The Golden Ram offense got off to a slow start. A three-and-out on their opening possession was extended when punter Brendan Paulison toppled after his 49-yard punt. The five-yard running-into-the-kicker penalty against Clarion extended West Chester's drive. Even though a couple of Jarel Elder carries moved the chains again, a sack took West Chester out of field goal range and the drive ended in a punt.
West Chester’s next possession was almost equally as frustrating. A 13-yard Elder run was negated by a holding call, but on the next play, quarterback Andrew Derr connected with Jordan Banks on a 31-yard touchdown pass.
Jordan Banks with one of his two TD catches (Photo R&R Photography)The Golden Rams’ inability to finish appeared again on their third possession. The drive started with some trickery. Last week against Millersville, Shannon Mayer took the jet sweep and completed a 44-yard pass to Jim Hurley. Against Clarion, Mayer instead threw an overhand lateral back across the field to Derr who completed a 33-yard strike to Tyler Karpinski. Later, Mayer hauled in a short pass and worked his way into the end zone, but the score was negated by an illegal formation penalty. Two plays later, Paulison’s 34-yard field goal attempt slipped wide right. So three possessions, all deep inside Clarion territory, yielded just seven points.
Jarey Elder looked to spark the team with an interception late in the first quarter and West Chester then went on a 14-play drive that consumed over six minutes off the clock. But once again, the Golden Rams failed to get the ball into the end zone and West Chester had to settle for a Paulison 21-yard field goal to go up 10-0.
After Clarion’s third punt of the game, the West Chester offense took to the air. Tight end Simon Williams had a 27-yard catch, followed by completions to Eerin Young (11 yards), Karpinski (14 yards) and Mayer (6 yards) to get to the 12-yard line. Derr eventually broke the plane of the goal line for the 17-0 lead, and another five and a half minutes off the clock.
The offensive line opened huge holes for Jarel Elder (Photo R&R Photography)Clarion open the second half with a field goal, but West Chester answered when Derr hit Banks for another touchdown on what looked to be the same play as their first connection. With the score 24-3, Clarion was compelled to gamble but the West Chester defense snuffed out a fourth down attempt. The Golden Ram offense turned to sophomore running back Mike Class. Despite starting on their own 26-yard line, thanks to penalties, Class picked up 83 yards on the drive and finished it with a three-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 31-3.
If there was a point of nervousness in the game, it came when Clarion scored quickly on a 78-yard pass play to cut the lead to 31-10 and West Chester went three-and-out with ten minutes left to play. Senior safety Pete Galiano then picked off a pass, but again West Chester went three-and-out. Clarion frantically moved the ball down the field, but then it was Galiano’s classmate, Kevin Malone, who had an interception that he returned 85 yards for the 37-10 final score.
George Shipp hauls down the ball carrier (Photo R&R Photography)Class finished with 118 yards on the ground and Elder had 83, giving him 1,013 for the season. Derr finished just 10 of 17 for 188 yards and two scores, as this game was about pounding the ball on the ground. Despite surrendering three sacks, West Chester’s offensive line had its way with Clarion as the Golden Rams ran the ball 58 times for 237 yards. Besides the four interceptions, the Golden Ram defense was led once again by defensive end Ch'aim Smith who had six total tackles, a quarterback hurry and West Chester’s only sack of the game. Paulison banged two of his six kickoffs for touchbacks and landed two of his three punts inside the Clarion 20.
West Chester finished the season on a six-game win streak and a final record of 8-3.
WCU seniors leave the field for the final time (Photo R&R Photography)West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester Cruises in Regular Season Finale, 37-10
Clarion Athletic Site - Football Ends Season With Loss to West Chester
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