By Neil Geoghegan

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WEST GOSHEN – The struggles at the start of the 2024 college football season have become a distant, albeit unpleasant, memory in West Chester.

The Golden Rams won for the third time in their last four games, defeating Millersville 41-23 on Saturday in front of a large Homecoming crowd at sun-drenched Farrell Stadium. It was a masterful effort until WCU’s dynamic quarterback Copper Jordan put the exclamation point on the PSAC East win by scoring two thrilling touchdowns on runs of 47 and 61 yards in the fourth quarter.

“He kicks our butts in practice,” senior safety Shane Mosley said when asked about the 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior. “Honestly, like Lamar Jackson was at Louisville. “I’m glad we don’t have to go against him in our games.”

Jordan had his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, and it’s no coincidence that the Rams (3-2, 3-5) remain undefeated in those contests. He finished with a career-high 218 yards on the ground and also torched the Marauders for three aerial touchdowns, including two to senior wideout D’Shaun Seals, who celebrates 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 Bishop Shanahan standout. “He believed in us, we believed in ourselves and now we are playing the way we should. We still have a lot of fight in us and we will continue to attack every week.”

This was the first outing with more than 200 pitches for any WCU player since runner Jarel Elder did it in 2015. Jordan averaged a staggering 14.5 yards per attempt, generated five TDs (two rushing, three through the air) and almost certainly set the program record for rushing yards by a quarterback.

“My guys gave me an opportunity to make plays,” Jordan said. “There was a lot of open grass and I relied on my legs to get me there.”

In addition, redshirt sophomore running back Juke Peaker, a Philadelphia native, returned to the WCU lineup after missing two games due to a concussion and entered the game with 110 yards on the ground. In total, the Rams racked 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 a lot of different things and our O-line was great today. We (Jordan) were going one way and Juke (Peaker) was going the other way. That’s good for us.”

The Rams notched TDs on the first two possessions, with Peaker running in from four yards out to open the scoring. But the point after the attempt was blocked. West Chester then capitalized on a seven-yard punt on the next series, which led to a 21-yard strike by Jordan to Seals to make the score 13-0.

Millersville got on the board with a 30-yard field goal early in the second period, and it was 13-3 at the half after WCU kicker Sean Henry badly missed a pair of field goal attempts from 41 and 31 yards.

The Rams increased their lead to 17 early in the third quarter thanks to a 75-yard scoring march that ended with a 32-yard throw from Jordan to Raheim Bowens. Jordan and Seals then hit a 47-yard field goal late in the third quarter to make it 27-9.

“Seals is an elite receiver and is as competitive as it gets,” Greco said.

“We’ve been making that connection for years,” Jordan said when asked about the Seals. “He’s one of my best friends on this team.”

The West Chester defense surrendered two Marauders TDs in the fourth quarter, but that’s when Jordan took over. His 47-yard field goal put WCU up 34-23 with 6:02 left in the game, and Jordan then completed the 61-yard scoring drive. He finished with 349 yards of total offense.

“I think that was one of my better rushing plays, but I could have done better passing the ball,” Jordan said.

Defensively, WCU surrendered 406 yards, but that was a big improvement from a week ago when East Stroudsburg scored 478 points in a 45-31 victory.

“I thought we played very well today,” Greco said of the defense. “Hats off to ESU last week; It was probably the best team we ever played against. “I’m proud we responded to that today.”

“We allowed too many big plays defensively in the first four games,” added Mosley. We’ve identified the final four, excluding East Stroudsburg.

“There was a slight lack of focus today in the fourth quarter, but I’m happy we got the win.”

The Rams also won the turnover battle 2-0.

“I think this is the team we should have had all season long,” Mosley said.

“We were up 4-0 at the start and lost those four games by 18 points,” Greco added. “We’re not finished yet. But since then we’ve shown some character and won some games, so I’m proud of this group. “Going back to 3-5 shows the true character of this team.”