West Chester/New Haven post-game question

[Bob984]

Greetings,

I watched the WCU/New Haven NCAA 1st round playoff game via live stream (I graduated from WCU many, many years ago).
It was a good game. However, there is a question that I had that I could not find an answer for anywhere. WCU's qiarterback A.J. Long
was injured on a play in the 4th quarter and the score tied. He was playing well/proficient, and one can only wonder "what if....".
However, the 3rd string quarterback went in. Was Paul Dooley (the 2nd) injured? Ineligible for some reason? Disciplined? They
said nothing on the broadcast, and I could find nothing in print. Dooley is very experienced and competent....in fact, he was
"platooned" in and out of several games this year, and he was very successful. This is not to dis the 3rd stringer. To suddenly
have to appear, down 7, in an NCAA tourney game, is a daunting task for someone who has seen very little action, and it showed.
When Long went down, and no Dooley to replace him, that essentially all but ended the team's chances. This is not to downplay
New Haven, who played an excellent game, and I think that it would have gone down to the very end with Long or Dooley in there,
although WC would have had a shot with either of those guys. At any rate, a great season comes to a sudden and disappointing ending......
I felt that this was their best team overall since they made the final 4 some years back. Next year a likely rebuilding one, as this team
had a lot of seniors, though I believe (hopefully) that Dooley is back.

[PSAC_FanBoy]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Greetings,

I watched the WCU/New Haven NCAA 1st round playoff game via live stream (I graduated from WCU many, many years ago).
It was a good game. However, there is a question that I had that I could not find an answer for anywhere. WCU's qiarterback A.J. Long
was injured on a play in the 4th quarter and the score tied. He was playing well/proficient, and one can only wonder "what if....".
However, the 3rd string quarterback went in. Was Paul Dooley (the 2nd) injured? Ineligible for some reason? Disciplined? They
said nothing on the broadcast, and I could find nothing in print. Dooley is very experienced and competent....in fact, he was
"platooned" in and out of several games this year, and he was very successful. This is not to dis the 3rd stringer. To suddenly
have to appear, down 7, in an NCAA tourney game, is a daunting task for someone who has seen very little action, and it showed.
When Long went down, and no Dooley to replace him, that essentially all but ended the team's chances. This is not to downplay
New Haven, who played an excellent game, and I think that it would have gone down to the very end with Long or Dooley in there,
although WC would have had a shot with either of those guys. At any rate, a great season comes to a sudden and disappointing ending......
I felt that this was their best team overall since they made the final 4 some years back. Next year a likely rebuilding one, as this team
had a lot of seniors, though I believe (hopefully) that Dooley is back.

Was at the game live, if Long was in west Chester wins easily, he looked unstoppable in the second half.

[Paul Falewicz]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Greetings,

I watched the WCU/New Haven NCAA 1st round playoff game via live stream (I graduated from WCU many, many years ago).
It was a good game. However, there is a question that I had that I could not find an answer for anywhere. WCU's qiarterback A.J. Long
was injured on a play in the 4th quarter and the score tied. He was playing well/proficient, and one can only wonder "what if....".
However, the 3rd string quarterback went in. Was Paul Dooley (the 2nd) injured? Ineligible for some reason? Disciplined? They
said nothing on the broadcast, and I could find nothing in print. Dooley is very experienced and competent....in fact, he was
"platooned" in and out of several games this year, and he was very successful. This is not to dis the 3rd stringer. To suddenly
have to appear, down 7, in an NCAA tourney game, is a daunting task for someone who has seen very little action, and it showed.
When Long went down, and no Dooley to replace him, that essentially all but ended the team's chances. This is not to downplay
New Haven, who played an excellent game, and I think that it would have gone down to the very end with Long or Dooley in there,
although WC would have had a shot with either of those guys. At any rate, a great season comes to a sudden and disappointing ending......
I felt that this was their best team overall since they made the final 4 some years back. Next year a likely rebuilding one, as this team
had a lot of seniors, though I believe (hopefully) that Dooley is back.

