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WEST CHESTER, PA - West Chester fell to 1-1 on the season Saturday afternoon with a 35-14 loss to Slippery Rock in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) crossover tilt. The Rock, which entered the game ranked 18th, pulled away from the Golden Rams in the second half and improved to 2-0 overall.
The game was tight in the first half as West Chester ran the ball 23 times for 82 yards and trailed by just 14-7 at halftime. Junior
Ja'Den McKenzie (Morton, Pa./Springfield) led the way with 32 yards rushing on 10 carries. Sophomore quarterback
Shane Dooley (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) ran for 21 yards and completed 5 passes for 62 yards. He also threw an interception.
After Slippery Rock took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 17-yard run, West Chester answered with an 8-yard option run by Dooley early in the second quarter to tie the score. The drive took just five plays and 2:14 to cover 21 yards into the end zone.
But The Rock, led by senior quarterback Noah Grover, only needed 31 seconds to retake the lead, 14-7. Grover (19 of 32 for 250 yards overall) hit wide receiver Kyle Sheets in stride with a 69-yard scoring toss. The drive put Slippery Rock ahead to stay and took just 31 seconds to cover 75 yards.
West Chester was hindered by four penalties in the first half, totaling 45 yards. Its passing offense was limited to five completions on 14 attempts by an aggressive Slippery Rock defense. Sophomore
D'Shaun Seals (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) led the Golden Rams in first half receiving with two catches for 26 yards.
Overall in the first half, The Rock totaled 185 yards of total offense on 32 plays while the Golden Rams had 144 total yards on 37 plays.
West Chester could not get its offense rolling in the second half, and Slippery Rock had its running and passing games both going strong. The Rock scored three straight touchdowns, starting with a 26-yard run by Chris D'Or (108 yards rushing in the game). D'Or scored at the 5:24 mark of the third quarter to cap off a 97-yard drive in 8 plays, making it 21-7 for the visitors.
In the fourth quarter, senior defensive back
Sterlen Barr (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) helped the Golden Rams stop a Rock drive by intercepting a Grover pass at the WCU 3-yard line. But the Rams went 3-and-out on offense and were forced to punt out of their own end zone.
Slippery Rock added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 35-7. The first TD came on a 1-yard keeper by Grover, and the final TD was a 1-yard carry by Chris Wells.
West Chester kept battling in the final quarter, and with freshman QB
Cooper Jordan (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) at the helm, the Golden Rams moved 73 yards in eight plays to make it 35-14. Jordan hit Seals with a 6-yard TD pass with 32 seconds left on a well-thrown ball into the back of the end zone. It was Jordan's first collegiate TD. He finished 4-of-7 passing for 57 yards overall.
For the game, McKenzie produced 34 yards on the ground, leaving him just 13 yards short of the 2,000 yard mark for the Golden Rams. On defense, junior
Jackson Taylor (Glenside, Pa./Abington) and freshman
Maurice Beverly (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) had excellent games with six tackles each.
Khalib Slaughter (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) and
Oscar Uduma (Folcroft, Pa./Bonner-Prendergast) had five tackles apiece. Beverly also blocked a field goal attempt.
Up next for the Golden Rams is a road trip to Erie, Pa., to face Gannon on Saturday, with a noon kickoff time.
