Numbers do not tell the full story. On Saturday, the West Chester University Golden Rams (0-2) outgained the No. 24 Edinboro University Fighting Scots (2-0) 398 yards to 204 yards. Unfortunately for West Chester, those numbers didn’t help them win their home opener. Edinboro made the Golden Rams pay for their five turnovers as they made it out of Farrell Stadium with a 16-14 victory on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.”It’s hard for me to really describe how I feel right now,” head coach Bill Zwaan said. “Because I am frustrated and disappointed but I’m really concerned about how many mistakes there were. I think we are young and it does lead to some mental mistakes on the field. But when we drop passes that has nothing to do with youth.”
“We basically shot ourselves in the foot all day,” true freshman running back/wide receiver Rondell White said. “We could have beaten these guys but we didn’t play to our full potential. Defense did their job but the offense kept turning it over and shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Sophomore quarterback Mike Mattei, making his second career start for West Chester, didn’t have the best start to the game as he threw a pass that was intercepted by cornerback James Jackson for Edinboro on the third play of the game. Fortunately for Mattei and the Golden Rams, Cody Harris, younger brother for former Edinboro star quarterback Trevor Harris who is a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, returned the favor as sophomore cornerback Bob Sabol picked off an errant pass and returned it 12 yards.
West Chester made the Fighting Scots pay for the turnover. Junior running back Jackson Fagan started the drive off with a 12-yard run for the Golden Rams first first-down of the afternoon. Mattei found his rhythm as he found redshirt freshman Tim Keyser and White on consecutive plays. Two plays later, senior running back D’Andre Webb showed his speed as he took a handoff and scampered 31 yards down the right sideline for West Chester’s first touchdown of the season.
“After the Delaware game, coach said he was going to start playing younger players,” White said of receiving more playing time. “Once my name is called I am ready to get out on the field and do what I have to do to help this team win.”
“[White] sure is a good player,” Zwaan said. “We’re going to have to get him on the field even more. We’re trying to get him in during some key spots. Rondell did a lot of good things and so did LaRonn Lee.”
The Golden Rams defense continued their strong play as they forced Edinboro into a turnover on downs on their next possession as Harris was not able to gain the first down on the ground. West Chester began their next offensive drive strong as Fagan and sophomore fullback Matt McLaughlin picked up a first down and Mattei hit Keyser for a 17-yard gain to get into Edinboro territory. But on the next play, Mattei threw a pass to an open Sean Beahan, but the ball bounced off of Beahan’s pads and into the hands of Jackson, who recorded his second interception of the game.
The Fighting Scots offense took and the field and executed a 13-play, 49-yard drive in over five minutes to tie the game. On third-and-13, from the West Chester 19-yard line, Harris found wide receiver Gary Nolen up the middle of the field for a touchdown to even the score at seven.
The mistakes continued to amount for the Golden Rams throughout the rest of the first half. On third-and-15 from their own 11-yard line, Mattei tried to make a play on the run but ran into his own offensive lineman and fumbled the ball into the end zone, allowing Edinboro to pick up a safety and a 9-7 lead early in the second quarter.
The West Chester defense put together another strong defensive possession. Senior linebacker Morty Hoey picked up the Golden Rams first sack of the afternoon on Harris forcing a three-and-out. When West Chester got the ball back, they started moving the ball down the field.
On third-and-11 Mattei found senior wide receiver Dan DePalma for a 54-yard catch and run down to the Edinboro five-yard line. But again mistakes doomed the Golden Rams as Mattei couldn’t handle the next snap and the Fighting Scots nose guard Matt Caternolo fell on top of the fumble.
West Chester outgained Edinboro 184-107 yards in the first half. The difference in the first half was the three turnovers by the Golden Rams.
In the fourth quarter, Edinboro put together a quick drive to extend their lead. Harris found wide receiver Josh Brown for 24 yards and two plays later found Nolen for a 27-yard touchdown reception down the middle of the field once again, similar to his touchdown in the first quarter.
On their next drive, West Chester moved down the field once again knowing they needed some points down by two scores. Fagan and Webb picked up a bunch of yards on the ground. Mattei hit Webb for a 21-yard catch and run. Keyser gained another first down for the Golden Rams on a 14-yard pass reception. Two plays later, Mattei was picked off once again by free safety Kelley Ponsoll after the pass bounced off the pads of Beahan.
When the offense came back onto the field Mattei drove the team down the field once again. He hit DePalma for 16 yards and White for 17 yards to get deep into Edinboro territory. Following a seven-yard sack by defensive end James Thomas, Mattei threw his fourth interception of the game as strong safety Dan Skelton came away with the turnover for the Fighting Scots.
Down by two scores, the West Chester offense continued to fight. Mattei found freshman wide receiver LaRonn Lee for seven yards, Webb for eight yards, Beahan for 20 yards and Lee for 29 yards before hooking up with White for a 12-yard touchdown. This marked Mattei and White’s first collegiate touchdowns. Edinboro recovered the ensuing onside kick and came away with the victory.
“It feels good to get the first one,” White said of his touchdown. “But I don’t like losing so once we lost the game the touchdown didn’t matter to me.”
Mattei finished 22-39 for 321 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. Webb led West Chester with 47 yards rushing and a touchdown. White finished with four catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. DePalma finished with a game-high 92 yards. Carl Barnes, John O’Donnell and Hoey finished with a team-high eight tackles.
“Mike didn’t play that bad,” Zwaan said. “I thought he played well. Maybe one bad interception; his first ball was overthrown for an interception and I think that was him being very excited. The other couple interceptions the balls bounced off guy’s hands and into other guy’s hands. And the one at the end, the receiver ran the wrong route. Just way too many mistakes.”
“We didn’t do good enough,” Hoey said. “They scored more points than we did. Defense did alright but we still have to fix a couple things to get better and try to make them score fewer points than we do. One step at a time, we have to get better on defense, get better on offense and get better on special teams.”
Harris completed 12 of 15 passes for 110 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Michael Battles finished with a game-high 63 yards rushing. Nolen led Edinboro with five catches for 56 yards and two touchdowns.
Next week, the Golden Rams travel to Slippery Rock for another cross-divisional matchup at 7 p.m. The game can be heard live and exclusively on 91.7 WCUR, www.wcur.org or www.redzonemedia.com. The PSAC East schedule opens up in two weeks on the road against the East Stroudsburg University Warriors.
LJ Harrell is a graduate student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at LH639694@wcupa.edu.