Team News - Concerned or Confident?

As the Golden Rams enter the NCAA Division II playoffs this Saturday, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned but likewise several reasons to be confident.

Concerned:

• Penalties – West Chester is fifth in the PSAC with 71.5 penalty yards per game. Among the 24 teams in the postseason, only North Alabama, West Georgia, Ouachita Baptist, Delta St, and Concord gift their opponents more yards than the Golden Rams. But the bigger concern is the trend over the last two games. Against East Stroudsburg and Indiana, West Chester was flagged 11 times for 122 yards and eight times for 88 yards respectively. Among those 19 calls, seven were offensive holding, two were offensive pass interference, three were defensive pass interference, four were personal fouls, and one was an unsportsmanlike conduct. That sure looks like a lack of team discipline. As the stakes get higher, the play can get more chippy and Slippery Rock has a tendency to bring out the worst in an opponent.


• Inconsistent Special Teams Play – We saw Jarel Elder return a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown against Millersville and Brandon Monk return a punt 80 yards for a touchdown at Indiana. But we also saw Elder lose a muffed punt against Cheyney and Monk do the same at East Stroudsburg. We’ve seen kicker Rich Bruno go 8 for 8 in PAT’s against Cheyney but 1 for 4 at Indiana. He landed four punts inside the Indiana 20, but his fifth one only went 14 yards. Special teams is called on only about a dozen times a game, but the spotlight is on those plays as points, field position or ball possession are critical in the playoffs.


• Rushing Defense – West Chester is in the middle of the PSAC when it comes to stopping the run, allowing 151 yards per contest. Among playoff teams, only Angelo St surrenders more yards on the ground than West Chester. And any opponent of the Golden Rams that has committed itself to the run this season has been successful. Usually pass oriented Shippensburg was without their starting quarterback and their backup wasn’t very well equipped to throw either. As a result, they only threw five passes in the second half with all of them coming in the first seven minutes of the third quarter. As a consequence, the Raiders ran 57 times for 322 yards for a 5.6 yards/carry average. Run oriented Bloomsburg rushed 47 times for 454 yards and four touchdowns for a gaudy team average of 9.7 yards/carry. And Indiana, with their trio of running backs, picked up 202 yards on 44 carries for a 4.6 yards/carry average. Those types of efforts aren’t going to get it done, especially on Saturday against Slippery Rock, a team that averages 231 yards/game on the ground which is more than Bloomsburg. Most defenses run a 4-3 front except in obvious passing downs when they’ll switch to a nickel or dime package. But West Chester is the exact opposite – they run a 4-2-5 unless it’s an obvious running down at which time they will bring in another linebacker. Slippery Rock runs the ball an average of 50 times a game. The question is will the defense be oriented to that.

Sean McCartney has been steady all season (Photo Bert Garbutt)

Confident:

• McCartney and the Offense – West Chester is ranked seventh in the country in team passing efficiency, with Concord and Harding being the only playoff teams ranked higher. This is primarily due to sixth-year senior Sean McCartney who has completed 60% of his passes and thrown for 2,998 yards and 34 touchdowns this season. Eleven different players have caught passes this season, but the top three are Mike Doty (40 catches, 611 yards, 9 TD’s), tight end Tim Brown (37 catches, 679 yards, 12 TD’s) and speedster Erick Brundidge (33 catches, 691 yards, 8 TD’s). Five more players have at least 15 catches this season, so McCartney has a lot of different targets. To provide balance, running back Brandon Monk has 1,134 yards and 9 TD’s rushing. And Eddie Elliott has proven to be a dual threat (468 yards and 3 TD’s rushing, 287 yards and 1 TD receiving). The offense has a lot of capability and versatility which keeps defenses guessing.


• Playoff Experience – Obviously only four teams make it to the national semi-finals last year and West Chester was one of them. This year’s team returned 14 starters including linebackers Mike Labor and Ronell Williams and the entire secondary of Al-Hajj Shabazz, Blaise Schieler, Brandon Pepper and Drew Formica. Up front, starter Andrew Cohen is back and Barry Lyons played in every game. Derek Schatz and James Colivas started on the offensive line and Antoine Bland also played in every game last season. And not to be overlooked, this is head coach Bill Zwaan’s seventh trip to the Division II playoffs and his teams have advanced to the semi-finals twice. The bottom line is there are a lot of guys on this team that know what playoff football is all about.


• Pass defense – Almost every team in the playoffs has a good pass defense and West Chester is right there, ranked 11th in the country in team passing efficiency defense. The Golden Rams lead the PSAC in allowing the worst completion percentage, fewest yards, and fewest touchdowns. Senior captain Al-Hajj Shabazz leads the way with four interceptions and 11 pass breakups while Drew Formica has two picks and two pass breakups. Putting pressure on the quarterback is Andrew Cohen who leads West Chester with 9.0 sacks this season while fellow defensive end Mike Culbreath has four. Offenses can score quickly through the air and if West Chester can prevent that attack, opponents have a more difficult time in getting down the field. This pass defense coupled with the Golden Ram offense has led to a 22 point average scoring margin which is tops in the conference.

Andrew Cohen in the opponents' backfield (Photo Bert Garbutt)

So are you concerned or confident? Take our reader poll and let us know.