By Neil Geoghegan
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WEST GOSHEN – The struggles at the start of the 2024 college football season have become a distant, if unpleasant, memory at West Chester.
The Golden Rams won for the third time in the last four appearances on Saturday in front of a large Homecoming crowd at sun-drenched Farrell Stadium, topping visiting Millersville 41-23. It was a workmanlike effort until WCU’s dynamic quarterback Copper Jordan put an exclamation point on the PSAC East win with two electrifying fourth-quarter touchdown runs on runs of 47 and 61 yards.
“In practice, he kicks our ass,” senior safety Shane Mosley said when asked about the 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior. “Honestly, he looks like Lamar Jackson in Louisville. I’m glad we don’t have to play him in our games.”
Jordan notched his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, and it’s no coincidence the Rams (3-2, 3-5) are undefeated in those games. He finished with a career-high 218 yards on the ground, and also torched the Marauders for three aerial touchdowns, two against senior wideout D’Shaun Seals, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Saturday.
“A lot of teams lose hope at 0-4, but we have a great head coach and he helped us keep our heads up,” said Jordan, a former star at Bishop Shanahan. “He believed in us and we believed in ourselves, and now we’re playing the way we should play. We still have a lot of fight left in us and will continue to attack every week.”
It was the first performance of more than 200 yards on the ground for a WCU player since running back Jarel Elder did it in 2015. Jordan averaged an astonishing 14.5 yards per attempt, accounted for five TDs (two running, three through the air), and almost certainly set the program record for rushing yards by a quarterback.
“My guys gave me the opportunity to make plays,” Jordan said. “There was a lot of open grass and I just relied on my legs to get me there.”
Additionally, redshirt sophomore runner Juke Peaker, a Philadelphia native, returned to the WCU lineup after missing two games with a concussion, scoring with 110 yards on the ground. In total, the Rams rolled up 357 rushing yards against the Marauders (0-5, 0-8).
“Coop is a great player,” West Chester head coach Duke Greco said. “He can do so many different things, and today our O-line was fantastic. We had (Jordan) going one way and Juke (Peaker) going the other. That’s good for us.”
Copper Jordan accounted for 349 yards and five touchdowns for WU against Millersville on Saturday. Photo by Tom Silknitter.
The Rams scored TDs on their first two possessions, with Peaker running the ball in from four yards out to open the scoring. However, point after attempt was blocked. West Chester then took advantage of a seven-yard punt on the next series, and it led to a 21-yard strike from Jordan to Seals to make it 13-0.
Millersville got on the board early in the second period with a 30-yard field goal, and it was 13-3 at halftime after WCU kicker Sean Henry badly missed a pair of field goal attempts from 41 and 31 yards.
The Rams extended the lead to 17 thanks to a 75-yard scoring march that ended early in the third with a 32-yard throw from Jordan to Raheim Bowens. Jordan and Seals then combined again late in the third for a 47-yard strike to make it 27-9.
“Seals is an elite receiver and he is as competitive as they come,” Greco said.
“We’ve been building that connection for years,” Jordan said when asked about Seals. “He’s one of my best friends on this team.”
West Chester’s defense surrendered two Marauders’ TDs in the fourth quarter, but then Jordan took over. His 47-yard keeper put WCU ahead 34-23 with 6:02 to go, then Jordan capped the scoring with a 61-yarder. He finished with 349 yards of total offense.
“I feel like that was one of my better rushing games, but I should have passed on it,” Jordan said.
Defensively, WCU surrendered 406 yards, but it was a big improvement from a week earlier, when East Stroudsburg racked up 478 yards in a 45-31 win.
“I thought we played hard today,” Greco said of the defense. “Hats off to ETSU last week – that was probably the best team we’ve played yet. I am proud that we responded today.”
Mosley added: “We’ve allowed way too many big defensive plays in the first four games. We settled into the bottom four, except for East Stroudsburg.
“There was no lack of focus in the fourth quarter today either, but I’m happy we got the win.”
The Rams also won the turnover battle 2-0.
“I feel like this is the team we should have had all season,” Mosley said.
“We were 0-4 at the start and lost those four games by 18 points,” Greco added. “We’re just not ready. But since then we’ve shown character and won some games, so I’m proud of this group. Fighting back to 3-5 shows the true character of this team.”