West Chester Hoping To Earn Berth In PSAC Title Game

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It will be a critical game for the Division II West Chester University Golden Rams on Saturday as they welcome East Stroudsburg to John A. Farrell Stadium.

West Chester improved to 6-3 this past weekend with a 41-20 win over winless Cheyney University. More importantly, the victory improved the Golden Rams to 5-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's East Division. That has them tied for first in the division with Shippensburg. Now the Red Raiders own the tiebreaker between the two teams, but a win by West Chester and a loss by Shippensburg in their game with Kutztown, would earn the Golden Rams a spot in the PSAC title game. Not bad for a team that started the 2015 season 0-2.

"We're happy in a lot of ways with some of the things we've gotten done," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan tells KYW Newsradio. "We still don't feel like we play as consistently well as we were expecting at this point in the year. We still have up and down times where we move the ball well, and then there's times we don't. So there are some things we haven't seen progress at the level we were hoping for. But in general, hey, we're playing for a possible spot in the championship game, so you've got to be happy with where we're at and the opportunity we have and now we just have to try and cash in on it."

Listen to the entire interview with West Chester's Bill Zwaan

West Chester did get some bad news in the win over Cheyney as their outstanding senior tight end Tim Brown suffered an ankle injury and will be lost for the rest of the season. Despite playing in just seven games this season, Brown leads West Chester with 33 catches for 444 yards. He also has caught five touchdowns.

"It's a huge loss," Zwaan says. "Obviously, Timmy's a great player, an All-American. You don't really replace him in a week. So it will have some effect on (the passing game) for sure. Other guys are going to have to step up and try to get open and make plays. He's a great player and it's a huge loss, but our guys are just simply putting their heads down and saying, 'Hey, we've got to push ahead and got to do it without him.' And that's our plan."

East Stroudsburg is 5-4 on the season and they come into this game with a ton of momentum after stunning Bloomsburg last week, 35-34.

"They are really, really good on offense (40.4 ppg)," Zwaan says. "Their quarterback, Matt Soltes has been a four year starter for them, has great career numbers and great numbers again this year. So he's a real challenge for any defense. And they have a tremendous receiver who is in the eighties as far as receptions are concerned (Jon Schnaars) and (17) touchdowns. So they can put points on the board and they'll do it by throwing the ball more than running. Even though they have a nice running back (Robert Healy) who is a very versatile kid, catches the ball out of the backfield and runs with the football. So their offense can score on anybody at any time."

Last season, these two teams played in East Stroudsburg with West Chester winning, 35-24.

Saturday's game will kickoff at 1:00pm.