The Quad

Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Sports

This was not the way that the West Chester seniors wanted to end their collegiate football careers. Playing in front of a raucous crowd at John A. Farrell Stadium, the No. 3 Golden Rams were defeated by the No. 6 Indiana University (PA) Crimson Hawks 45-35 in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Division II Football Championship.

IUP was able to win a game that was a battle between two teams that played inconsistent in this affair. It seemed as if West Chester owned the first and third quarters, while IUP took control during the second and fourth quarters. Turnovers in this game for the Golden Rams doomed them throughout.

"You can't make as many mistakes as we made in a playoff game and expect to win. Kickoff returns come back to haunt us again, turnovers, just too many mistakes," head coach Bill Zwaan Sr. said of his teams play against IUP. "You can't do that against good football teams in playoff time and that's what happened and they took advantage of that."

West Chester came out throwing as quarterback Bill Zwaan Jr. hit receiver Mike Washington on a 45-yard pitch and catch that put the Rams deep inside IUP territory. But the offense wasn't able to sustain the drive as IUP linebacker James Carson picked off Zwaan. This marked the first interception of his career.

The defense came out strong. Safety Tyler Downes put a hit on Crimson Hawk running back Kareem Dutrieuille that forced him to fumble. Golden Ram linebacker Glen Walrath recovered the fumble to set up the Rams offense.

With great field position, West Chester went to the ground. Senior running back Osagie Osunde took the handoff off of a draw from Zwaan and scampered 29 yards to the end zone to put the home team on the board first.

The defense continued its strong play throughout the first quarter as sophomore linebacker Greg Smith sacked Crimson Hawk quarterback Andrew Krewatch to force the first of two consecutive three and outs by IUP.

The Golden Rams offense began to control the line of scrimmage as Osunde was able to rip off a couple of runs to set West Chester up inside the red-zone. Washington continued to impress as he caught an 11-yard touchdown from Zwaan just before the quarter expired. Zwaan was able to throw the ball across the field to Washington who was running away from the defender.

It seemed as if West Chester was going to run away with this game as they entered the second quarter up by two touchdowns. But after a 50-yard kickoff return by defensive back Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, IUP put their first points on the board. Krewatch hit junior receiver Ken Witter for a 23 yard touchdown. This would not be the last time that the two would hook up.

Continued...

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