Golden Ram Football Club: Game Report - #15/#16 Slippery Rock 49

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Game Report - #15/#16 Slippery Rock 49 - West Chester 24

Less then three minutes into the game, the two teams had combined for 170 yards of offense and 21 points. Unfortunately, #15/#16 Slippery Rock maintained the pace throughout the game and went on to defeat West Chester 49-24.

The Rock opened the game with a 65-yard kickoff return and three consecutive running plays to their right resulting in the opening touchdown. West Chester matched the big play when Cooper Jordan connected with Julian Jordan for 51 yards. The sophomore quarterback punctured the end zone two plays later to knot the score. Slippery Rock then launched a 74-yard touchdown pass on their next play from scrimmage to go up 14-7 and fans wondered if there were enough light bulbs on the Rock scoreboard to contain the final score.

Against a team that West Chester couldn't afford to make mistakes, they made far too many. Jordan threw three interceptions, two inside the Rock ten-yard line and two that resulted in Slippery Rock touchdowns. That's essentially a 28-point swing. Besides allowing the Rock's long opening kickoff return, special teams failed to field a punt which rolled to the WCU one-yard line. The Golden Ram's 3-3-5 defense, which is designed to minimize opponents' passing offense, allowed 317 yards and four touchdowns on 20 of 25 pass attempts. And penalties were a factor. Midway through the second quarter with the Rock up 28-14, the Golden Rams got a key third-down stop to setup an apparent three-and-out, but a personal foul gave the Rock a first down. A later facemask penalty gave Slippery Rock a first-and-goal.

Cooper Jordan eludes a tackle in the end zone (Photo Joan Gillen)

But in an odd conclusion, the game was rather encouraging. The Golden Rams played much better this week than in the season opener and this was against a much better opponent. Jordan completed passes to eight different receivers for 285 yards. D'Shaun Seals had five catches for a 101 yards and 58 yards on six carries. Besides Jordan and Seals, the Golden Rams running game got 32 yards and a touchdown from sophomore Jayden Williams and 24 yards and a score from classmate Daquan Robinson. Robinson also made a crushing tackle on punt coverage.

D'Shaun Seals makes a one-handed catch (Photo Joan Gillen)

Defensively, after a fairly quiet season opener, Maurice Beverly registered a game-high 12 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. Shane Mosley made nine tackles and a forced fumble, while linebacker Connor Noble continued to impress with eight tackles including a 10-yard, third-down sack.

Other observations:

With cornerback Obi Anyatonwu out with an injury incurred last week at Bentley, 5'9" Sterlen Barr, Jr. got the assignment of covering Slippery Rock's All-American wide receiver Kyle Sheets. While Sheets only had two catches in the game, they were 74-yard and 49-yard touchdowns.
Redshirt freshman Robby Longo (3 catches, 14 yards) and true freshman Darrell Brown (1 catch, 19 yards) made their first collegiate catches. Brown added three kickoff returns for 64 yards.
Kicker/punter Sean Henry continued to impress. He converted his only field goal attempt from 23 yards and all three PAT's. He only punted twice: a 42-yarder fair caught at the nine and a 41-yarder to the Rock 14. And after the opening kickoff return, Henry executed the pooch kickoff for the remainder of the game which resulted in only two more returns for a total of 12 yards.
A couple of defensive backs registered their first collegiate tackles: redshirt sophomore Jimmy Wright made six tackles (four solo) and freshman Jaleel Davis-Shabazz had three tackles (one solo).
Quarterback Ethan Kohler saw his first action of the season, going 2 for 2 for 26 yards in the fourth quarter.
Defensive end Nate Desmond left the game early and receivers Rahiem Bowens and Jonathan Haynes may have also incurred injuries.