WALTHAM, Mass. – There will be no easing into the 32nd season of varsity football for the Bentley University Falcons as they'll take on one of the region's premier teams, the West Chester University Golden Rams, for the fourth consecutive opener.

Kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 7 is set for noon at Farrell Stadium in West Chester, Pa.  Fans can watch the game online at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wcupa/.

West Chester, an NCAA Division II tournament team four of the last six seasons, is coming off a 10-1 season that began with a 44-6 victory at Bentley and culminated with a 35-28 loss to New Haven in the first round of the NCAAs. Preseason, the Rams are ranked 22nd nationally.

Meanwhile, Bentley won three of its last four contests and finished the season at 4-6.Three of the losses came to teams that garnered NCAA tournament invitations.

Bentley's Bill Kavanaugh enters his sixth season at the helm of his alma mater with an experienced roster, one than includes 25 seniors and a dozen players with at least ten games of starting experience. Among the returnees are two proven offensive threats who combined for less than two quarters of action in 2018, junior wide receiver Austin Ryan (Foxborough/Foxborough HS) and senior slot receiver Drew Mahoney (West Suffield, Conn./ Suffield Academy).

After missing all of last season due to injury, Ryan will be playing in his first game since Nov. 11, 2017 when he caught eight passes for a school record 284 yards and four touchdowns, including three of 50 yards or more, in a 35-31 upset of nationally-ranked Assumption. He finished his freshman year with 1,237 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches.

Maloney, a fifth-year senior whose 2018 season ended in the opening half against West Chester, enters 2019 with a resume that includes 131 career receptions (7th most in Bentley history) for 1,241 yards, ten touchdowns and 2,258 all-purpose yards. Against West Chester in 2016, he turned in the longest rush in Bentley varsity history, 92 yards.

Charged with getting the ball to Ryan, Mahoney and the remainder of the Bentley receivers is junior QB Stephen Sturm (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley HS), one of two Pennsylvanians on the roster. He threw for 1,681 yards and nine TDs last season after completing 73 percent of his aerials and launching 12 TD passes as a freshman.

Offensive weapons also include junior running back Andrew Brazicki (Franklin Park, N.J./St. Thomas Aquinas HS) and sophomore receiver Noah Neville (Boston/Newton North HS). Brazicki ran for 1,016 yards during his first two seasons and Neville was on the receiving end of four TD passes last fall.

The offensive line features three veterans who have each started 16 times prior to this season. They are fifth-year senior and left guard Matt Boyle (Duxbury/Duxbury HS), junior center Sean Mitchell (Park Ridge, N.J./Saint Joseph Reg. HS) and junior right tackle Tim Leonard (Rumson, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS).

On the other side of the ball, Bentley returns eight players who started at least eight games prior to this season. Three of those are in the secondary, including three-time All-Northeast-10 corner Pete Thorbahn (Norwell/Xaverian Brothers HS).

The team captain, Thorbahn has started every game for the Falcons over the last three years and will begin his final year with 13 interceptions, tied for the seventh most in program history.

Senior corner Derek Perkins (Milton/Milton HS) returned two of his six interceptions for touchdowns last fall, including a 100-yarder against Pace. Quintin-John McDermott (Franklin/Milton Academy), also a senior, had his 2018 season limited by injury to three games but started all ten at free safety as a sophomore.

On the front line, the returnees include sophomores Cedric Dashiell II (Buena Park, Calif./Buena Park HS) and Steven Paulino (Bergenfield, N.J./Bergenfield HS), who were both chosen to the Northeast-10 All-Rookie Team. They combined for 66 tackles, including 7.5 for losses, a year ago.

Senior Grant Buchanan (Holliston/Holliston HS) is back for his fourth season handling placekicking for the Falcons. Over the last three years, he's scored 154 points while making 22 of 36 field goals and 88 of 92 extra points.

For West Chester, red-shirt senior quarterback Paul Dooley returns to lead a productive offensive unit while All-America free safety Jarey Elder heads up a defensive unit that was tops in the conference a year ago. Elder led the PSAC and ranked third in the country last fall with seven interceptions.

In 2018, coach Bill Zwaan's team averaged 38.3 points per game and limited their opponents to 16.5. Dooley saw limited action, completing 11 of 18 for 163 yards and three scores, after throwing for 2,372 yards and 21 TDs in 2017.

Last year's West Chester team had 16 players receive All-PSAC East honors, but ten of those are no longer with the Rams. Returning first-team honorees are Elder, wide receiver Lex Rosario (52 catches for 775 yards) and kicker Andrew Chegia (6-9 FG, 69 points). Guard Frank Tranzilli, tight end Cody Boozel (4 TD) and defensive end Ch'aim Smith (9.5 sacks) are also back after being voted to the second team in 2018.

West Chester's 31-24 win over Bentley in 2016 was the closest of the three previous games between the two programs, with all three season-openers. Last year, former WC QB A.J. Long ran for two scores and passed for two as the Golden Rams prevailed in Waltham, 44-6.

Bentley will also be on the road next week, a non-conference game at American International College.