Golden Ram Football Club: Game Preview

The Golden Rams (1-1) travel to Edinboro to take on the Fighting Scots (2-0) on Saturday. Kickoff for the first game in Sox Harrison Stadium this season is scheduled for noon.

Series History:
West Chester narrowly leads the all time series 5-4 with the last meeting coming in 2010. Although these two teams play infrequently, Edinboro has a habit of spoiling significant events for the Golden Rams. In 2006 on the first game played on Farrell Stadium's new FieldTurf, the Fighting Scots prevailed 28-14. And then in the 2010 home opener, on Michael Horrocks Day, when the statue of the former Golden Ram quarterback and United Airlines pilot was unveiled, Edinboro tipped West Chester 16-14. West Chester has not lost in Edinboro since 1970, having won under head coach Bill Zwaan 32-16 in 2007. Justin Lustig, an Edinboro alumnus, is in his first season as a head coach after serving as an assistant at several schools, most recently at Ball State University.

After finishing 2015 with an 0-11 record, the Fighting Scots are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2011. They opened with a 31-30 victory at St. Josephs's (IN) (the Pumas finished 5-6 last season) and then a 44-38 win at Lock Haven. Edinboro last qualified for the NCAA playoffs in 2009, earning a first-round win over East Stroudsburg before falling 84-63 to West Liberty.

Their most famous recent football alumnus is Trevor Harris who, after spending four seasons with the Toronto Argonauts, is now the starting quarterback of the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League.

Last 10 Meetings:

Year	H/A	W/L	Score	Year	H/A	W/L	Score
				2000	Home	Loss	13-6
1970	Away	Loss	14-6	2001	Away	Win	30-26
1971	Home	Win	35-14	2006	Home	Loss	24-18
1986	Home	Win	37-9	2007	Away	Win	32-16
1987	Away	Win	49-28	2010	Home	Loss	16-14

Last Meeting:

9/11/2010 Edinboro 16 - West Chester 14

Despite outgaining Edinboro by nearly a two-to-one margin, the Fighting Scots took advantage of West Chester mistakes to score a 16-14 win at Farrell Stadium. D'Andre Webb gave the Golden Rams an early 7-0 lead on a 31-yard touchdown run. But a West Chester interception not only thwarted a potential scoring drive, but led directly to Edinboro's first touchdown of the afternoon. Early in the second quarter, Edinboro took the lead on a safety after a sack and fumble that was recovered in the end zone by the Golden Rams. The score would remain 9-7 in favor of Edinboro until early in the fourth quarter when the Fighting Scots sacked West Chester on a fourth and two attempt. Three plays later, Edinboro took a 16-7 lead. Edinboro would then intercept Golden Ram passes at the five and the three. Rondell White would score a touchdown to close the lead to 16-14 with two minutes left, but Edinboro recovered the ensuing onsides kick to end the game. In all, West Chester committed five turnovers to Edinboro's one, seven penalties to Edinboro's one, and allowed three sacks.

Scouting the Opponent:

Edinboro's best player last year was two-time All-PSAC West wide receiver Darren Massey. But Massey has since transferred to Slippery Rock.

Edinboro's defense appears to be a high risk, high reward variety. After two games, they lead the PSAC in sacks with 11, but they are second to last in passing yards allowed with 394 yards/game. Redshirt freshman Victor Hudson (21 tackles, 6.0 sacks for 34 yards), who's listed as a linebacker but lines up at defensive end, is the reigning PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Week, the PSAC leader in sacks and ranks third in the conference in tackles. Josh Kibbie (6 tackles, 2.5 TFL's) is at nose guard. The linebackers include California transfer Mike Shansky (11 tackles, 2.5 TFL), sophomore Trey Hall (11 tackles) and Austin Meitz (10 tackles, 2.5 TFL). In the secondary, sophomore cornerback Zuril Handrick and safety Jake Leber each have an interception while redshirt freshman safety Brandon Anderson has three pass breakups.

Offensively, the running game isn't the focus, but redshirt freshman and Randolph Macon transfer Walter Fletcher (33 carries, 194 yards, 2 TD's, 8 catches, 161 yards, 1 TD) is 7th in the PSAC with almost 100 yards/game on the ground. Junior quarterback Jake Sisson (58 of 95 for 720 yards, 7 TD's, 3 int's) is among the top signal callers in the PSAC and seems fully healthy after missing the final two games last season due to an injury. Besides Fletcher, Sisson's top targets are sophomore James Clark (17 catches, 258 yards, 2 TD's), Robert Morris transfer Alex Caratelli (13 catches, 118 yards, 1 TD) and true freshman Ta'Nauz Gregory (11 catches, 109 yards, 2 TD's).

St. Francis transfer Austin Reese handles all of the kicking duties, averaging 62 yards on kickoffs with two touchbacks, averaging 41 yards on punts with three inside the 20 and 64-yard punts in each of Edinboro's first two games, while converting on all of his place kicks: two field goals and nine PAT's. Thomas and Gregory handle kick and punt returns.

Analysis:

At Lock Haven, Edinboro had touchdown pass plays of 99 yards and 57 yards, but they also allowed passing touchdowns of 87 yards and 46 yards. Certainly Lock Haven isn't the best competition, but the Fighting Scots have shown they have big play capability. Couple that with West Chester's susceptibility to give up the big play, and this could be an area of concern. And who on the Golden Ram offense will step up to make the big play?

The bottom line is this isn't the Edinboro team that went winless in 2015. They have a new coach and after two early wins a renewed confidence. The Golden Rams need to move past the Slippery Rock loss and give the Fighting Scots the necessary attention.

Massey Ratings favors the Golden Rams by 10 while Atomic Football shows a margin of 15.