Mattei was 16-for-20 for 358 yards and six touchdowns for a gaudy 329 QB rating. His primary target was Erick Brundidge who had five catches for 156 spectacular yards and three touchdowns. White added 131 yards on the ground on 24 carries.
The Golden Rams wasted little time, taking the opening kickoff and on their fourth play from scrimmage, Mattei found Tim Keyser on a short pass on the right side who cut it all the way back across the field for a 41-yard touchdown catch. Later in the quarter, Brundidge made a tremendous leaping catch of a 43-yard Mattei pass for a touchdown. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Brandon Monk had a flashy 26-yard punt return which led to another Mattei to an uncovered Brundidge touchdown pass to stretch the lead to 21-0.
Erick Brundidge races into the end zone for one of his three touchdowns (Photo Geoff Ruth)Millersville had their longest drive of the game, marching 72 yards in nine plays to close the score to 21-7. But Mattei hit Brundidge in stride who made a brilliant one-handed catch and run for a 69 yard touchdown reception. After Mattei's fifth touchdown pass, this one to Jim Kelly, the first half almost ended in disaster when Monk fumbled a punt on the West Chester 23 with eight seconds left. But Shawn Krautzel intercepted a pass in the end zone as time expired.
The Marauders opened the second half by returning the kickoff 97 yards to close the score to 35-14, but that's as close as they would get. Kelly wanted to get a piece of Mattei's action, took a handoff and threw a wobbly 24-yard duck of a touchdown pass to Sean Beahan. Mattei ended his night with an 11-yard strike to a completely uncovered Kelly.
The Golden Ram defense, much overlooked in this offensive onslaught, got into the scoring act as well. Dante Devine poked the ball away from the Millersville punter and Mike Lonergan scooped it up for a 22-yard touchdown.
West Chester played the fourth quarter without their starters and without scoring, but Monk, true freshman Eddie Elliott and reserve quarterback Drew Loughery ran for 55, 31 and 25 yards respectively. Loughery did not attempt a pass.
But back to that West Chester defense. Millersville's offense was on the field 13 times - five of those possessions were three-and-outs and two ended in turnovers. The Marauders had 233 yards of total offense, and 69 of those came on their final drive of the game. Linebackers Mike Culbreath (9 total tackles), Ronell Williams (7 total tackles, 1 pass breakup) and Mike Labor (6 total tackles, 1 pass breakup) led the way for the Rams.
Matt Carroll, Ronell Williams and Eric Edwers overwhelm a Millersville ball carrier (Photo Geoff Ruth)Notes - Mattei tied the record of six touchdown passes in a game. He shares the mark with Ed Brown (vs New Haven in 1990), Matt Levin (vs Cheyney in 1995), Mike Mitros (at East Stroudsburg in 1998) and Joe Wright (at Kutztown in 2008)...LaRonn Lee did not dress due to a hamstring injury...Keyser left the game in the first quarter with a right knee injury...Kelly caught his first collegiate touchdown pass one drive before throwing his first collegiate touchdown pass...Beahan had five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown; last year he had five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown against East Stroudsburg.
West Chester Athletic Site - Mattei Throws For 6 TDs As West Chester Downs Millersville, 56-14
Millersville Athletic Site - Mattei's Six TD Tosses Leads West Chester Past Marauders
Daily Local News - Mattei leads leads record-breaking passing attack as WCU cruises
