Offensively, West Chester really had only two plays in the entire game. The first was Brandon Monk's 75-yard return of the game's opening kickoff which gave the Golden Rams the ball at the Lenoir-Rhyne 10. Two plays later, tight end Tim Brown made a sliding catch of a Sean McCartney pass for the game's opening touchdown. The second big play for West Chester was when Rondell White broke a slew of tackles and turned a little dump off pass into a 60-yard touchdown to put West Chester up 14-12. Unfortunately, the offense generated only 39 yards for the remainder of the game.
Meanwhile, Lenoir-Rhyne's running game was gashing away at the West Chester defense. Last week, Shepherd, although a run oriented offense, changed their game plan to try to take advantage of the Golden Ram secondary and failed. But Lenoir-Rhyne would have none of that as their only pass attempt of the game was negated due to a horrible roughing the quarterback penalty call on Anthony McCloskey. While yielding 451 yards of offense wasn't West Chester's worst defensive performance this season, it was the fact that they surrendered 6.4 yards per rush. Even on West Chester's good defensive plays, the host Bears gained two or three yards. This issue became most glaring when after failing on their first two PAT kick attempts, on their final four touchdowns, the Bears successfully converted two-point conversions three times.
Late in the second quarter with Lenoir-Rhyne holding a 20-14 lead, the drenching rain was falling harder and the field conditions were deteriorating even further. One got the impression that few, if any, points would be scored in the second half. West Chester had third down with the ball on their own 27 with an urgency to score. But McCartney's pass to Tim Keyser was picked off at midfield. Not only did this thwart West Chester's last best scoring chance, when Lenoir-Rhyne scored a touchdown six plays later, the game was all but over. The Golden Rams did not cross midfield for the remainder of the contest.
White finished with 67 yards rushing and 75 yards receiving. Besides Brown's nine-yard touchdown, he also hauled in a 21-yard first quarter catch, but wasn't thrown to again. The defense was led by Chris DiValentino who had a game-high 12 tackles and Eric Edwers with 11 stops. Linebacker Mike Labor registered seven solo tackles in the game.
West Chester Athletic Site - No. 13 Lenoir-Rhyne Too Much For No. 15 West Chester, 42-14
Daily Local News - West Chester's national title hopes dashed in rainy North Carolina
Hickory Record - Lenoir-Rhyne rolls, will meet NW Missouri State for national title
Hickory Record - Slagle steps up when call came his way
Hickory Record - Yes, you should be a believer
Hickory Record - Bears ’Bama-bound
Charlotte Observer - Lenoir-Rhyne advances to NCAA Division II football championship game after 42-14 win over West Chester
Lenoir-Rhyne Athletic Site - L-R Football Sets Sight On The National Championship After Downing West Chester, 42-14
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