The Golden Rams (5-3, 3-2) went toe-to-toe with the #11 team in the nation, but they eventually ran out of gas and fell to the Shepherd Rams (7-1, 4-1) by a score of 42-38 in front of almost 6,000 fans on Shepherd's homecomng.
Despite the loss, there were a lot of positives to take away from this game:
Although he was often running for his life, quarterback Shane Dooley had the best game of his young career. He outdueled his counterpart who is the leading candidate for the Harlon Hill trophy this year, and threw for 276 yards and five touchdowns. Dooley also netted 41 yards rushing and that is after considering five sacks that acocunted for -36 yards. He even smartly slid at the end of plays so that when he got popped by a Shepherd defender, it resulted in an additional fifteen yard penalty due to the late hit. Sure, Dooley still made some bad decisions, but all in all, he put forth a great effort.
Receiver Seth Degree exploited a soft spot in the Shepherd zone numerous times for key first down catches. And then he scored two touchdowns on passes of 35 and 39 yards.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Oscar Uduma saw his first collegiate action and made the most of it. On Shepherd's very first possession, he made a key third-down tackle to force a punt. And in the waning moments of the first half, he picked off a Shepherd pass at the two thwarting the Rams' scoring opportunity.
The team showed incredible resilience. The Golden Rams rallied from a 14-0 deficit midway through the first quarter to take a 24-21 lead early in the second half. They battled throughout the seesaw affair of the third quarter and penetrated the Shepherd 35 on their final two possessions of the game.
West Chester dominated the time of possession by an almost 2:1 ratio. This was the result of the WCU defense forcing four three-and-outs, the Golden Ram offense not turning over the ball, and the West Chester rushing attack, despite being held to their second lowest output of the season, still grinding out 157 yards on 48 carries.
West Chester was only flagged five times and only one of them was a personal foul. Conversely, the Golden Rams got four first downs as a result of Shepherd penalties.
Although he didn't break 100 yards, running back Ja'Den McKenzie (17 carries, 83 yards) had another solid game. He delivered his usual punishing runs, and caught his first pass of the season for an 18-yard touchdown on a Dooley scramble.
But of course there were plenty of negatives:
The Golden Rams had a punt blocked which resulted in Shepherd having the ball on the West Chester two-yard line and an easy touchdown. Punter John George was under a heavy rush all game and had his worst day this season. Consider the fourth-down "fumble" a couple of weeks ago at Shippensburg and it's obvious that there's a hole in the spread punt protection that quality opponents can exploit.
The offensive line struggled. Dooley was sacked five times and was often scrambling for survival. And this often came when Shepherd was only rushing their front four. West Chester's running game averaged only 3.3 yards per carry. In the three games this season when the Golden Rams averaged less than 4.4 yards per carry - Bentley, Shippensburg, and Shepherd - all resulted in losses.
The West Chester defense gave up several big plays. A run right up the middle went for an 84-yard touchdown. A fifty-yard pass play fortunately was stopped at the three. And when Cole Zapf blitzed, Shepherd read it beautifully, threw a little swing pass into the void left behind which resulted in a 42-yard touchdown catch and run.
Some coaching decisions were bothersome. Trailing 21-14 in the second quarter, on third-and-goal from the two, the top rushing team in the PSAC threw a low percentage pass incomplete into the end zone. And on the next play, against the top scoring team in the conference, Sean Henry converted a 19-yard field goal when a touchdown was needed. West Chester's final offensive play of the game was another difficult pass attempt on fourth-and-two that went off a hand of tight end Dan Neuhaus.
West Chester was challenged from a personnel perspective. Cornerback
Sterlen Barr still isn't back since week three against Edinboro and defensive back
Trael Seegers did not make the trip. Cornerback
Obi Anyatonwu, defensive end
Michael Gobora and running back
Phil Poquie all left the game due to injuries.
Shane Dooley surrounded by Rams (Photo Gina Chapman)
Seth Degree had 7 catches for 122 yards (Photo Gina Chapman)
Oscar Uduma makes an open field tackle (Photo Gina Chapman)
Zach Liggitt and Jackson Taylor stuff the run (Photo Gina Chapman)
Ja'Den McKenzie had 83 yards on the ground (Photo Gina Chapman)
Maurice Mazzccua had a 60-yard kickoff return (Photo Gina Chapman)
Mari Wright sets the final block on a Dan Neuhaus score (Photo Gina Chapman)
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