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Saturday, August 18, 2018

Team News - 2018 First Scrimmage Report

The first scrimmage of the 2018 season showed a lot of signs of the first scrimmage of the 2018 season - coaches making sure players are in the right place at the right time. Some notable observations from game action:
  • With quarterback Paul Dooley out for the first five games of the season, A.J. Long ran the first team offense and redshirt freshman Zach Gilbert led the second team. Dooley participated with the third team and as did redshirt freshman Mike Piperno. Keeping Long healthy through the first half of the season will be a top priority for the Golden Rams.
  • Long did a much better job of picking his spots to run and as a result, his ground game was very effective. Piperno threw some ill-advised passes and Nydair Rouse intercepted two of them.
  • Even though punting drills take place at the very start of the scrimmage, Brendan Paulison showed why he's an All-American. His punt from the back of the end zone had plenty of hang time and made it out to midfield. But then going the other way, his punt from midfield, which also had plenty of hang time, rolled down to a stop near the sideline inside the one.
  • A couple of transitions seem to be going very well. First Bloomsburg transfer wide receiver Ethan Price was an active part of the offense in his first appearance as a Golden Ram. Secondly, former quarterback Mike Alley made a couple of catches from his new tight end position.
  • In the "no surprise" category, when defensive end Diquan Gilbert wasn't pressuring the quarterback, he was batting down passes at the line of scrimmage. And running back Mark Dukes took a handoff and exploded for a long touchdown run.
  • Notable players who did not dress were running back Mike Class and defensive back Jarey Elder.
  • Former Golden Ram pass rusher Sam Scott appears to have an active role with the team.

West Chester's final scrimmage of the summer is tentatively scheduled for Friday, August 24 at 6:30 pm.





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