WEST CHESTER QUARTERBACK A.J. LONG THREW FOR 3 TOUCHDOWNS AND RAN FOR ANOTHER IN THE GOLDEN RAMS WIN OVER GANNON (West Chester University photo)

WEST CHESTER -After a slow start, the West Chester Golden Rams (2-0) won going away at John A. Farrell Stadium on Saturday afternoon besting Gannon University 31-7 in a PSAC crossover game. West Chester quarterback A.J. Long had three touchdown passes and a run for a score as he piled up 347 all-purpose yards. The Golden Rams defense made a statement by holding the Golden Knights (0-2) to just 259 yards total offense and All-American running back Marcus Jones to 62 yards.

“There were a lot of things they showed on film,” Long said about the slow start, “and there were a lot of things they did today that were new and the first couple drives we weren’t ready for it, we weren’t sure what we were seeing. Once we got locked into what we were seeing and playing our game, we started clicking.

“We need to maintain that for four quarters of play. We shouldn’t come out and have two bad series then light it up for 31 points then go back having bad series. We have to mentally stay locked in.”

Except for the defense, things couldn’t have started worse for the Golden Rams. They fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Gannon recovered the ball at the West Chester 10-yard line. Three plays later, it was 7-0 after a one-yard run by Golden Knights quarterback Jimmy Keefe.
For West Chester, the second possession was a three-and-out and the third netted one first down. So, after three attempts with the ball, they had eight yards, one first down and a fumble but the defense was dominating the Golden Knights. After the touchdown on the short field, Gannon gained 69 yards on 26 plays for the rest of the first half and 19 of those yards came on one play, the only pass in five tries that Keefe would complete in the first quarter.

The offense finally got going and it didn’t slow down for a while. On their fourth possession, facing a third-and-seven from their own 28, Long connected with tight end Cody Boozel, who was open along the sideline. Boozel rumbled down to the Gannon 19 but was flagged for a penalty that moved the ball back to the Golden Knights 36. Again, on third down, Long converted with a 16-yard pass to Rasheem James. On the next play, Boosel made a great catch in the end zone despite being interfered with for a 15-yard score and a tie game.

On their next possession, West Chester benefited from roughing the kicker penalty on a punt. Given new life, Long ran for 37 yards on the first play after the penalty. It led to a 28-yard field goal by Andrew Chegia.

After a three-and-out by Gannon, Long led the Golden Rams on a 75-yard drive which he capped with a seven-yard run to extend the lead to 17-7. Along the way, he was 3 for 3 passing for 37 yards and had an 18-yard run in addition to the score.

Just before half, the Golden Rams needed just 39 seconds to go 67 yards. Long found Lex Rosario along the right hash mark, Rosario made a cut and raced to paydirt on a play that covered 33 yards.

On their first possession of the second half, the Golden Rams made It 31-7. This time on a 40-yard pass to James, who finished with 121 yards on seven catches, that was similar to Rosario’s touchdown in that James made an excellent cut to ensure that he would score.

On the ensuing possession, Gannon wide receiver Dontae Owens was going up for a pass, he tangled with West Chester’s Jaishan Thornton and landed awkwardly. The resulting injury necessitated, Owens be taken off the field on a stretcher. Nothing further was announced about Owens by the end of the game but the apparent seriousness of the injury took the air out of the stadium and both teams. Jarey Elder’s two interceptions were about the only highlight.

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