On their opening possession, Shippensburg was forced to punt fairy quickly, and the Golden Ram offense then executed like a work of art. Quarterback Ethan Kohler connected with Phil Poquie and Rahiem Bowens to pick up a couple of chunk plays, and Ja'Den McKenzie powered into the end zone for the early 7-0 lead.
For the entirety of the first half, the defense held Shippensburg to just 63 yards (before a meaningless hail mary to end the half), forced four punts and Khalib Slaughter notched the Golden Rams' third interception of the season. But consistently poor starting field position was too much for the West Chester offense to overcome. The Golden Rams' second possession started at their own 1-yard line. They ran 16 plays in almost nine minutes and got to the Shippensburg 18, but were forced to a field goal attempt...which missed right. Slaughter's interception set up the ball at the 40, and despite reaching the Ship 15, this trip resulted in a 32-yard field goal. Finally, starting at their own 11-yard line, the Golden Rams navigated 76 yards in three and a half minutes, and settled for another Sean Henry field goal. So that's three consecutive trips into the red zone, which resulted in a total of six points. But again, the Raiders had nothing going offensively, so a 13-0 halftime lead felt okay.
Rahiem Bowens makes an over the shoulder catch (Photo Joan Gillen)The field position issue continued into the second half, but with more dire results. West Chester was held to a three-and-out from their own 11-yard line. That's when the Raiders obviously did their film study from last week and blocked WCU's punt into the end zone and landed on it for a touchdown. While the two teams then traded punts, it was apparent that Shippensburg had intensified their defense, and it was almost as if West Chester was hoping to run out the clock holding a 13-6 lead.
Khalib Slaughter makes a diving interception (Photo Joan Gillen)But the Raiders found a hole in the WCU defense and converted a 49-yard passing touchdown to tie the game with ten minutes left. Facing a fourth-and-two at the Ship 41, rather than punting and pinning Ship deep in their own zone, the Golden Rams elected to go for it, but a short pass fell incomplete. With the momentum completely swung the Raiders' way, they used another deep pass play to get into the red zone, and punched it in for the touchdown a few plays later to take the 20-13 lead. Similar to last week, the Golden Rams would give a valiant effort on their final drive, but also similar to last week their final two passes in Shippensburg territory fell incomplete and the game was over.
It was an all around Jekyll and Hyde affair. Kohler threw for 328 yards, but he also had an interception and another pick was nullified by a defensive pass interference penalty. While the offensive line sprung McKenzie for 81 yards, they also allowed 11 tackles for loss and Kohler was frequently flushed out of the pocket. The WCU defense snuffed Ship's passing game to just four first-half completions, and registered three sacks and the interception, but they allowed 172 yards after half time including completions of 49 and 44 yards. While WCU made two field goals, one was missed. While special teams did a decent job containing Ship's return game, WCU averaged just 29 yards on punts that weren't blocked. While Mari Wright made a spectacular catch, he was also flagged for two blindside block penalties. While Ayyub Dail forced a third-down fumble at midfield, but rather than just landing on the ball, WCU failed an attempted scoop and score which allowed Ship to recover and punt on the next play.
Phil Poquie turns upfield after making a reception (Photo Joan Gillen)Some participation notes: Mason Griffiths returned after missing some time with an injury. Maurice Beverly was on the sideline in a sling after last week's injury at Bloomsburg. Dylan Nichols made an appearance as an additional blocker on McKenzie's one-yard touchdown run. Maurice Mazzccua was no where to be seen. Phil Poquie left the game late in third quarter after a five-yard run and did not return.
Sean Henry converted two field goals in the game (Photo Joan Gillen)West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester Falls To Shippensburg on Homecoming, 20-13
Shippensburg Athletic Site - Football’s second-half comeback sparks win at West Chester, 20-13
Daily Local News - Rams blow early lead, fall to Shippensburg on Homecoming Saturday
WCU Football Family - Photo Album - Shippensburg
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