This past Saturday West Chester celebrated homecoming 2006 at Farrell Stadium. The Cheyney Wolves, who had not scored against West Chester since 2001, served as a sacrificial lamb for an excited group of players and a raucous crowd. Coach Zwaan realized the impact this game has not only on his football team, but on the University as well. “It is important to come out on homecoming and have a strong performance because this is the only time that a lot of people will get to see this West Chester football team, and I take a lot of pride in what I do personally, and hope that the players do as well, and homecoming represents a chance to show them what we’re all about” said Zwaan. West Chester’s first drive of the game set the tone for the remainder of the afternoon. The Golden Rams took over possession at its own 25 yard line, and Bill Zwaan J.R. engineered a methodical drive down the field. On the very first play of the game Zwaan dropped back and had plenty of time in the pocket and spotted Mike Washington along the far sidelines, where Washington made the catch and sprinted 30 yards down the field to the Cheyney 40. Osagie Osunde took his first carry of the game 15 yards off left tackle for a 15 yard gain, this type of run would become routine for the junior on this day. Two plays later Cody Clark hauled in an eight yard pass from Zwaan to the Cheyney 11. On the very next play Osunde ran up the middle for an 11 yard score and West Chester had a 6-0 lead with 12:53 remaining in the first quarter.
Cheyney proceeded to go three and out on their ensuing possession which set up one of the most bizarre offensive series’ in recent memory for the Golden Rams. West Chester took over possession following Cheyney’s punt at its own 30 yard line. On the first play of the drive West Chester was called for a false start penalty. On the second play, Cheyney was called for encroachment. On first and 15, Zwaan J.R. scrambled out of the pocket and threw the ball away, but was called for an illegal forward pass after he crossed the line of scrimmage. All told, there were three penalties called on this drive alone, totaling 15 yards against the Rams and five against the Wolves. West Chester would punt, and The Wolves couldn’t establish any sort of offense on their ensuing drive.
Osunde began to assert himself as the dominant player of the game early in the drive. On West Chester’s second play of the possession Osunde broke through a hole off left tackle for a gain of 13 yards on the play. Three plays later the junior running back dashed through the middle of the line for a shifty eight yard touchdown run giving the Golden Rams a 13-0 lead with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter. Through the first quarter Osunde had tallied 77 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Those numbers would be simply a footnote to what was to come later in this game.
Osunde would later match his career high when he added two more touchdowns in the first half. All told, the junior running back would account for 205 yards on 19 carries and four touchdowns. “He had a great game and we did a very good job blocking for him.” Zwaan said of Osunde’s performance.
Defensively the Golden Rams continued to assert itself on this afternoon. While both the club’s seven quarter shut out streak and four year shut out streak against Cheyney came to a crashing halt when Derrick Murry found Dominique Curry for a five yard touchdown pass with 1:50 left in the second quarter, all was not lost for the Golden Rams defense. “We didn’t get our shut out but we still punished them the way they deserved to be punished” said Lateef Ferguson. For the second week in a row, West Chester benefited from five turnovers, four interceptions and one fumble recovery.
When all was said and done the Golden Rams notched a 53-12 homecoming victory improving their record to three and one in the process. The club appears to have the confidence that is necessary heading into next week’s showdown with first place Bloomsburg.