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N.C. Central beats WSSU 23-16
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Published: November 15, 2008
DURHAM - Winston-Salem State played keep away and N.C. Central was more than happy to accept the gifts.
The Eagles feasted on four turnovers from quarterback Jarrett Dunston and a poor snap on a punt in a 23-16 victory on Saturday afternoon. With a sloppy field at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium because of rain that fell yesterday morning, players tip-toed around the entire game as both teams combined for six turnovers.
The Rams' modest two-game win streak came to an end as they fell to 3-7 and the Eagles, who were playing just their third home game of the season, improved to 3-7.
Trailing 10-3 at halftime the Eagles got a touchdown on Tony McCord's 11-yard run on the third play of the second half to tie the score at 10 after Brandon Gilbert's point-after attempt was good.
Gilbert later hit a 28-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead that gave the Eagles the lead they would never lose.
While Dunston's two interceptions and two fumbles helped the Eagles along it was a bad snap on a punt that was the biggest gift of the game.
Long-snapper Michael Gray of the Rams sailed a snap over the head of punter Jermaine Mack who had to retrieve it on the Rams' 1.
The Eagles scored on a 1-yard run from George Mobley with 4:06 left in the third for a 20-10 lead.
With 19 seconds left in the third the Rams cut the lead to 20-16 when J.J.
Thompson, who made his first start at fullback, scored from 1 yard out but Adnan Kljajic missed the point-after attempt.
Dunston's final turnover came in the fourth quarter with the Rams driving.
On a third-and-8 from the Eagles' 17 Jeff Henderson sacked Dunston and Kurtis Campbell recovered with 7:49 left.
The Eagles took advantage of that turnover and later scored again on Gilbert's 34-yard field goal with 2:52 left to make it 23-16.
The Rams got the ball back one more time but on a fourth-and-1 from the Eagles' 30, Nate Munford came up short with 1:02 left and the Eagles took over on downs.
The teams struggled to get any footing early, and holding onto the ball was no bargain either. The field was in such bad shape that both bands weren't allowed on the field at halftime and instead performed from the bleachers.
Both teams had costly turnovers that led to field goals.
The Eagles scored first when Gilbert, one of the best field-goal kickers in school history, converted a 45-yard field-goal attempt for a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles scored off the second straight turnover from Dunston. Dunston opened the game with his ninth interception of the season and then on the next series fumbled on an option play.
The Rams took their turn scoring off a turnover when quarterback Keon Williams of the Eagles was intercepted by DeRon Middleton. Williams tried to hit Deshawn Spears on a screen pass but Spears bobbled it and Middleton was there. Three plays later Kljajic converted a 33-yard field-goal attempt to tie it at 3-3 with 7:55 left in the half.
The Rams later put together the best drive of the half going 51 yards on six plays thanks to the straight-ahead running of Thompson. He had two runs of 12 yards and another run for 15 yards in the drive. Dunston wound up scoring his ninth rushing touchdown of the season from 1 yard out.
Kljajic's point-after attempt made it 10-3 with 3:08 left in the half.
The biggest surprise of the half was the running of Thompson, a redshirt freshman from Stantonsburg. Because of nagging injuries he had played in just three games all season and had two carries heading into yesterday's game, but by the end of the first half had four carries for 51 yards.
The Rams will play their final regular-season game on Saturday at home against Norfolk State.
John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or jdell@wsjournal.com.
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