ERIE, PA – Jr., RB
Ja'Den McKenzie (Morton, Pa./Springfield) rushed for 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns while West Chester's defense shut out host Gannon in the second half at McConnell Family Stadium in a 29-23 victory for the Golden Rams Saturday afternoon.
West Chester (2-1) bounced back from a lackluster performance a week ago at home against Slippery Rock to come from behind and hand Gannon (2-1) its first loss of the season.
The Golden Rams' defense forced three turnover-on-downs in the second half and limited the Golden Knights to just 132 yards of total offense on five possessions. Jr., LB
Jackson Taylor (Glenside, Pa./Abington) sacked Gannon QB Kory Curtis in the end zone on the last play of the game to put an exclamation point on the victory.
McKenzie busted off a 49-yard TD run on West Chester's first possession of the second half to put the visitors in front for good, 24-23. It put the junior runner over 100 yards on the day for the ninth time in his career. His 153 yards on the ground also marked his third-best rushing effort in a game in his career.
Quarterback
Desman Johnson (Yeadon, Pa./Penn Wood), who tossed a 26-yard TD pass to
Mari Wright (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Twp.) in the first half, played the entire second half for injured starter
Cooper Jordan (Downingtown, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) and engineered the Golden Rams' comeback. He finished the day 3-of-7 for 67 yards and the one score. He also rushed eight times for 73 yards. West Chester rushed for 285 yards as a team Saturday.
"Ja'Den and Des did a great job running the football today, especially getting yards after the initial hit," WCU head coach
Bill Zwaan said. "We ran the ball hard, and we needed every yard to get this win."
In addition to McKenzie's long run on the first drive of the second half and Taylor's safety to end the game, So., PK
Sean Henry (Reading, Pa./Exeter) kicked a career-long 37-yard field goal as the Golden Rams outscored the Golden Knights, 12-0, after halftime.
West Chester had jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter. After Gannon opened the scoring with a 27-yard field goal, Johnson hooked up with Wright on a nice one-handed grab that the grad student turned into six points. Johnson entered the game when Jordan's helmet had come off on the previous play.
McKenzie increased the lead to 11 on the first play of the second quarter with a 24-yard TD run. That carry put McKenzie over 2,000 career rushing yards making him the 19th player in school history to eclipse that milestone. He is the fourth fastest to that mark as well – doing it in 26 games.
Gannon responded with 20 straight points to take a 23-14 lead late in the first half. However, the Golden Knights committed a pair of personal fouls on their last score that left Gannon kicking off from its own 10-yard line. As a result, West Chester started its final possession of the half at Gannon's 46 with 1:59 to play. That drive ended with a 35-yard field goal from Henry with :17 left.
The Golden Rams took the second half kickoff and drove 76 yards on four plays capped by McKenzie's 49-yard score. Those 10-points on consecutive possessions around halftime was the difference in the game.
Taylor finished with a season-high 11 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss which included the safety sack. He also recovered a fumble.
Maurice Beverly (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) finished with eight stops, including 1.5 for a loss, a sack and also forced a fumble.
Zach Liggitt (Danielsville, Pa./Northampton) registered two sacks and forced two fumbles.
West Chester returns home next Saturday for a noon kickoff against Millersville on Family Weekend. It will mark the beginning of conference play in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division.