Dooley was hurt at home Thursday night per the following story. Announcers mentioned him not being suited up but also didn't know the reason why.

https://www.dailylocal.com/sports/co...26b0186bc.html

[cwfenn]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Was at the game live, if Long was in west Chester wins easily, he looked unstoppable in the second half.

[PSAC_FanBoy]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

I give new haven credit though. Their defensive line started getting a lot of pressure on the QB. And when their oline got rolling west Chester was gasping for air. Saw a lot of hands on the hips

[Bob984]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Dooley was hurt at home Thursday night per the following story. Announcers mentioned him not being suited up but also didn't know the reason why.

https://www.dailylocal.com/sports/co...26b0186bc.html

Thanks for that info......I was wondering what was up with him.............nobody can say for sure, but I think that we have a way better chance at coming
back and taking the game with him..............tough way to end a great year..................

[EastStroud13]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

People can point to the QB situation, but it remains that the most points the Rams had given up before this game was 24, and the most at home was 21. In the playoffs, your strengths have to carry you and for WCU, they faltered.

[NewHaven Alum]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

New Haven won just about every categories offensively and defensively on Saturday against West Chester, just saying.

[EastStroud13]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

New Haven won just about every categories offensively and defensively on Saturday against West Chester, just saying.

Right, exactly what I'm saying. WCU relied on their defense to give them the advantage all season. They couldn't get that advantage against UNH.

[Bob984]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

New Haven won just about every categories offensively and defensively on Saturday against West Chester, just saying.

New Haven played an excellent game, no doubt. All that I was stating was that once Long went down and we had to go
to qb number 3, that pretty much wiped out any shot for WC.....Dooley is about as good a "number 2" as you will see (ie better than
most starters) but apparently he was injured during the week in a non-football accident and was in street clothes. I do not know if
Dooley or Long would have pulled it out, but they are both outstanding quarterbacks, and Long was very proficient up to getting hurt.
Good luck to New Haven!

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Did the WCU faithful see a PSAC Championship Game hangover as Coach Zwann eluded to in the posted article?

[jrshooter]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Paul Dooley has had quite the checkered resume at WCU.

[RockNation]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Did the WCU faithful see a PSAC Championship Game hangover as Coach Zwann eluded to in the posted article?

From several people, I heard WCU defense looked MUCH slower than they did vs Rock. Solid gameplan UNH faithful

[McDonald2Penecale]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

Did the WCU faithful see a PSAC Championship Game hangover as Coach Zwann eluded to in the posted article?

I'd call it a combination of hangover, taking the competition lightly (why?!?), and more than anything that strength of schedule coming back to bite them.

Let's face it, the Rams faced NOBODY other than Kutztown and Rock and anyone that watched the Rock game saw SRU commit an unbelievable number of unforced errors that led to that rout. WCU finally met up with a quality team playing their A game and didn't have an answer.

I felt like this team was potentially built for a December run based on that defense and ground game with Long but turns out they were a paper tiger.

Any chance also they were scoreboard watching and looking ahead to a 2nd home game?

[BlueJay]

Re: West Chester/New Haven post-game question

The Div II playoffs in the first rounds are for the most part "a pig in a poke". Whenever you have to play teams from out of your conference, which is almost always the case in the Div II playoffs, you never know what you are going to get. The Strength of Schedule comes into play, unfamiliarity with the opposition (New Haven), loss of a key player to injury during the game (Long) and before the game (Dooley)--once again, one never knows what you are going to get. One thing is sure! New Haven picked up on something on WCU's pass defense especially "underneath", as several catches on shorter plays went for log running gains after the receptions. I will remind you that this WCU team had difficulty beating a 6--5 Bloomsburg team, the win over Kutztown (38--21) was a bit deceiving but admittedly decisive, and their PSAC crossover schedule was soft. Nonetheless, the loss of Long in the 4th quarter proved to be coup de grais! Very disappointing even for a Bloomsburg Huskies fan like me, but who was rooting for the Golden Rams to move on.