WCU happy to keep its season alive

WEST GOSHEN » Surprises are generally an unwelcome development when it comes to NCAA selection shows, but what happened Sunday was an exception for West Chester football.

A day after dropping the PSAC Championship Game at home, the Golden Rams’ season was extended. West Chester (8-3 overall) was an unexpected entry into the 28-team NCAA Division II Playoffs, grabbing a fifth seed in Super Region I.

“I am pleasantly surprised,” said head coach Bill Zwaan. “I saw something online beforehand that explained a way we could possibly get in because of our strength of schedule and a couple of our wins. So I went in feeling that there was a chance.”

For the second time this season, the Rams will travel to Shippensburg to take on the fourth seeded Raiders (10-1) in round one on Saturday (1 p.m. kickoff). The winner will draw top-seeded Indiana (Pa.) on Nov. 25.

“A lot of our seniors thought that their college careers were over, but now they’ve earned themselves another game,” Zwaan said. “I feel great for them.

“We are just excited to be in the playoffs and none of us were really worried about who we would be playing. The fact that it’s a team we have some knowledge and feel for probably makes it a little better for us.”

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that WCU handed Shippensburg its only setback on Oct. 7th at Seth Grove Stadium. It is a bit ironic that West Chester’s most impressive victory in the regular season was a key factor in getting the postseason berth, and the reward is a rematch.

“That day, after the game, I was proud of what the kids accomplished (at Shippensburg) because I knew what a good team we were playing and that we were somewhat shorthanded,” said Zwaan, remembering the 37-27 triumph . “We just hung in there and figured out a way to get it done.”

It is a mystery how WCU actually moved up a spot in the regional rankings, from No. 6 to 5, after dropping a home contest, but Zwaan isn’t complaining. Conventional wisdom was that 8-3 Slippery Rock would finish higher than the Rams because the Rock edged West Chester 49-42 in early September. But a loss to Kutztown on Saturday dropped SRU from fifth to out of the top seven and out of a berth.

“I was surprised we were (seeded) five,” Zwaan acknowledged. “But then I started thinking that in the past, when two teams are right next to each other (in seeding like WCU and Shippensburg), and the lower team has beaten the upper team, they flip it. So then I thought ‘why aren’t we four?’”

The Rams and the Raiders shared the PSAC East title but WCU won the headto-head tiebreaker in order to earn a spot in the conference title game. Indiana (Pa.) topped West Chester in that clash 24-7 last Saturday.

“Our rivalry with Ship is such that they always have fire in their eyes when they play us,” said Zwaan, when asked about the revenge factor. “It’s always a battle, especially when they get us at home. So it won’t be much difference than it was in the regular season.”

The other qualifiers in the region are No. 2 Shepherd (10-0), No. 3 Assumption (9-1), No. 6 California, Pa. (9-2) and No. 7 Findlay (9-2). The Rams are making the program’s 12th overall appearance in the NCAAs, and seventh since Zwaan became head coach in 2003. The last was in 2014 and WCU advanced to the semifinals.

“The reason it’s important that we got in is that it’s getting harder and harder,” Zwaan explained. “Our scholarship levels keep changing and it’s getting more and more difficult to compete with those Western (PSAC) teams.”

According to Zwaan, West Chester currently has seven and a half scholarship equivalencies, and IUP has in the “30 range.”

“To keep getting good players in here, being able to win the PSAC East and being able to get into the playoffs are huge when it comes to recruiting,” he added.