Game Preview - Mercyhurst

West Chester (0-1) opens conference play with a long roadtrip to the northwest corner of the state to face the Mercyhurst Lakers (1-0). Kickoff at Saxon Stadium in Erie is set for noon on Saturday. Mercyhurst is coming off an 18-3 win over Alderson Broaddus last Saturday evening. Meanwhile, West Chester is coming off a 41-17 loss at Bentley.

In July, Mercyhurst head coach Marty Schaetzle announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. In his 18 seasons at Mercyhurst, the Lakers are 93-105 with a PSAC championship and an NCAA tournament berth in 2010. Also of note, Mercyhurst played two games this past spring, a 38-14 loss to Shepherd and a 28-21 loss to Gannon.

Series History:

Since joining the PSAC, West Chester has only faced Mercyhurst three times, with the Golden Rams winning at home in 2009 and 2014 and the Lakers prevailing in Erie in 2015.

Last Meeting:

09/12/2015 Mercyhurst 37 - West Chester 35

On a windy, rainy day in Erie, the Golden Rams took the lead midway through the first quarter, but the lead never felt comfortable, and those feelings were ultimately justified. West Chester scored touchdowns on five of their first seven possessions to take a 35-31 lead into the locker room at half time, but failed to score again, despite having a first-and-goal from the three in the third period. Fortunately, Mercyhurst's offense was also floundering - losing a fumble at the West Chester 12 and failing to convert a fourth down. Then, midway through the fourth quarter, West Chester's Ted Patton intercepted a pass in the end zone, thwarting yet another Mercyhurst scoring threat and giving the Golden Rams the ball with just over six minutes left. Six minutes to preserve a 35-31 lead. But three-and-a-half minutes later, West Chester had lost 14 yards due to a personal foul and a sack. So facing a fourth-and-36 from their own 6, West Chester punted. For 9 yards.

It only took Mercyhurst four plays to score a touchdown, but the conversion failed and the Lakers led 37-35 with just 52 seconds on the clock. So a Golden Ram field goal would win the game. Starting from their own 33, quarterback Pat Moriarty completed a 16-yard pass to Tyler Karpinski, a 22-yard pass to Adam Dempsey and another 16-yarder to Karpinski to get to the Laker 18. West Chester took their final timeout with two seconds left. While neither option of attempting to gain the final 18 yards or kick the field goal was particularly appealing given the weather conditions, the decision was made to attempt the field goal. The kick started wide and hooked wider and West Chester would start the season 0-2 for the first time since 2011.

Scouting the Lakers:

Mercyhurst used their two games in the spring essentially as scrimmages, and decided on junior Michael Lowery at quarterback over senior Joe Carter. Lowery was productive last week (24 of 36 for 274 yards and 1 TD), often connecting with 5'10" receiver Rylan Davison (7 catches for 96 yards) and All-PSAC West first team tight end Jason Armstrong (5 catches for 55 yards). At 6'5", receiver Cameron Barmore (4 catches for 44 yards) can pose a matchup problem. Freshman running back Ayron Rodriguez (13 carries, 58 yards) got most of the carries last week, and fullback Dustin Shoaf (14 carries for 42 yards, 1 catch for 13 yards) is one of three Lakers that had both a carry and a catch on Saturday.

All-conference defensive end Bradley Burrows (39 tackles, 7.5 sacks for 40 yards, 3 forced fumbles in 2019) had a monster game in their season opener, with ten tackles and four solo sacks for 23 yards, including a safety, to garner PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Week. The other defensive end Ayron Thompson Jr. (36 tackles, 11.0 tackles for loss for 53 yards in 2019) was also an all-conference performer.

Kicker Brian Alsobrooks converted on field goal attempts from 22, 37 and 19 yards in the win last week.

Analysis:

Mercyhurst held Alderson Broaddus to just six first downs and 86 total yards last week, but that may have more to do with A-B's inept offense than Mercyhurst's defense. In A-B's four games this past spring, the Battlers lost by an average score of 49-6. However, West Chester's offense didn't appear very effective at Bentley, so we'll see. And the West Chester defense, which struggled to get off the field at Bentley, is facing a Laker offense that held the ball for over 43 minutes and converted two of three fourth down attempts last week. Saturday will be an opportunity for the Golden Rams to show that last Friday was nothing more than an anomaly. Otherwise it could be a sign of a long season.

Massey Ratings projects a three-point win for Mercyhurst.

Game Coverage:

Live Stats   Audio   Video

PSAC Site - PSAC Football Notes, Week 2

Mercyhurst Athletic Site - Football Set for PSAC Crossover Matchup with West Chester