Jordan, WCU offense explodes in lopsided win over Lock Haven – Daily Local

WEST GOSHEN >> It was the quarter of a game West Chester’s offense had been desperately seeking for months, if not years.

After a largely uninspired first half against woeful Lock Haven, the Golden Rams exploded for five touchdowns in the third period alone to beat the visiting Bald Eagles 58-10 in a PSAC East game Saturday at Farrell Stadium.

“I think we needed it,” West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan said. “We have been engaged in such a performance for a whole year. “If you guys just let loose and play the way you can, you’re a good football team.”

“Today we played the way we can.”

It was the most points in a quarter since the 2017 campaign for WCU, which improved to 3-3 in the division (5-4 overall). Lock Haven falls to 0-6, 1-8. In fact, the Rams scored more points — four touchdowns — in a wild 4-minute, 30-second stretch of a monster quarter than they have in any complete game this season.

With 466 yards of total offense, it was a season high. And it marked the most points scored by the Rams since 2018, when they scored 59 points against Seton Hill.

“We’ve been waiting for this to happen all season,” sophomore safety Zach Demarchis said. “We felt it this week and played like we really can.”

It was the first leg of a three-game streak that ended a disappointing regular season. The Rams have already put together the program’s worst two-season stretch since 2011-12, when WCU went 9-13 overall. But a convincing finish was just what the Rams needed ahead of a 7-2 visit to Kutztown next week.

“We really want to take these last three games, regardless of what happened before, and finish the season the right way,” said DeMarchis, who had five tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.

Sharing QB duties on every other possession with fellow freshman Ethan Kohler, Jordan Cooper provided a big boost to WCU’s offense in the first half. The former Bishop Shanahan standout led the Rams to two first-half TDs. He carried it into the end zone to cap the march midway through the second quarter and make it 10-0.

Jordan then orchestrated a two-minute drill with precision, hitting D’Sean Seals 45 yards, scrambling for 20 more and setting the stage for Ja’Dan McKenzie’s fourth down to make it 17-3. half

And when West Chester scored quickly on the first drive of the second half with Jordan under center, he earned a curtsy on the next two possessions. The Rams scored 14 quick points, with running back Phil Pokey registering the first TD and McKenzie scoring the second on Jordan’s 38-yard field goal to Marie Wright.

“We’ve been saying all season that if we play the way we can play, it’s going to look like this,” Jordan said.

“We scored right before the end of the half, so that gave us a big lift (going into intermission), and then we came out (in the second half) and — bang, bang, hit a couple more,” Zwan added.

Jordan finished the day with a 34-point lead. But moments after DeMarchis pounced on an LHU fumble, Kolcher found Sills for a 29-yard field goal. And then, before the end of the quarter, the Rams added another – their 34th point of the period – when sophomore wide receiver Julian Kelly scored the first touchdown of his college career to make it 51-3.

“We cleaned up some things at halftime and just like that we made a couple of big plays,” Zwaan recalled.

“We worked on some plays all week, but Coop wasn’t feeling them. We went through with him again at halftime and then he hit them. That’s the thing to do with a young guy is keep looking at it and eventually he’ll see it. He did, and he made some really good plays.

“(Jordan) is going to keep getting better and better. He’s still figuring some things out right now, but once he does, he can be pretty brutal. And Ethan (Koller) made some good plays for us as well. We have two pretty good young defenders.”

With backups in the game, Lock Haven got its only touchdown on a 75-yard run by DeAndre Wakefield. WCU’s defense provided the final points when true freshman Stanley Bryant (Downingtown East) returned an interception 29 yards for a score.

“It’s hard to understand why these big plays keep happening. We just have to work on staying locked in every game,” DeMarchis said.

“Defensively, we just went after (Lock Haven’s) quarterback,” Zwaan added. “We pressured him and made him make mistakes and that led to good field position.”

In all, LHU managed just 178 yards of total offense. West Chester forced two fumbles and sacked the Eagles’ QB three times.

“We’ve never had a win like this where everyone’s smiling afterward,” DeMarchis said.

Jordan was a super-efficient 7-for-8 for 220 yards and no interceptions. And he added 52 yards on the ground, averaging 7.4 per attempt.

“I feel a lot more confident,” Jordan said. “The game is definitely slowing down for me.

“We just trusted each other and our coaches. The (offensive) line really played well and opened things up for us to go. We had a lot of momentum and now our confidence is really high.”