Box Score
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. –
Shawn Leo's (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) 26-yard field goal with 1.1 seconds remaining lifted No. 13/18 West Chester to a 32-29 victory over host Shippensburg in a pivotal PSAC East football game inside Seth Grove Stadium Saturday afternoon.
West Chester (8-0, 5-0 PSAC East) kept pace with Bloomsburg atop the Eastern Division standings while ending a 12-game home winning streak by Shippensburg (5-3, 4-1) in front of 7,458 homecoming fans. The Raiders fall into third place in the division standings behind both West Chester and Bloomsburg.
Third-string quarterback
Andrew Derr (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin) took West Chester on a 7-play drive that covered 52 yards over 2:26 that culminated in Leo's game-winning kick. On 3rd-and-6 from the Raiders' 43-yard line, Derr completed a 25-yard pass over the middle to
Rondell White (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) that kept the winning drive alive. White accounted for 41 of the 52 yards on that drive.
"That was the route," White explained about his leaping catch in the middle of the field. "Run down the middle and sit in an opening. Derr was very composed on that last drive, and he made the reads he needed to make."
White racked up 274 all-purpose yards in the game, giving him 6,574 for his career and breaking the school's all-time record set by Derrick Price from 1987-90. Derr, West Chester's fourth quarterback of the day, took the Golden Rams on a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives that secured the win.
He finished 7-for-9 for 105 yards and one touchdown. He engineered a 7-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 29-yard TD strike to WR
Adam Dempsey (Secane, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) with 7:08 to play in the game, pulling the Rams to within two, 29-27. West Chester tacked on a two-point conversion when
Shannon Mayer (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) completed a pass to
Jared Bonacquisti (Boothwyn, Pa./Garnet Valley), who was kneeling just inside the goal line in the front corner of the end zone.
Sophomore free safety,
Brandon Pepper (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) then intercepted a pass from Shippensburg's Sheldon Mayer, older brother of WCU wideout Shannon Mayer, on the Raiders' first play of the next drive to put the Rams back in business at Ship's 35-yard line following Pepper's 34-yard return.
"They were running a trick play, and I knew that even if the corner moved up that I couldn't get beat deep," Pepper explained. "Luckily, (Mayer) under-threw it."
West Chester's defense held Shippensburg's high-octane offense to just three field goals after a wild first half shootout. White ran for three touchdowns in the first 30 minutes of play, including a career-long 67-yard TD run late in the first quarter that put the Golden Rams on the scoreboard.
Junior backup QB,
Drew Loughery (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./LaSalle HS) engineered an 11-play, 77-yard scoring drive on his first possession in relief of the injured
Sean McCartney (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) early in the second quarter. White capped it off with a 3-yard TD run that tied the game at 14 apiece. White scored again on a 17-yard run with 52 seconds left in the half that put the Rams up, 21-14. Shippensburg answered that score with a 52-yard TD strike from Zach Zulli to Trevor Harman with 24 ticks left on the first-half clock. The Raiders missed the extra point, and the teams went into the locker room with the visitors on top, 21-20.
Shippensburg started strong, running out to a 14-0 lead on its first two possessions. Combined, the Raiders took 13 plays, covered 113 yards in just 3:05. However, the hosts only scored one more TD the rest of the way.
Ronell Williams (Chester, Pa./Chester) nearly intercepted Zulli on Ship's first possession, but could not hold onto the ball. Zulli made him pay for that miscue by connecting with Harman for a 34-yard touchdown pass on the very next play that put the Raiders up, 7-0, early.
Blair Brooks ran up the middle for a 19-yard score on Shippensburg's next possession as the Raiders jumped out on top, 14-0.
West Chester travels to cross-county rival Cheyney next Saturday for a 12 p.m. kickoff against the Wolves where the Golden Rams will put their undefeated 8-0 record on the line.
