West Chester University Celebrates 90 Years of Football

A look to the past, a look to the future. Read more at Celebrating 90 Years of Football at WCU.

Team News - 2011 Football Banquet

The Golden Ram Football Club will be sponsoring the 46th annual team banquet to honor the 2011 Golden Rams players, coaches and staff on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 5:30 pm at the Concordville Inn in Concordville, PA. Anyone interested in attending ($45) or sponsoring a player ($45) or table ($125, includes two seats) is asked to contact the Golden Ram Football Club by January 27, 2012 for further information.

Team News - 2012 WCU Football Schedule

Day	Date	Opponent	Time	Notes
Thursday	August 30	at Delaware	7:30 pm
Saturday	September 8	vs Gannon	12:00 pm	Hall of Fame Day
Saturday	September 15	vs Millersville	6:00 pm	Family Night
Saturday	September 22	at Kutztown	1:00 pm
Saturday	September 29	at California	3:30 pm
Saturday	October 6	at East Stroudsburg	1:00 pm	ESU's Homecoming
Saturday	October 13	vs C.W. Post	1:00 pm
Saturday	October 20	vs Shippensburg	2:00 pm	Homecoming
Saturday	October 27	vs Cheyney	1:00 pm	Senior Day
Saturday	November 3	at Bloomsburg	1:00 pm
Saturday	November 10	at Clarion	1:00 pm

Player News - Five Golden Rams Named Football Academic All-Area

Five West Chester Golden Ram players have received honors for their performance on the field and in the classroom this season. Fullback Brian McDermott, tight end Matt McLaughlin, safety John O'Donnell, offensive guard Gerry Penrose and linebacker Ronell Williams were all named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Football Team as voted on by the sports information directors of the 28 colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area. The only school that placed more players on the 25-man team was Temple with seven.

PHILLY-SIDA - Philadelphia Inquirer Announces Football Academic All-Area Team

West Chester Athletic Site - Five Golden Rams Named Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area

Player News - Four Golden Rams Named All-PSAC East

Four West Chester Golden Ram players have received conference honors for their performance this season. Chris Faix, Tim Keyser, LaRonn Lee and Mike Pereira were all named to the PSAC East second team by the league's coaches.

Senior Chris Faix was named to the second team as an offensive tackle. The Council Rock North graduate was a four-year starter on the offensive line for the Golden Rams, playing his senior season primarily at left tackle.

Sophomore Tim Keyser was named to the conference second team at wide receiver. Keyser, from Garnet Valley, snared 38 catches for 470 yards and five touchdowns and also picked up 48 yards on the ground. While he showed consistency by catching at least two passes in every game that he played, his best performance of the season came on Long Island. In West Chester's 34-24 loss to the C.W. Post Pioneers, Keyser had five catches for 129 yards and a touchdown and added another 40 yards on two carries.

Sophomore LaRonn Lee was also named to the conference second team at wide receiver. Lee, of Penn Manor, grabbed 31 balls for 569 yards and six touchdowns and also ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Lee posted two 100-yard receiving games this season - at FCS Delaware (five catches for 111 yards) and against East Stroudsburg (six catches for 115 yards). He scored three touchdowns in the second half of West Chester's 52-17 victory at Shippensburg, including an opportunistic fumble recovery on the Golden Rams' first possession of the third quarter to regain momentum in the game.

Finally, sophomore Mike Pereira was named second team linebacker despite just playing in four and a half games this season. The St. Joseph's Prep graduate tallied 40 total tackles, of which 21 were solo, before succumbing to a season-ending injury in the C.W. Post game. Pereira racked up eight solo tackles at Delaware and in the 20-13 victory over Slippery Rock, he had five solo tackles, two of which were for losses, a pass breakup and a blocked field goal attempt. Before leaving the game just before halftime at C.W. Post, Pereira already had six solo tackles including a sack.

PSAC Football Site - Kutztown's Kevin Morton and Cheyney's Tim Hume Named PSAC East Players of the Year

West Chester Athletic Site - Four Golden Rams Gridders Named All-PSAC East

Player News - Kicker Shawn Leo Has Record Breaking Season

Despite a rather dismal year for the Golden Rams, West Chester can celebrate sophomore kicker Shawn Leo as he broke four school records this season - field goals made in a game, field goals made in a season, kicking points in a season and point-after-touchdown percentage in a season.

