West Chester Defeats Millersville 27-24 ; Wins PSAC East

MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- Jarel Elder (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) rushed for 85 yards and one touchdown surpassing the 1000 yard mark for the season in the process. Elder also contributed three catches for a total of 40 yards through the air and 41 yards in kick return yardage for a total of 166 all-purpose yards on the afternoon. This performance helped West Chester (8-2, 6-1 PSAC) to pick up a crucial 27-24 victory over Millersville (4-6, 3-4 PSAC).

Elder also surpassed the 3000 yard mark on his career moving into 8^th all-time in team history.

This victory allowed West Chester to clinch the PSAC Eastern Division securing them a spot in the State game against IUP which will be played on November 11^th inside Farrell Stadium.

West Chester got on the board first when Andrew Cheggia (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) capped off a 12 play, 44 yard drive with a 27 yard field goal to give WCU the early 3-0 lead. This lead did not last long as just over four minutes later Millersville had a 10 play, 45 yard drive of their own that they also capped off with a field goal to make the score 3-3 at the end of the first quarter of play.

In the second quarter Millersville opened the scoring when Nii Kotei caught a three yard touchdown pass to give Millersville the 10-3 lead in the second quarter. West Chester answered right back with a 2 play, 74 yard drive capped off by a thirty yard touchdown pass from Paul Dooley (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside Chestnut Hill) to Dan Neuhaus (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) to even the score at 10-10. The Golden Rams and Marauders traded scores to open the third quarter as Millersville used a 61 yard reception by Kevin Wiggins while West Chester benefited from a 41 yard rush from Elder to push the score to 17-17. Millersville added one more score before the end of third quarter when QB Tony Staffieri scored on a one yard touchdown to give Millersville the 24-17 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter the West Chester defense came up big  as they did not allow Millersville to score while the West Chester offense put up ten points in the final 10 minutes of play to take the 27-24 victory and win the PSAC East for the second time in three years.  This 10-0 run was capped off by a one yard rushing touchdown from Mike Class (Souderton, Pa./Pennridge) which capped off a seven play, 90 yard drive in the closing minutes of regulation to lead West Chester to victory. Millersville tried to put a drive together in the final 1:15 of regulation but a late interception by Rashee Davis (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic)  allowed West Chester to pick up the victory.

Dooley had a strong day overall going 15-30 with 238 yards and one touchdown through the air while also picking up 81 yards on the ground to help lead West Chester to victory.  Neuhaus had a strong day as well as he was on the receiving end of three of Dooley's passes for 85 yards and one touchdown.

George Shipp (Harleysville, Pa./North Penn) had a strong day on the defensive side of the ball recording nine tackles including four tackles for loss for a loss of 22 yards along with a team high 2.5 sacks on the day as well. Jaishan Thornton (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) also set a new career high as he recorded another nine tackles in the victory.  Shaq James (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic) also reeled in an interception of his own early in the third quarter when he jumped in front of a Staffieri pass in the endzone to keep Millersville off the scoreboard early in the second half of play.

Punter Brendan Paulison (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) had a huge day punting as he punted six times for 283 yards for an average of 48.3 yards per punt. His long was 48 and he managed to down two punts inside the 20 yard line. This afternoons performance puts Paulison in a tie for first atop the conference rankings for punts inside the 20 yard line with 16 on the year. Paulison also leads the PSAC in average yards per punt with an average of 44 yards per punt.

Chegia was 2-2 on field goals and 3-3 on extra points on the afternoon with a long of 27 coming back in the first quarter of play.

West Chester will play in the PSAC Conference Title game next Saturday November 11^th when they host IUP (Pa.) inside Farrell Stadium with kickoff slated for 12:10.