Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Mike Mattei threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns for the purple side while Sean McCartney went 10-for-16 for 137 yards and even caught a TD pass to lead the gold side to a 24-20 victory in West Chester University’s annual spring game Thursday night at Farrell Stadium.
The battle for the starting quarterback position becomes ever more clouded with the performance of the two main signal callers Thursday. Head coach Bill Zwaan wanted to have his decision by the end of spring practice. He now has a difficult decision to make.
Gold’s defensive lineman Demrick Cook returned an interception eight yards for a touchdown with 3:04 remaining to break a 17-all tie. Mattei was scrambling around the end zone when he lofted an ill-fated pass into Cook’s waiting arms. Purple’s only answer was a 32-yard field goal by Shawn Leo with 12:30 left in the contest.
Purple outgained Gold in total yardage, 326-250, and averaged 5.8 yards per play offensively with just one turnover. However, they could only muster two long TD catches and a pair of field goals on Gold’s stingy defense.
Gold put together a 10-play drive near the end of the first quarter that culminated in a 5-yard touchdown run from Rondell White (26 yards rushing). McCartney caught a 13-yard TD pass from White, who lined up at quarterback in the wildcat formation, for the only score in the second quarter. Rich Bruno kicked a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter, and Cook capped Gold’s day with his INT return.
“The game encapsulated the entire spring,” head coach Bill Zwaan said. “We hit. We played physical defensively. The game brought out a lot of camaraderie among the kids on the team. They played hard, but they rooted for one another.
“The way we played, tonight, was what I thought I had seen all spring. It was a good representation of our spring season.”
Eric Edwers led Purple with 10 tackles on the evening, including a pair of sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Ronell Williams, the team’s leading tackler last fall, made six stops, snagged a one-handed interception retreating into coverage, and broke up another pass. Matt Carroll, making the switch from quarterback to defensive back/linebacker, finished with five tackles, including one sack and one fumble recovery.
“I think Matt gives us some speed out there at outside linebacker that we haven’t had in a while,” Zwaan said.
Brian Butler and Chris DiValentino each posted six stops for the Gold side. Butler added three sacks and five tackles for a loss.
Dwight Williams caught four passes for 149 yards, including a 70-yard scamper down the near sideline with 8:37 left in the third quarter. He was purple’s leading receiver in the game. Teammate Jim Kelly also caught four passes for 91 yards. He hauled in a 75-yard TD reception that opened the scoring five minutes into the game.
LaRonn Lee snared a game-high seven passes for 104 yards on the gold side. Tim Keyser caught four passes for 57 yards.
Drew Loughery was 4-for-9 for 80 yards and a pair of interceptions for Gold. James Rusenko went 6 of 15 for 56 yards. He was sacked six times as the gold team registered a grand total of eight sacks on the night.
Chris Smallwood led Purple in rushing with 42 yards on 12 carries.
Leo made good on two of his three field goal attempts, including a 47-yarder in the first quarter. Rich Bruno averaged 43.4 yards per boot on seven punts for Gold. Will Huff handled those duties for Purple and averaged 40.3 yards on seven punts.
The annual spring game concludes the spring practice season for West Chester University’s football squad. Gold won the game for the third time in the last five years. Gold won in both 2008 and 2010. The game ended in a tie in 2009.
West Chester opens its 2012 schedule Aug. 30 at Division I-FCS Delaware in what will be the final game in the regional rivalry. The Golden Rams home opener is Sep. 8 at 12 p.m. against Gannon.