Leo captured the first record of field goals made in a game in the opening game at New Haven. He converted on attempts of 33, 32 and 28 yards in regulation and set the record with his fourth field goal of the contest, a 30 yarder, in overtime. The previous record of three was held by several Golden Ram kickers, most recently achieved by Leo himself last season against Shippensburg and before that, by teammate Chris Hill against California in 2009.

Eric Wentling held the school record for field goals made in a season with 12 in 1984. At CW Post, Leo tied the record with a 47-yard conversion midway through the second quarter and broke it with an equally impressive 48-yarder in the Rams' first possession of the second half. Leo finished the season by converting on 15 of 20 field goal attempts.

In the Golden Rams final game of the season, Leo was summoned to the field of play only once to attempt a point-after-touchdown. The attempt was successful as the kicker accounted for his 80th point of the season. This eclipsed the mark of 79 kicking points in a season set by John Marotta in 1988. It was Leo's 35th PAT in 36 attempts this year giving him a conversion percentage of 97.2% on the season. This is the fourth record that the young kicker attained this season, eclipsing the mark of 94.7% shared by Leo last season and Wentling in 1982.

Player News - Former Golden Ram QBs Shine

Former Golden Ram quarterbacks Aaron Wilmer and Marshall Vogel are continuing to find success on the football field.

Wilmer was a 2010 recruit from George Washington High School in Philadelphia. After red-shirting last season at West Chester, he transferred to nearby Delaware Valley College where he has led the Aggies to a 10-0 season, the Middle Atlantic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Del Val was ranked #8 in the nation in the most recent American Football Coaches Association poll. In Saturday's 56-28 conference clinching victory over rival Widener, Wilmer was 17-31 for 333 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 56 yards and another touchdown. For the season, he's 147-254 (58%), for 2,281 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Vogel, a 2007 recruit out of Hatboro-Horsham High School, spent the 2008 season as a redshirt before transferring to conference rival Kutztown University. In 2009 and 2010, he didn't see the field much behind incumbent signal caller Shane Martin and upstart Kevin Morton. This season, Vogel has received limited action behind Morton who was recently named one of 24 nominees for the Harlon Hill Award which is the Division II equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. However, yesterday in the PSAC championship game, Morton suffered a knee injury late in the first quarter. Vogel stepped in and went 25-39 for 300 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown pass to Erik Fazier with under three minutes left in the game. For his efforts, Vogel was named championship game MVP and PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week. Kutztown has been invited to the NCAA Division II playoffs and will host a first-round game this coming Saturday.

Game Report - Indiana 34 - West Chester 7

Indiana dominated play from start to finish as the Crimson Hawks defeated West Chester 34-7 in the final game of the season for both squads. Indiana took the opening kickoff and drove 68 yards in seven plays to take an early 7-0 lead.

West Chester responded with one of their longest scoring drives of the season - 81 yards in over four minutes - to knot the score. The drive was keyed by an unconventional 33-yard pass from Sean McCartney to LaRonn Lee and 31 yards of Indiana penalties. The long pass play started as an end around handoff to Tim Keyser. As Keyser swept to the right side, he pulled up and threw an overhand lateral back to McCartney. McCartney composed himself and fired the ball to a wide open Lee who couldn't maintain his footing after the catch. Two plays later, McCartney and Lee hooked up again, this time for a 7-yard touchdown. Shawn Leo capped the scoring with his 80th point of the season.

But the West Chester offense was heard from no more in the first half. In the mean time, Indiana rolled on offense and cashed in on two interceptions to take a commanding 27-7 halftime lead. The Golden Rams moved the ball slightly better in the second half, but field position didn't allow them to convert the long drives into points.

For the game, Indiana picked up 249 yards on the ground leading to over 40 minutes in time of possession. Linebackers Ronell Williams and Eric Edwers each had double-digit tackles for the Golden Rams.

Box Score

West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester Falls To IUP In Season Finale, 34-7

Indiana Athletic Site - IUP Football Caps Successful Season

Indiana Gazette- Hawks go out in style, pummel West Chester to finish 7-3

Daily Local News - West Chester disappoints in season closer

Michael Martin Photography - West Chester vs Indiana Gallery

Game Preview - Indiana

The Golden Rams (5-5) look to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1979 when they face the Indiana Crimson Hawks (6-3) in their final contest of the 2011 season. The game looks to feature West Chester's high-powered offense against Indiana's stingy defense.

