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Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Game Preview - Bentley

The West Chester Golden Rams head to Waltham, MA on Saturday to face usual season-opening opponent Bentley Falcons. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00pm.

Series History:

Although the Golden Rams lead the series 5-1, three of West Chester's wins required late game heroics. The Golden Rams had dominating wins in 2017 and 2018, while the Falcons won handily in 2021 in Waltham, MA.

For the second consecutive season, Bentley will be breaking in a new head coach as Saj Thakkar has replaced Alvin Reynolds who went 7-3 last year. The Falcons were picked to finish third in the Northeast-10 Football Coaches’ Poll. Meanwhile, Golden Ram head coach Bill Zwaan starts his 21st season at West Chester with an overall record of 157-71, including 12-4 against Northeast-10 opponents and 5-1 against Bentley.

Last Meeting:


09/03/2022 West Chester 17 - Bentley 16

After a scoreless first quarter, the Golden Rams took a 14-0 lead into halftime on a pair of passing touchdowns. Unfortunately, the West Chester offense stayed in the locker room at halftime. Bentley scored on three consecutive possessions, including after two interceptions which gave the Falcons short fields and the West Chester defense little rest. Bentley carried a 16-14 lead into the final period. It wasn't until Sean Henry nailed a 34-yard field goal with under five minutes to play that West Chester regained the lead, 17-16. It was a bit of redemption for Henry who earlier in the contest missed field goals of 34 and 38 yards. But it wasn't until safety Kaleb Brown batted a pass away as time expired that Golden Ram fans could exhale.

Rahiem Bowens had three catches for 34 yards and D'Shaun Seals had two catches for 19 yards. The defense was led by Maurice Beverly who made his collegiate debut with nine tackles, a forced fumble and two quarterback hurries. Ayyub Dail and Nate Desmond each had four tackles while Sterlen Barr, Jr. and Obi Anyatonwu combined for four pass breakups.

Scouting the Opponent:
Expect Youngstown State transfer Mark Waid (93 of 190 for 1,505 yards, 15 TD's, 6 int, 714 yards and 3 TD's rushing last season) to return at quarterback. Waid accounted for 221 of Bentley's 269 yards of offense against WCU last year. Waid has plenty of passing targets including Isaiah Decias (21 catches, 378 yards), Abel Lopes Jr. (14 catches, 341 yards, 5 TD's), and tight end Nayvon Reid (11 catches, 176 yards, 2 TD's). After Waid, senior Vinnie Holmes (107 carries, 443 yards, 2 TD's) is Bentley's top returning rusher.

Mason Campbell was first team all Northeast-10 last season after converting on all 30 PAT's and 12 of 16 field goals with a long of 48 yards. Decias averaged almost 22 yards per kickoff return.

As is usual in recent years, the strength of this Bentley team lies on defense. Linebacker Salvatore Lupoli Jr. (102 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovered) is the team's top returning tackler for the second consecutive year and was first team all Northeast-10 after 2022. He's helped out in the middle by Christian Lanzalotto (54 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions). Former NE10 All-Rookie team member Herve Tshibamba (39 tackles, 1.5 sacks) continues to be a force up front. The secondary is led by cornerback Mathieu Severance (42 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 11 pass breakups) and safety Aaron Racki (30 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups).

Analysis:
Quarterback Cooper Jordan returns after a pretty good freshman season. And the offensive line, although fairly young, has experience. It's a matter of where the yards and points are going to come from on this offense. The Golden Ram defense will be breaking in a scheme with a 3-3-5 approach. The secondary is very experienced so it's a matter of the front six maturing quickly. Bentley lost the best defensive player in the conference to graduation and is working with a new head coach again. So many unknowns for both teams in this game.

Versus Sports simulates a 25-17 Falcon victory while Massey Ratings projects a similar 24-17 outcome.

Game Coverage:

Live Stats   Audio   Video   Tickets  

D2football - PSAC Columnist - PSAC Week One Preview
D2football - Northeast-10 Columnist - NE10 - Week One Preview

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