No. 13/18 West Chester Sacks Millersville, 42-16

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Sr., RB Mark Dukes (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) rushed for a career-high 120 yards and a touchdown, and West Chester's defense tied a school record with 10 sacks, as the Golden Rams cruised to a 42-16 victory over visiting Millersville Saturday afternoon inside John A. Farrell Stadium.
 
West Chester (4-0, 1-0 PSAC East) opened up defense of its division title with an impressive first quarter against Millersville (0-4, 0-1), scoring 28 points to take a large lead early on. It marked the third time this year that the Rams scored four touchdowns in a quarter and the 12th time since 1973 that they registered 28 points in a 15-minute span.
 
Millersville outscored West Chester, 16-14, the rest of the way. However, the outcome of the contest was never really in doubt.
 
"There is no such thing as a bad win," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan said. "This was a bit frustrating at times. But, I give Millersville a ton of credit. They kept battling and battling to the end, and they forced our guys play hard throughout.
 
West Chester's 10 sacks equaled the total the Golden Rams had against East Stroudsburg in 1994 while Sr., Nydair Rouse (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) returned an interception 35 yards for the fourth and final score of the first quarter. It was his fourth pick-six in his career, leaving him one shy of the school's all-time record of five INT's returned for a TD in a career.
 
Dukes busted off a 35-yard run, diving for the pilon just four minutes into the game, to give the hosts an early 7-0 lead. West Chester then scored 21 points in the final 2:32 of the quarter to break things wide open. Rasheem James (Philadelphia, Pa./Ben Franklin) caught a 9-yard TD pass from A.J. Long (Bethlehem, Pa./Friendship Christian [Tenn.]), Ethan Price (Coopersburg, Pa./So. Lehigh) then got free down the sideline and turned Long's pass into a 63-yard score, Rouse's pick-six followed on the next play from scrimmage and just like that it was 28-0.
 
Millersville fought back with a touchdown and a field goal in the second quarter to make it a 28-10 game at the break.
 
However, Mike Class (Souderton, Pa./Pennridge) ran in from 9 yards out, and James caught his second TD pass of the day, in the third quarter to push the lead to 42-10. Millersville tacked on a TD pass in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overcome such a deficit.
 
James finished the day with five catches for 40 yards and two scores. Long was 8-for-18 for 135 yards and three TD passes. He also rushed for 54 yards.
 
Defensively, Tyler Morrissey (Springfield, Pa./Springfield-DELCO) , Diquan Gilbert (Philadelphia, Pa./Comm. Tech) and Ch'aim Smith (York, Pa./York Suburban) each registered a pair of sacks. Smith also was credited with a pair of pass breakups, knocking down two passes at the line of scrimmage. Morrissey was one of three Golden Rams to record a team-best seven tackles.
 
West Chester will remain at home next Saturday when Shippensburg visits Farrell Stadium for a 12:06 p.m. kick. That game will be broadcast live on SportsFever TV.