Box Score Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Joe Wright threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, and West Chester scored 25 unanswered points to defeat visiting Shippensburg, 25-7, in front of a homecoming crowd of 5,041 at Farrell Stadium on a chilly Saturday afternoon in PSAC football action.
West Chester (6-2, 5-0 PSAC East) remained undefeated in PSAC East play with its fifth straight win of the season. Shippensburg (3-5, 2-3) dropped it second straight league contest.
Trailing 7-6 at the half, West Chester tight end Ryan Paulson caught a 44-yard pass from Wright in the third quarter on a botched coverage by Shippensburg that left Paulson all alone at the 20 where he walked in untouched, giving the Golden Rams the lead for good, 13-7. Alex Walsh’s point after set a new school record for career PATs. He now has 156 over his four years at WCU.
Walsh booted a 22-yard field goal three minutes into the fourth quarter to push that advantage to 16-7. Mike Washington then ran around the end for 5 yards on a reverse for his second career rushing touchdown that made the score 23-7.
Washington’s TD run was set up by Dan DePalma’s interception return that went for 96 yards. DePalma picked off Ship’s starting quarterback Chad DiFebbo three yards deep in the end zone and raced down the far sideline before Raiders’ running back Kevin Marshall came charging from the other side of the field to cut off the angle and trip up DePalma just shy of the goal line.
Shippensburg snapped the ball over the head of quarterback Dan Chervansky on 2nd-and-10 from its own 17-yard line on their ensuing drive after Washington’s TD. Chervansky chased the bouncing pigskin into the end zone and kicked it out the back for a team safety to close the scoring in the game.
Mike Harris opened the scoring for the visitors when he caught a 3-yard pass from DiFebbo with one minute left before halftime. That catch completed a 16-play drive that covered 87 yards and ate up 8 minutes, 23 seconds of the second frame.
Wright went to work, engineering a 61-yard drive for the Rams on six plays that put West Chester in the end zone with 14 seconds left before the break. Washington caught an 18-yard TD pass on 4th-and-3 to pull the hosts within one. The Golden Rams’ Achilles heel all season – the long snap on kicks and punts – hurt them once more as holder Tyler Downes was forced to improvise on a bad snap and had his pass intercepted on the conversion try.
West Chester’s second-half comeback marked the second time this year that the Golden Rams have won when trailing at halftime.
Shippensburg ran for a 116 yards on the day, becoming the first team since Millersville to reach the century mark on the Golden Rams’ defense. However, the yardage came at a price. The Raiders toted the ball 45 times and averaged just 2.6 per carry.
Wright finished 20-for-32 without an interception to go along with his two TDs and 314 yards passing. DePalma racked up 121 all-purpose yards. He added a 14-yard punt return and an 11-yard kickoff return to his 96-yard interception.
DiFebbo was 10 of 20 for 150 yards with a TD and an interception for Shippensburg.
Washington caught seven passes for 85 yards a TD, setting a new NCAA record for consecutive games with at least one catch. He has now caught a pass in all 45 games in which he has played. The touchdown was his 31st game in which he has hauled in a score. He has 55 combined TDs in his illustrious career.
West Chester welcomes cross-town rival Cheyney to Farrell Stadium on Saturday in the final game of a three-game homestand. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
NOTES: West Chester’s 25-7 victory over Shippensburg marked the fifth straight win over the Raiders in the all-time series … the Golden Rams hold a 21-8-1 advantage in the series … QB Joe Wright’s 314 yards passing marked the third time this year that the fifth-year junior went over 300 yards passing in a game … He now has 2,081 yards passing on the season … Wright has thrown just one interception in his last five games (134 attempts) … Wright’s two TD passes gives him a league-best 20 on the year … Jr., LB Mike Dell recorded a season-high 15 tackles, marking the second straight week he has posted double-figures in the tackles column … 13 of those stops were solo efforts … West Chester’s defense has not allowed a 100-yard rusher since the Delaware game … Dan DePalma’s 96-yard INT return was the second-longest in school history behind Jim Pribula’s 98-yard return against East Stroudsburg in 1959 … the Golden Rams are undefeated at home this season, outscoring its opponents 120-30 … Millersville’s 10 points are the most West Chester has yielded to an opponent at Farrell Stadium in four games this fall … the Golden Rams have now won 11 straight PSAC East contests and 22 straight league tilts over PSAC East opponents other than Bloomsburg ... Shippensburg recorded three sacks in the game ... that is half as many sacks as West Chester had allowed all season heading into Saturday's contest ... the Golden Rams registered four sacks of their own.
