KUTZTOWN - The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) released its preseason football poll, selected by the conference's coaches, on Monday at two league media days.

In the East Division, West Chester received seven of eight first-place votes, and was selected as the division's top team at the PSAC East Football Media Day at Kutztown University. East Stroudsburg is ranked No. 2 in the East Division preseason poll, while last season's champion, Bloomsburg, sits third.West Chester's run in 2013 saw the Golden Rams win a program-best 13 games. Additionally, the Golden Rams earned a spot in the NCAA Division II tournament, before bowing out in the semifinals to Lenoir-Rhyne.With senior quarterback Sean McCartneywho passed for 3,569 yards and 34 touchdowns in 2013returning for the Golden Rams, it's no surprise West Chester is the top team in the East Division."We're coming into the season again with high expectations, the same as last year," McCartney said. "Our job is to take one game at a time. It's hard not to look ahead toward the end of the season, but we have to take one game at a time. We'll start with trying to win the PSAC, and then take it from there."Shippensburg (4), Kutztown (5), Lock Haven (6), Millersville (7) and Cheyney (8) round out the remaining PSAC East teams.Redshirt-freshman Sekou Jones (Pleasant Valley) and senior Rich Irving (Pleasant Valley) are two former Times News area players that are playing for East Stroudsburg. Junior Andrew Deutsch (Northwestern), who made 31-of-32 extra points and four field goals, redshirt Junior Garth Lakitsky (Tamaqua) and freshman Mackenzie Storm (Northwestern) will play for Kutztown. Freshman Richard Nase Jr. (Panther Valley) begins his career at Shippensburg.Despite all of that success a year ago, including a 13-2 overall record, the Golden Rams didn't qualify for the PSAC championship game. Looking to capture their first PSAC championship since the league switched from division winners to one league champion in 2008, the Golden Rams look to reproduce another successful campaign much like 2013."Our expectations are pretty high," West Chester head coach Bill Zwaan said. "Being picked No. 1 doesn't necessarily surprise me. I think we feel like we have a shot to win the PSAC East. Our feeling is that's where we think we belong."I think our guys really do have high expectations and goals for this year, and for good reason. We have a lot of guys coming back who played in some big games and made big plays for us."McCartney's leadership will be critical in how far the Golden Rams' season goes."The biggest thing for me is watching a lot of film," McCartney said. "I'm watching recent games to see what I'm doing wrong. I'm learning from my mistakes, and making sure none of those mistakes happen again.""He really came into his own confidence-wise last year," Zwaan said of McCartney. "He just took the team over. Every player on our team right now has a tremendous amount of confidence in him. Now, they expect him to make plays, and he expects himself to make plays."As head coach Denny Douds enters his 41st season at the helm of East Stroudsburg, the No. 2 Warriors are looking to build on last season's 7-4 mark to compete for their 13th league title.Another standout option behind center in the PSAC hails from East Stroudsburg, as redshirt-junior Matt Soltes is back for another go-around. Soltes, a Harlon Hill Award candidate last season for the Warriors, passed for 3,244 and 34 touchdowns.The team's goals have been set back in January. Months later, it's time for the Warriors to get their journey underway towards achieving those goals."Our kids want to win the Eastern Division of the PSAC," Douds said. "We want to be ranked in top 25 teams in the country. We want to go to the NCAA playoffs. Our squad came up with the goals right there."With that, now it's time to put the pads on, and find out if that's going to be a reality or not for us. Our kids are certainly excited. With the experience we got and the expectations, they've been in a fire. There are not a whole lot of things that are going to surprise them."Indiana University of Pennsylvania earned five first-place votes and the No. 1 position in the PSAC West poll.California, who is ranked second in the preseason coaches poll, received the other three first-place votes, while Slippery Rock is stationed in third.Meryhurst (4), Gannon (5), Edinboro (6), Clarion (7) and Seton Hill (8) represent the remaining West Division teams.