Purple Tops Gold In Annual Spring Football Game, 24-7

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Rising Sr., QB Pat Moriarty (Gladwyne, Pa./Harriton) threw for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead Purple to a 24-7 victory over Gold in the annual football intra-squad scrimmage to close out the spring season Friday night at Farrell Stadium.
 
Moriarty, the embattled incumbent starter under center for the Golden Rams entering the spring, finished 10-for-17 with the two TD tosses in the first half as Purple ran out to a 21-0 lead by halftime. The veteran signal-caller, who led the Golden Rams to a PSAC Eastern Division title his sophomore year, showed his experience in guiding the first-team offense all night.
 
"It was good to see the first-team offense have some success tonight," Moriarty said afterwards. "Last year, we didn't make the playoffs. So, it was good to get back out here and get to work."
 
R-Fr., RB Nafeese Nasir (Conshohocken, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) led the Purple side in rushing with 53 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Rising Sr., RB Jarel Elder (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) rushed for 33 yards on eight carries.
 
R-Fr., WR Rasheem James (Philadelphia, Pa./Ben Franklin) led all Purple receivers with four catches for 41 yards and a TD. Rising Sr., WR Tyler Karpinski (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.) hauled in a 67-yard scoring pass from Moriarty in the first quarter.
 
Defensively, rising Jr., DiQuan Gilbert (Philadelphia, Pa./Comm Tech) registered seven sacks for a total of 40 yards in losses. That total would have almost doubled the school's single-season mark, if he had done it in a fall game. He finished with nine tackles and a fumble recovery.
 
"Yeah. he had a good night," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan commented afterwards. "But, it was good to see some of the younger kids out there working hard and getting better. If they can continue to help us like that, then we will have a pretty good team."
 
Nasir opened the scoring with a 2-yard run with 2:17 left in the first quarter. Then, James gathered in a 14-yard scoring strike from Moriarty with 0:21 left in the opening frame for a 14-0 lead. Karpinski's long score in the second quarter made it a 21-0 advantage for Purple at the break.
 
R-Fr., PK George Lambritsios (Broomall, Pa./Marple-Newtown) booted a 44-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to extend the Purple advantage to 24-0. Gold finally got on the board with 0:20 left in the game as R-Fr., southpaw QB Mike Alley (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) threw a 5-yard pass to R-Fr., WR Dan Neuhaus (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan).
 
Alley finished 13-for-32 for 112 yards and the one TD. Neuhaus led all Gold receivers with three catches. Elijah Hall (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) caught a pair of passes for a team-best 50 yards.