Similarly to West Chester, Indiana was using two quarterbacks at the start of the season. However, Pat Smith has settled in as the starting signal caller. The sophomore is fourth in the conference in pass efficiency and distributes the ball evenly among wideouts Pat Brewer, Terrill Barnes, and Javon Rowan, although Brewer got almost half his yards in last week's game against Lock Haven. The real story of the Hawk's offense is the running game, specifically Harvie Tuck. The 5-10, 215lb junior from Ohio is averaging 97 yards per game and went for 132 yards against the Rams in last season's contest. Although Teddy Blakeman isn't putting up big numbers this year, he also eclipsed the century mark against West Chester last year.

But Indiana leads with their defense. They lead the conference in fewest points allowed and are third in rushing defense. There should be a battle between the Hawk's conference leading red zone defense against the Rams' conference leading red zone offense. Indiana also leads the conference in turnover margin at +14 for the season.

Notes - The final home game will be used to honor senior football players, cheerleaders and band members...Fans are also asked to bring a non-perishable food item which are being collected and donated to those in need in the West Chester area.

Indiana Athletic Site - Crimson Hawks Look to Close Out Season With Win at West Chester

CBS Philly.com- West Chester Set To Wrap Up Season vs. IUP

Indiana Gazette- Crimson Hawks vs West Chester preview

Daily Local News - WCU ends season hosting IUP

Player News - Williams named PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week

For his efforts against Millersville, red-shirt freshman linebacker Ronell Williams was named PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week.

PSAC Football Athletes of the Week - Week 10

Game Report - West Chester 49 - Millersville 13

The Golden Rams scored touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions on their way to a 49-13 romp over host Millersville at sun-splashed Biemesderfer Stadium.  West Chester posted their second 500+ offensive yard game of the season with 390 of those yards coming in the first 30 minutes.

Leading just 28-13 with under two minutes to play in the first half, the Rams had good field position after another Millersville pooch kickoff. QB Sean McCartney (15 of 19 for 274 yards and 4 touchdowns) made short work of the scoring drive by completing consecutive passes to Eric Brundidge for 36 yards, Tim Keyser for 8 yards and LaRonn Lee for 14 yards and the touchdown. McCartney would toss another touchdown pass, this time a 20-yarder to Rondell White, to complete the first-half scoring.

Missing about a third of the guys from the opening-day two-deep, the West Chester defense allowed 300 yards of offense to Millersville, which is way more than the Marauders typically gain.  However, redshirt freshman Ronell Williams had a monster day, registering 16 total tackles, 3.5 of which were for losses of 18 yards, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

Sophomore Jared Bonacquisti continues to play and contribute wherever necessary.  On offense, he had a carry for a couple of yards; on special teams, he had a tackle on kickoff coverage; and on defense, he intercepted a Marauder pass and returned it to the 20-yard line setting up WCU's final first-half touchdown.

Box Score

Daily Local News story - West Chester breaks out of funk to pound Millersville

examiner.com story - Lee returns home as Rams maul Millersville

Michael Martin Photography - West Chester vs Millersville Gallery

Player News - Kicker Shawn Leo Honored for September

West Chester University sophomore placekicker Shawn Leo was recently recognized by the Fred Mitchell Award for his performance in September.  The Harleysville native and Souderton grad was 10 of 12 on field goals and 10 of 10 on PAT's in the Golden Ram's four contests in the month.  After September, he was second in the PSAC in scoring (first among kickers), and second in all of Division II with 2.5 field goals per game.

The annual Fred Mitchell Award is presented to the placekicker that excels on both the football field and in the community.  A member of the Fred Mitchell Award Watch List for 2011 and a finalist for the same award in 2010, Leo is a volunteer Little League umpire and participated in the Autism Speaks Walk and Relay for Life events.  The annual watch list consists of 50 placekickers from over 750 eligible colleges and universities.

Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award - Fred Mitchell Award Recognizes Place-Kickers in September

Alumni News - DePalma Signed to Giants Practice Squad

Former West Chester Golden Ram wide receiver Dan DePalma has been signed to the New York Giants practice squad. The 5-11 200lb Verona, NJ native was a two-time All-PSAC East performer at wide receiver after playing cornerback during his first year with the Golden Rams.

NorthJersey.com- Verona High School grad DePalma signs with Giants