Box Score WEST CHESTER, Pa. – So., RB
Jarel Elder (Allentown, Pa. /Parkland) ran for 247 yards and three touchdowns, adding eight catches for 84 yards and another score to lead host West Chester to a 48-38 victory over visiting Seton Hill Saturday afternoon at John A. Farrell Stadium.
West Chester (1-2) picked up its first win of the season behind Elder's 365 all-purpose yards. His three rushing TDs in the fourth quarter, the last covering 51 yards, helped the Golden Rams seal the victory, after Seton Hill scored with 5:29 left to take a 38-34 lead.
"It was not the way we were planning for the game to go. "But, it forced us to come back and play under pressure late in the game, and when we had to do that last week, we did not get the job done," WCU heach coach Bill Zwann said. "This week we did, so that is definitely a good sign.
"It should have not happen that way, but because it happened that way it is a good sign."
"My line has been playing phenomenal from the start of the season. But, obviously it has not gone the way we wanted it to in the first two games." Elder said. "This game, they continued to do their part, and we got our feet moving and finally we just hit the holes."
Elder started against Seton Hill as the Golden Rams' feature back since senior
Brandon Monk (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) was still nursing an ankle injury.
"Monk is a great back. But, when an opportunity arrives you have to go out and grab it. That is what I did," Elder replied.
Sophomore quarterback
Patrick Moriarty (Gladwyne, Pa. /Harriton) also stepped up his game, finishing with his best completion percentage of the season, going 20-for-38 (52.6%) for a season-high 302 yards and three touchdown passes to three different receivers, including Elder for the first score of the game. He did however throw one interception that saw Seton Hill run 12 plays for 71 yards and a touchdown score to knot the game up at 24 apiece to end the third quarter.
"We knew Pat was all over the place in the first half. So, we said let's start looking at running the ball a little more and giving Jarel the ball a little bit more, and see if we can push the ball down field that way," Zwann said. "That started to work, and we just kind of hung with that."
On the other hand, Griffins' quarterback Christian Strong threw for 322 yards against WCU's defense, but caught the turnover bug and threw three interceptions at crucial times throughout the game. Two of the three turned into West Chester touchdown drives.
Junior cornerback
Ted Patton (Wilmington, Del./McKean) caught the first one for his second INT of the season. Senior
DB Brandon Pepper (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) added one in the fourth quarter to put the Golden Rams in position for the game-winning drive. Red-shirt freshman corner
Nydair Rouse (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) ended the string with his first career interception in the closing minutes to ice the game for the Golden Rams first win of the season.
The crowd also saw the return of West Chester tight end Tim Brown, who finished with 23 receiving yards in his first game back. Still, even if he does not produce high numbers, coach is optimistic about what this could mean for other players by just having Brown on the field down the road.
"Getting Timmy back helps because even though he may not get the numbers, they are double and triple teaming him," Zwann said. "A couple times, we hit Shannon coming across because there was nobody there because they are all running with Timmy. So, he opens up other people even just by being on the field."
Brown's big play threat did come in handy as Moriarty found sophomore swing-man
Eerin Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) for a nine-yard strike and junior wide receiver
Shannon Mayer (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) for a 38-yard blast for two six-point plays.
The Griffin's (1-2) defense sacked Moriarty for a 10-yard loss to send them to back to their own 15-yard line to set up a tough 2nd-and-30 during the fourth quarter. He tossed a quick pass to Elder for a pickup of five yards, which forced the Golden Rams into a 3rd-and-25 predicament with the Griffins' licking their chops of a third-down stop and great field position going the other way. Then the unthinkable happened as Moriarty dropped back and launched a bomb to junior wide-out
Jim Hurley (Wayne, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) for a 59-yard pick up and a first down at the SHU 21.
"We are resilient and that is something that we have realized, but have not capitalized on when we needed to." Elder added. "Our resiliency showed this time, and we were able to go forward."
The Golden Rams would cash in for three points and hold a three-point lead in the early moments of the final quarter.
West Chester will now have a week to prepare before they get set to hit the road to face PSAC East rival Millersville on Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.
Notes: West Chester improves to 2-0 against Seton Hill all-time with the win … Jarel Elder piled up 365 all-purpose yards, which is the third-best single-game effort in school history and the most since Mike Irving in 1984 against Bloomsburg … Elder rushed for 247 yards, seventh-best in a game at WCU ... West Chester amassed 638 yards in total offense, which stands eighth all-time at West Chester ... Elder scored four TDs, three rushing and one receiving, to tie for fifth-most in a game … West Chester racked up 336 rushing yards, which is good for ninth on the all-time list in WCU history … Senior DE Andrew Cohen broke the all-time record for career sacks with 22.
