Exposed
With starting quarterback Paul Dooley not dressed, the game was in sophomore Mike Piperno's hands. Prior to West Chester's final possession of the game with just two minutes left and the final outcome determined, only half of Piperno's 18 passes were caught. And the more unfortunate point is that three of those nine catches were by Shepherd players. His first completion of the game was a perfect 18-yard touchdown strike to tight end Dan Neuhaus midway through the second quarter. And he somehow squeezed a 20-yard completion to Kenny Edelin among five Shepherd defenders. But there was no rhythm and little confidence in the passing game as West Chester yielded a season-high six sacks in the game.
Despite having five takeaways, the Golden Ram defense had its fair share of miscues. A safety blitz against a quarterback that gets rid of the ball very quickly was peculiar, especially deep in West Chester territory. And that play didn't turn out well when it resulted in a 25-yard touchdown pass. Opposing receivers have gotten behind the West Chester secondary several times this year, but the quarterbacks failed to connect on what would be sure touchdowns. That wasn't the case with Shepherd when they went up 14-0 in the first quarter. On another Shepherd pass play, the only thing that prevented a long touchdown catch and run was the receiver fortunately fell down. But no defender was even near him. And on another play, two Golden Ram defenders closed on the Shepherd ball carrier and hit him hard, but neither tackled him, so he bounced off and scooted into the end zone.
After West Chester closed the score to 28-24 with ten minutes remaining in the game, there was a roughing call on Shepherd on the PAT. So West Chester took the point off the board and elected to go for two from the shorter distance. Mathematically, it was the correct call. Without the two-point conversation, a touchdown would still be needed. But consider that in the first quarter, after Phil Poquie returned a kickoff 70 yards to put West Chester in great field position, the Golden Rams had a second and three from the Shepherd five-yard line and ended up settling for a field goal. So were they really going to punch it in for the two-point conversion? Needless to say, it failed. And any momentum was quickly squashed by a 58-yard kickoff return. It only took Shepherd two plays to respond with the coffin-nailing touchdown.
Exhausted
Besides also returning punts, safety Jarey Elder was all over the field. He had a game-high nine tackles with six of them being solo stops. He also forced and recovered a fumble on Shepherd's second play of the second half which led to a West Chester touchdown which narrowed the score to 21-17.
Expected
Excruciating
West Chester Athletic Site - No. 12 West Chester Defeated By Shepherd, 35-23
Shepherd Athletic Site - Shepherd Football Upsets #12 West Chester
The Quad - Golden Rams drop game to Shepherd University
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