The Golden Rams are 8-2 (5-2 PSAC East) after rolling past Lock Haven (1-9, 0-7) this past weekend, 56-14. West Chester built up a 42-0 lead by the third quarter and never looked back.
"We did what we wanted to do as far as scoring points early," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan told KYW Newsradio. "(Quarterback) Paul Dooley had a real nice game, threw four touchdown passes and ran one in. So that was nice to get him going."
West Chester currently sits seventh in the latest Division II regional rankings (Super Region One) with the top seven teams heading to the postseason. So the playoffs are still a very real possibility for the Golden Rams, but the situation is fluid.
"The Tiffin team who's going to be a conference champion is sitting at eight, so they would become seven by the earned access rule if they win this weekend," Zwaan said. "So we have to worry about winning. If we beat Cal, if we can get this done this weekend, I really feel like we're going to be in because the team in front of us, West Virginia State, is going to play Notre Dame (OH) this weekend, who is third, so the loser of that game will probably be more precarious than us. But our number one thing is we have to win this game."
And it will be a tough game as the Vulcans will come to town with a record of 7-3.
"Their only losses are to Slippery Rock and Kutztown, who are both undefeated, and IUP who has one loss to Slippery Rock," Zwaan said. "So they've played pretty good teams and they've played them pretty tough. So we're facing a really good team. If we are a playoff-level team, we would have to beat this type of team in the playoffs anyhow. So for us, it's a great test. We'll come out finding out where we belong and if we can pull this off then I think we'll be okay when the playoffs start. But this is going to be a tough game for us, no question about it."
Saturday's game at Farrell Stadium gets underway at 1 p.m.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @Mattleon1060.