Golden Ram Football Club: Game Report - West Chester 41

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Game Report - West Chester 41 - East Stroudsburg 14

Their names don’t appear in the box score, but the stars of West Chester’s 41-14 win at East Stroudsburg was the offensive line. Sure both Jarel Elder and Eerin Young rushed for over 100 yards. But when you consider seven different players averaged 6.7 yards per carry to roll up 386 yards on the ground, and two quarterbacks didn’t incur a sack in 29 pass attempts, that’s all due to the big guys up front.

Jarel Elder darts through a massive hole (Photo R&R Photography)

On his weekly radio show, head coach Bill Zwaan was concerned about a slow start due to a noon start of an away game. That fear was realized when the Warriors took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on six plays in less than two minutes for the 7-0 lead. However, the Golden Rams answered right back with their own 72-yard drive culminating in an Elder 12-yard touchdown run. West Chester converted a fourth-and-four with a Pat Moriarty 8-yard pass to Shannon Mayer who was seeing his first game action in five weeks.

Shannon Mayer makes a first-down catch (Photo R&R Photography)

The game then turned into a punt fest until late in the first half when a few key plays took place. With the Warriors deep in West Chester territory, safety Kevin Malone was flagged and ejected from the game for targeting. With defensive end John Dubyk already in the locker room for a similar event earlier in the game, the defense was a little deflated. But on the next play, East Stroudsburg was called for a chop block which pushed them back to the West Chester 26. With renewed life, the Golden Ram defense stiffened forcing a 39-yard field goal which sailed wide left.

George Shipp puts a stop to this play (Photo R&R Photography)

With two and half minutes remaining, the offense fed off that failed field goal attempt and went 78 yards, culminating with a Moriarty to Tyler Karpinski 8-yard touchdown. However, Brendan Paulison’s PAT attempt clanged off the left upright and West Chester’s lead stood at 13-7.

Eerin Young had 132 all-purpose yards (Photo R&R Photography)

East Stroudsburg had time for one play to go 80 yards before halftime. The overhand lateral appeared to be poised for a subsequent forward pass, but the running back, who happens to be their top player, pulled the ball down and scampered up field. Although he picked up 39 yards, he also appeared to hurt his right ankle and did not return to the field of play in the second half. During halftime, the officials looked at the tape and overturned the first targeting calling thus allowing Dubyk to return to the field.

Steven Denby makes a first-half tackle (Photo R&R Photography)

With Moriarty struggling, in the second half the Warrior defense got a steady diet of Elder, Young, Mike Class, Mark Dukes and Paul Dooley. Topping the 179 yards on the ground in the first half, West Chester ran for 207 yards after intermission. Class and Elder scored touchdowns, but the Warriors converted a 46-yard touchdown pass to draw the score to 27-14. After Young found the end zone to extend West Chester’s lead to 34-14, Nydair Rouse put an exclamation point on the game with a pick-six from 28-yards.

Nydair Rouse had his second pick six of the season
(Photo R&R Photography)

The defense held East Stroudsburg to just 31 yards rushing and only 3 of 11 on third down conversions. Shaquille James, playing one-on-one as usual, led the defense with seven tackles. Redshirt freshman Deionte Wilson, filling in for Malone, and Kevin Duggan each registered five stops. On the Warriors last possession, Sean Steinmetz had a 19-yard sack on a fourth-and-five play.