West Chester lost on the road to Shepherd this past Saturday, 35-23. The Golden Rams fell behind 14-0 and 21-7 in the first half. They twice got within one score in the second half, but could never get over the hump.
"We came out actually in the third quarter, got it close and then got down in the red zone and had a chance, threw an interception, that really hurt us," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan said. "Later in the game, when we got close again, they got a kickoff return against us. We were in a good position but didn't make a play. Their guy got it across the 50 and gave them great field position and they scored.
“So when we had the opportunities to kind of close in on them, we didn't do it. We made some mistakes, and it cost us."
West Chester went with sophomore Mike Piperno at quarterback in the loss to Shepherd, as senior starter Paul Dooley missed the game with shoulder and elbow issues.
"I'm not exactly sure when we're going to get him back," Zwaan said of Dooley. "I'm hoping that we might be able to get something out of him this week. Depends on how his arm strength is. If he doesn't really have it, we're going to go with Mike Piperno again."
The loss to Shepherd dropped the Golden Rams to 6-1 (3-1 in the PSAC East). There is not a lot of margin for error in the PSAC East, but Zwaan said all is not lost just because of one defeat.
"We're still in the chase for the PSAC East championship," he said, "which then puts us in the PSAC Championship Game and the opportunity in the playoffs. So everything is still alive for us.
“But we can't make anymore mistakes."
East Stroudsburg is 5-2 (2-2 in the PSAC East). The Warriors opened the season with five straight wins, a stretch during which they averaged 40.4 points per game. In losing their last two games to Kutztown and Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg was held to a total of just 30 points.
"They've always had good offense, and they have that this year," Zwaan added. "They struggled the last two weeks, but before that they were putting up great numbers. Good quarterback (Jake Cirillo), who is big and he runs the ball and he runs people over. He's a really physical player and he's done a nice job for them."
Last year, West Chester went out to East Stroudsburg and beat the Warriors, 53-24.
Saturday's game gets underway at 2 p.m.