Bob Findora.
Findora recorded his fourth 200-yard game of the year and the 21st of his career. He moves to third place all-time over Al Niemela for the most yards passing in West Chester history. “A championship game ?s gonna be a fight and that?s what this was,” he said. The Huskies started the first half strong with big chunks of yardage taken by Bloomsburg running back Mike Ceroli.
Bloomsburg marched all the way down to the West Chester four yard-line but missed a field goal opportunity on a high snap that was fumbled and ended in a loss of 16 yards.Bloomsburg?s next drive was capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Jamar Brittingham.
West Chester responded on their next drive to tie on a three yard pass from Findora to senior wide receiver Omar Harris.
The Huskies opened the second quarter with a five-yard pass to Steve Burke from Jack Lydic. West Chester made it 28-24 on a Findora pass to Brandon Simmons from the Bloomsbug 3. West Chester didn?t trail for the rest of the game.
On Bloomsburg?s following drive, Jack Lydic was sacked by Chad Weaver for a loss of eight to bring up third and 20 for the Huskies. They couldn?t convert putting the game?s momentum strongly in the Ram?s favor. Red-shirt freshman Mike Minogno made his first start and tied Lee Woodall for third all-time for tackles in a game with 18.
With 4:52 left in the game, Cory DeForest caught a ball deflected off Brandon Simmons?s hand and then off a Bloomsburg defender for a 26-yard touchdown. It was 35-24 and the division belonged to the Rams.
“I told the kids at halftime there was no way Bloomsburg was going to hand us the championship. I knew it was going to be a tough battle,” said Zwaan. The win almost guarantees West Chester a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
West Chester entered Saturday?s game fourth in their region of six.
The Rams move to 6-0 in the league, 8-2 overall. They will host Shippensburg next Saturday for the season finale. Kickoff at Farrell Stadium is at 1p.m.