Chargers hand Rams 1st loss at Farrell

Chargers hand Rams 1st loss at Farrell

Athletics -- football

This article describes a loss to Hillsdale college by the WC football team, the first for Farrell stadium.

Scott Huff

Quad Angles

Special Collections, Francis Harvey Green Library, West Chester University

11-6-1973

Randall Cream

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https://digital.klnpa.org/digital/collection/wcnp01/id/14943

The West Chester State Golden Rams lost their first game ever at Farrell Stadium as they dropped a 13-7 decision to Hillsdale College. The contest was played before a homecoming crowd of 7000 on a near-perfect day for football. The Rams and the Chargers played to a scoreless tie in the first half. The West Chester defense played extremely well limiting Hillsdale to just four first downs, and forcing the Chargers to punt six times, despite injuries to Dennis lonavale and Tom Hennessey. Bob Cianni replaced lonavale, and Paul Tucci came in for Hennessey, joining the rest of the Ram defensive unit in keeping Hillsdale off the scoreboard. West Chester had the only opportunity of the half to score when Barry Stevenson attempted a 50 yard field goal. Stevenson's attempt was on target, but fell a few yards short of the uprights. Otherwise, the Rams didn't put too much together offensively. They did rush for 135 yards, but Warren Mays passed for just 17 yards completing only a pair of passes. The second half was more of the same with the exception of Hillsdale converting on key plays and emerging with the victory.The Chargers mounted an offensive drive early in the third period that carried to the WC 19 yard line. The drive was constructed completely of running plays. This is where key play No. 1 emerged. Hillsdale's quarterback Don MacGillvrey threw what was to be his only pass of the second half. It resulted in the contest's initial touchdown to his tight end Dave Young. Placekicker Saad Jallard converted to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead. The score seemed to inspire the Golden Rams. Guy VanAlstine ripped off a 34 yard gain and set the Rams up with good field position in Charger territory. Enter key play No. 2. West Chester was faced with a fourth and one at the Charger 20 — Herb Mills cracked into the line but failed to pick up the first down. The defense held, and gave the pigskin back to the Golden Rams. Once again the Purple & Gold stuck to the ground and moved into Hillsdale territory. Key play No. 3 surfaced when Tony Motolese was jarred loose from the football stopping a possible game tying drive. Although West Chester outscored Hillsdale 7-6 in the fourth quarter, the Chargers completely dominated the final period. MacGillvray engineered a time consuming (8 minute) drive that was entirely composed of running plays. This drive not only resulted in the winning Charger touchdown with John Waters going over from the three, but it kept the football out of WC hands for over half the period. The drive created key plays numbers four and five. The Chargers were faced with a fourth and one at the 30, and made it. Hillsdale was also confronted with a fourth and two at the WC seven yard line. In a surprise move, head coach Frank Waters decided not to kick a field goal, but go for the first down. His judgment was correct as the Chargers picked up that vital first down. The West Chester offense finally opened up with an all out passing attack. A long aerial from Mays to Merritt Kersey set up what was to be the only Ram score late in the game. Mills dove over from the one, and Stevenson's placement averted a shutout and cut the final margin to 13-7. There was no question that West Chester lost the ballgame. They were outplayed by an excellent Hillsdale Charger (6-2 record) football team. It was just a curious type defeat. Curious in that the Rams seemed to be playing very conservatively on offense. The running attack broke off some big gainers, but wasn't very consistent. The passing game was almost totally ignored until the contest was well out of reach. This tight, playing it close to the vest, type conservative play was not the observation of just this writer, but of almost everyone in the pressbox. The open, explosive offense that has typified West Chester football wasn't present when the game was on the line. The defense played a pretty good ballgame with the exception of the long drive in the fourth period. Jack Sweeney, Charles Keenan, Tucci, and Mel Hinton played tough on the front line. Billy Edger, Paul Givler, Orfio Collilouri, and Mike Fitzpatrick played aggressively behind the line. Ken Bardorf, Cianni, Pete DiFillippo, Charles McKenna, and Kevin McAneny played adequate secondary. You can't pin the loss on the play of the defense. The Golden Rams will need a super effort if they are to bounce back with a victory next Saturday. The opponents are the Villanova Wildcats, fresh off a convincing 24-7 victory over the Delaware Blue Hens. Game time is 1:30 and the contest will be played at Villanova.