West Chester Falls In Season Finale To IUP, 31-24

WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Indiana (Pa.) scored the go-ahead touchdown with 14 seconds left in the game to come from behind and defeat host West Chester, 31-24, Saturday in a non-league regular-season finale at John A. Farrell Stadium.
 
Dayjure Stewart plunged through the line from two yards out for the winning score. IUP got the scoring opportunity when Tyrone Fowler Jr., strip-sacked West Chester QB Shane Dooley (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) at the WCU 14 and the Crimson Hawks jumped on it with 1:01 to play.
 
IUP (7-3) scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to erase a 14-point deficit and storm all the way back for the win in the season finale for both. The Golden Rams finished the 2021 campaign at 6-5.
 
Ja'Den McKenzie (Morton, Pa./Springfield) rushed for 112 yards and three touchdowns while Dooley was 14 of 24 for 302 yards and one interception before the fateful fumble. Rasheem James (Philadelphia, Pa./Ben Franklin) caught six passes for 115 yards in the loss.
 
In the first quarter, West Chester seemed to have a good thing going early as they moved the ball 60 yards on 10 plays before a Dooley interception on what was a broken play, halted the drive and gave the ball to the Crimson Hawks for the first time on the afternoon.
 
West Chester stood tall defensively as the Golden Rams forced their gusests into a quick three-and-out as IUP gained just one yard on the drive before being forced to Punt. West Chester and IUP traded punts through the balance of the first quarter as the neither team cracked the scoreboard, thus, sending the game to the second quarter even at 0-0.
 
With its first drive of the second quarter, IUP put together a nine-play, 52-yard drive with all 52 yards coming via rushes to score its first points of the game on a 25-yard field goal to give the Crimson Hawks an early 3-0 lead with 7:45 to play.
 
Unamused by the IUP field goal, West Chester answered right back as Ja'Den McKenzie () raced 47 yards to cap a four-play, 83-yard drive and give West Chester a 7-3 lead with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.
 
After a quick three-and-out by the Crimson Hawks, IUP attempted a fake punt gone awry, as the snap was mishandled, which led to West Chester taking over at the 10-yard line with 5:27 to play in the second quarter.
 
It did not take long for West Chester to take advantage of the short field as McKenzie punched it in from 10 yards out for his second score of the day to give the Golden Rams a commanding 14-3 lead with 5:22 to play.
 
In the closing moments of the second half, West Chester ate up 67  yards over the course of two big throws from Dooley to Rasheem James () and Dan Neuhaus () to set the Golden Rams up with first and goal from the five-yard line. IUP stiffened in the closing seconds to force West Chester to attempt a 22-yard field goal attempt, which Sean Henry () converted to give West Chester a 17-3 lead with just 19 seconds until the halftime break.
 
At the end of the first half, West Chester held a 17-3 lead and had outgained its visitors by an impressive 240 to 120-yard margin. Somewhat uncharacteristically for West Chester, IUP did manage to outgain the Golden Rams by an 85-81 margin in the first half, but West Chester ended the opening half. with a 163-35 advantage in passing yards at the break.
 
After a scoreless third quarter, IUP got the big play it had been seeking throughout the afternoon as the Crimson Hawks connected on a 74-yard pass play to draw back within a score, making the score 17-10 with 14:20 to play in the fourth quarter.
 
Similarly to the first itme IUP scored, West Chester answered back with McKenzie touchdown as the Golden Rams covered 75 yards on nine plays over the course of 5:45 to extend the lead to 24-10 with 8:35 to go. This score was setup by another stellar connection between Dooley and Neuhaus, as the redshirt-freshman found his big tight end on a 22-yard connection to convert a fourth down and 16, which extended the drive and moved the ball inside the 10-yard line.
 
IUP began to put a drive together after this score as the Crimson Hawks continued to try and battle back into the contest, capping the drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to the back of the endzone to trim the West Chester lead to 24-17 with 6:48 to play.
 
After forcing West Chester to punt and getting the ball back with 3:04 to play, IUP went to work as the Crimson Hawks looked to tie the game in the waning moments. IUP evened the score with 1:41 to play after traversing 88 yards in just 1:23, tying the game at 24-24.
 
West Chester got the ball back with 1:39 to play and IUP made arguably its biggest defensive play of the game with a strip sack of Dooley to get the ball back on the West Chester 14 with 1:01 to play in regulation. IUP capitalized on the short field moments later, scoring the go-ahead touchdown from two yards out to take a 31-24 lead.