No. 8 West Chester Stunned By New Haven, 35-28

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – New Haven racked up 406 yards of total offense and scored seven touchdowns, both season highs allowed by West Chester's defense, en route to a stunning 35-28 victory over the host Golden Rams in the first round of the NCAA Super Region 1 playoffs inside John A. Farrell Stadium.
 
West Chester (10-1) saw its impressive 10-game winning streak come to an end while New Haven (9-2) advances to the second round and will host Slippery Rock in a 6-seed vs. 7-seed matchup.
 
"Obviously, a very disappointing loss after what had been a really great season leading up to today," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan said afterwards in the press conference. "But, give New Haven a ton of credit. Nobody did that to our defense all year, and their quarterback played really well."
 
Trailing 28-21 entering the fourth quarter, New Haven put together two scoring drives to take the lead and close out the game. Included in that comeback was the play of the game when the Chargers went for it on a 4th-and-3 near midfield. New Haven threw a screen pass to Ju'An Williams that went for a 48-yard touchdown and tied the game at 28-all.
 
"We practiced that all week long, and during the course of the week, it wasn't a good play for us," New Haven QB Ajee Patterson said. "But, we really executed it well today. Everybody did their job."
 
On West Chester's next possession, quarterback A.J. Long (Bethlehem, Pa./Friendship Christian [Tenn.]) was injured on a 7-yard run that got the Golden Rams a first down at their own 35-yard line. However, he was unable to return, West Chester punted and New Haven walked down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 7:58 remaining in the game.
 
All five of New Haven's touchdown drives in the game were 70 yards, or longer. The Chargers rushed for 141 yards in the game – accounting for the most yards rushing against the Golden Rams all season.
 
Mike Class (Souderton, Pa./Pennridge) finished with 52 yards rushing and one TD while also catching a team-best six passes for 48 yards. Lex Rosario (Matamoras, Pa./Delaware Valley) had four catches for 35 yards and one score while Dan Neuhaus (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) had three catches for 60 yards and one TD.
 
Defensively, Diquan Gilbert (Philadelphia, Pa./Comm Tech) finished with three sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Tyler Morrissey (Springfield, Pa./Springfield-DELCO) finished with 13 tackles.
 
A.J. Long went 16-for-20 for 211 yards and two touchdowns, before exiting.