West Chester Survives Cheyney Scare On Halloween, 41-20

Box Score

CHEYNEY, Pa. – I believe the old coaches' adage is … "A win is a win is a win." That certainly told the story Saturday afternoon.
 
Eerin Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) ran for a career-high 131 yards and had 183 all-purpose yards as visiting West Chester defeated host Cheyney, 41-20, at O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium on Halloween.
 
West Chester (6-3, 5-1 PSAC East) remains in a tie for first place with Shippensburg (7-2, 5-1) as a result of the win while Cheyney remains winless on the year (0-9, 0-6). East Stroudsburg upset Bloomsburg, 35-34, to knock the Huskies out of the first-place tie atop the division standings.
 
Quarterback Pat Moriarty (Gladwyne, Pa./Harriton) went 17-for-30 for 251 yards and three touchdowns to help the Golden Rams to a win that looked much more difficult than it should have been. However, he threw a pair of interceptions.
 
Young turned in a career-day performance, before leaving with an injury. He carried the ball 13 times for 131 yards, had one catch for two yards and returned a pair of kickoffs for 50 yards.
 
With six minutes remaining in the first half, West Chester was clinging to a 17-14 lead when the Rams rattled off three straight scores to finally break things open, 38-14, with two minutes to go in the third quarter. Until then, the outcome of this game was very much in the balance.
 
A.J. DePietro (Glen Mills, Pa./Garnet Valley) caught a 23-yard TD pass from Moriarty with 6:03 to play in the half to give the visitors a 24-14 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
Anthony Brown (Ephrata, Pa./Conestoga Valley), one of six running backs used in the game Saturday, busted off a 9-yard run three minutes into the second half, and then Tyler Karpinski (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.) returned a punt 70 yards for another score to give the Golden Rams some breathing room at 38-14.
 
Cheyney responded with a 6-yard TD pass early in the fourth quarter, but the extra point was blocked by Mike Catalano (Pilesgrove, Pa./St. Mark's [Del.]). West Chester place-kicker Brendan Paulison (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) booted a 36-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
 
West Chester opened up a 10-0 lead on a 48-yard TD pass from Moriarty to tight end Tim Brown (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) and a 21-yard field goal from Paulison. However, Cheyney answered Paulison's field goal with a 7-play, 91-yard drive, aided by three first downs by penalty, to pull within three, 10-7, by the end of the first quarter.
 
Jim Hurley (Wayne, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) hauled in an 11-yard strike to open the second quarter to make it 17-7. Then, Cheyney responded with a 23-yard TD strike with 10:39 left in the half to make it 17-14.
 
Andrew Cohen (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) finished with four tackles, including 1.5 sacks. Corey Kelley (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter) also recorded four tackles and had a pass break up. West Chester's defense limited the Wolves to just 147 yards of total offense and 0-for-9 on third down conversions. Cheyney managed just 10 first downs in the game – four of those were by penalty.
 
West Chester hosts East Stroudsburg next Saturday at John A. Farrell Stadium with a chance to win at least a share of the PSAC Eastern Division title. That game will be aired live on SportsFEVER TV and seen all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.