Golden Ram Football Club: Game Report - West Chester 58

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Game Report - West Chester 58 - Cheyney 0

The 1,044 fans in Farrell Stadium spent most of the game watching the scoreboard. Not for scores of out-of-town games of interest. But for the clock to show triple zeros so they could escape the windy, frigid rain. And even though the game only lasted 2:45, it felt much longer for spectators and the Cheyney team as West Chester completely dominated the game 58-0.

For the first time this season, West Chester deferred after winning the toss, smartly electing to take the wind in the first quarter. Cheyney’s first four possessions resulted in two three-and-outs and two forced fumbles by defensive end Mike Culbreath. West Chester’s first four drives all resulted in touchdowns, with all four drives starting in Cheyney territory. Running back Brandon Monk ran for two scores and Sean McCartney threw touchdown passes to Mike Doty and Erick Brundidge, the latter of which had more margin from defending Wolves than the CDC recommends for someone infected with Ebola. McCartney’s afternoon ended after he connected again with Doty midway through the second quarter.

Andrew Derr connected with tight end Tim Brown for an 11-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. The remainder of the offense was comprised primarily of carries by redshirt freshmen Jarel Elder (16 carries, 107 yards, 1 touchdown) and Anthony Brown (13 carries, 77 yards), although fullback Camille Max snuck into the end zone for his first ever touchdown as a Golden Ram.

But the real key was the defense. Along with his two forced fumbles, Culbreath tallied seven tackles, six of which were solo and five of which were for a loss. He also recovered a fumble. Defensive back Cory Scott continued his solid play with three tackles including a sack. True freshman Sean Steinmetz, redshirt freshman John Dubyk and sophomore Grant Garbutt each notched a tackle for loss. Overall the defense limited Cheyney to three first downs, nine rushing yards, 38 passing yards and 47 total yards for the game.

Rich Bruno had a good game as he was perfect on his eight PAT attempts out of the hold of Doty and Ted Patton, forced a fair catch inside the 20 on his only punt of the game and drove four of his ten kickoffs for touchbacks. The return game had a couple of struggles. After Cheyney’s intentional grounding penalty for a safety, Patton muffed Cheyney’s free kick prior to retrieving it and returning it for a positive 19 yards. And Elder appeared too causal when he muffed a third quarter punt giving Cheyney the ball in West Chester territory for their only time in the entire game.

While it’s odd to see captains Al-Hajj Shabazz, Mike Labor and Ronell Williams have one assisted tackle among the three of them, Cheyney only ran 42 offensive plays and it was a game where the backups received significant playing time.

Although Cheyney's winless record puts a significant drain on the Golden Rams' schedule strength, which is a key component of the regional rankings, West Chester's other eight opponents went 5-3 yesterday lessening that sting. Winston-Salem St, which trailed West Chester in last week's regional ranking, defeated Shaw (3-6) and their previous opponents went 3-5. California's forfeit is not recognized as a game by the NCAA, so at 7-1, the Vulcans remain with one less win than West Chester. Expect the Golden Rams to rise to #3 when the next NCAA regional rankings are released.