Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Line Up: Men in the trenches control the game for Rams
WEST GOSHEN » The boxscore from Thursday night’s 51-9 West Chester University rout over Bentley is littered with the names of skill players stating their case for stardom.
Dukes. Elder. Dooley. Long. Karpinski. Banks.
Those guys helped the Golden Rams amass 478 yards on 65 plays, and are the guys who will be remembered by the 3,200 fans who went home happy.
But there are plenty of names not in the boxscore who are also proud of Thursday’s effort.
Quarterback Paul Dooley finished the contest 12-15 passing, for 183 yards and three touchdowns. It seemed as if time and time again he led the Golden Rams down the field without much resistance from the Bentley defense, thanks largely to the play of the WCU offensive line, which protected Dooley (and A.J. Long) all night long.
“It was preparation,” said center Devan LeBeau. “We’ve had a long camp … a lot of time to click.
The overall chemistry between us led us to click tonight.”
WCU’s strong night of blocking up front opened avenues for the likes of Dooley, Jarel Elder, Mark Dukes and Mike Class on the ground, with Dukes putting up WCU’s first seven points of the season on a 57-yard scamper in the 1st quarter. That started a run in which the Golden Rams rattled off 51 unanswered points, a scoring stampede that was only halted by a garbage-time touchdown
for the Falcons.
The Golden Rams racked up 206 net rushing yards, including a touchdown each for Dukes and Elder.
West Chester’s line has been subject to some major injuries, but offensive lineman Jake Duncan thinks the Golden Rams’ experience will allow them to overcome the issues that have plagued his unit dating back to the spring.
“I feel for us, we’ve got a lot of senior guys, a lot of talent and a lot of experience,” Duncan said. “We come out to play every day.”
In the victory, WCU employed two different quarterbacks in Dooley and Long. While both can break
off for big runs, Dooley is more a proponent of the pocket, while Long prefers to use his legs to advance the chains. When ask if there’s a schematic difference in protecting the two, LeBeau and Duncan said it’s a bit more simple than it might seem.
“We go out and do the job no matter who is throwing,” LeBeau said. “Whoever is behind us should trust in us the same way we trust in them.”
Duncan was quick to agree.
“Every protection, we block it the same,” Duncan said. “If there’s a change needed, we change it at the line.”