West Chester Opens PSAC East Play Saturday Vs. Lock Haven
by Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Division II West Chester University Golden Rams will play their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division opener on Saturday night as they welcome Lock Haven to town.
West Chester is 1-2 on the season and coming off a crazy game last week at Edinboro. The Golden Rams trailed at the half 24-7, came firing back in the second half, but ultimately fell short, losing in double-overtime, 54-51.
"The one positive is the kids didn't quit and they fought their way back," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan tells KYW Newsradio. "We had a chance to win it on a field goal late, but we didn't make the field goal. The negatives are that we put ourselves in that position where we had to come roaring back and we've got to stop doing that. We've been struggling coming out of the gate. Our first halves have been really poor from an offensive standpoint and then all of a sudden we catch fire in the second half and get back into games and give ourselves a chance. But there's a lot of things we have to clean up."
Listen to the entire interview with West Chester's Bill Zwaan:
West Chester had all kinds of guys put up gaudy numbers against Edinboro.
Junior quarterback Andrew Derr completed 39 of 70 passes for 559 yards (all school records). He threw four touchdowns, but also had four interceptions.
Junior wide receiver Tyler Karpinski caught nine of Derr's throws for 178 yards and a score.
Junior running back Jarel Elder ran the ball 22 times for 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
On Saturday, the Golden Rams will face a Lock Haven team that is 0-3. Last season these two teams met in Lock Haven and the game was tied at nine at halftime, but West Chester controlled the second half, winning, 33-9.
Zwaan scouts the 2016 version of the Bald Eagles.
"Quarterback (Caleb Walton) who has really has played well against us in the past," Zwaan says. "They have a couple of good recievers, including a really good tight end. Defensively, they do a lot of things scheme-wise that you've got to be prepared for because they like to blitz, they're always sending one or two guys at you. You've got to be able to pick that up and then try to take advantage of it. And they play physical."
Saturday's game will kickoff at 6:00pm at Farrell Stadium.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
