Golden Ram Football Club: Game Report - West Chester 55

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Game Report - West Chester 55 - Cheyney 6

It was the usual Cheyney game plan – play a dominating defense, run the ball to consume clock and score points, and minimize mistakes. And the Golden Rams executed that game plan as expected in their 55-6 win on the Wolves’ homecoming.

Josh Ganzelli registers a 12-yard sack (Photo Ron Hockman)

The West Chester defense limited Cheyney to just eight first downs, 111 total yards and one touchdown on a 35-yard pass play with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Mike Furlong’s charges register 14 tackles for loss and sacks were notched by Josh Ganzelli, Diquan Gilbert, George Shipp, Tyler Morrissey and Ben Smith. Yes, the same Ben Smith that was moved to the offensive line this season also played defensive tackle in this game due to so many players being unavailable. Kevin Duggan and Deionte Wilson both recovered fumbles that resulted in West Chester touchdowns and West Chester registered two safeties. Dominating defense – check.

George Shipp and Josh Ganzelli celebrate a safety (Photo Ron Hockman)

Jarel Elder (70 yards, 2 TD’s), Mark Dukes (83 yards, 1 TD), Mike Class (31 yards), Paul Dooley (30 yards, 1 TD), and Nafeese Nasir (16 yards, 1 TD) were part of a running game that amassed 233 yards on 40 carries and five touchdowns. Nasir also had a 21-yard run negated by a holding penalty. In total, West Chester held the ball for 32:11 of game time. Running game – check.

Jarel Elder escapes a pack of Wolves (Photo Ron Hockman)

The Golden Rams were only flagged four times for 53 yards and missed one PAT. Quarterback Paul Dooley underthrew Simon Williams and later overthrew Dukes which both resulted in interceptions, but he connected with Tyler Karpinski for a 45-yard touchdown and a 59-yard bomb and Marcus Sydnor for a 41-yard play. After not making a catch last week against Bloomsburg, Karpinski finished with eight catches for 173 yards. Late in the first half, Dooley rolled well to his right to find Jalik Smith for an 18-yard touchdown. It made Smith’s first collegiate catch memorable. So the game was by no means mistake free, but errors were certainly minimized. Check.

Jalik Smith's first collegiate catch was a touchdown (Photo Ron Hockman)

With the team so depleted with injuries, Jeff Driggins played at defensive line, Trent Thomas played special teams, and Khalim Hadas played some offensive line.

Zack Hockman leads a gang tackle (Photo Ron Hockman)