West Chester’s first loss is last for 2018
WEST GOSHEN >> In the span of just seven days, the West Chester football program went from the euphoria of capturing its first outright conference championship in 47 years, to a shocking first round playoff loss that ranks right up there among the most painful in program history.
Just one win away from the first 11-0 start in 97-years of WCU football — which would have secured another home game in round two of next weekend’s NCAA Division II Playoffs — the Golden Rams suffered a devastating 35-28 upset to visiting New Haven (9-2) at a stunned Farrell Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“We just didn’t have the fire in us,” admitted West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan. “It didn’t look like the same exact team that we’ve been. I take some of the blame because of the hangover from the (PSAC) Championship Game. We probably let that (celebration) go on a little too long.”
Seeded sixth in the seventeam Super Regional I, New Haven ended the thirdseeded Rams season by doing something that nobody else had been able to do: move the chains against WCU’s lauded defense. It ended up the most points
(35) and the most yards
(406) that the Rams have surrendered all season.
“Nobody’s done that to our defense all season,” Zwaan said.
“It was a tough way to go out,” added WCU defensive coordinator Mike Furlong. “We didn’t play the way we’ve played all season. Give New Haven credit. They out-executed us start to finish.”
It also didn’t help that the eighth-ranked Rams
(10-1 overall) ended the game with its third-stringer under the center, after star quarterback A.L. Long suffered a hip injury in the fourth quarter with the score deadlocked. And top backup Paul Dooley did not dress for the game after sustaining a non-football injury earlier in the week.
“It was bad luck but we’ve had good luck a lot during the regular season,” Zwaan said.
“I am pretty stunned,” said senior running back Mike Class. “I thought we were the best team in the whole nation.
“We had a great regular season. This hurts because we all know this team could have gone a lot farther than dropping in the first round of the playoffs. It’s just terrible the way we went out.”