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Rams' offense comes to life
Winston-Salem State beats Howard 34-10 for its first win of the season
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
DeRon Middleton of Winston-Salem State returns this interception 85 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
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Published: October 5, 2008
The Winston-Salem State Rams aren't dead yet.
The Rams, shaking off the bad vibes of losing their first four games, rolled to a 34-10 win over Howard last night to snap a five-game losing streak that dated to last season.
"This is the way we were supposed to be playing all season," said quarterback Jarrett Dunston of the Rams, who had his best game of his career.
The Rams rolled up 429 yards of offense, had just one turnover, and looked like a new team compared to their early-season struggles. Dunston had two touchdown passes, ran for a touchdown and controlled the flow of the game by making good decisions.
Coach Kermit Blount, who broke the longest losing streak of his 16-year career at his alma mater, said he had been waiting for this game all season.
"I thought we finally put a complete game together with the offense, defense and special teams," Blount said. "We struggled the last few weeks offensively trying to put it together. I think our kids are finally starting to grasp what we are trying to do and they played an excellent ballgame."
The Rams were clicking early, with two straight touchdowns for a 14-0 lead.
Fullback Devven Sutton, a Virginia Tech transfer who was a defensive lineman for the Rams until two week ago, caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Dunston.
On their next possession, Sutton scored on a 1-yard run for a 14-0 lead with 1:26 to go in the first quarter.
This was something that the Rams hadn't had all season, a working margin. And they thrived on it by not making costly mistakes and keeping the Bison's pass-happy offense in check.
The Rams had a season-high three interceptions, including a momentum-killing one in the third quarter by defensive back Ty Scott.
"We knew they were going to come with a lot of passes and we had to just play good ball," Scott said.
The Bison (1-4) cut the lead to 14-7 when a 16-play drive ended when wide receiver Brandon Sherman, a former Parkland player, caught a 4-yard touchdown pass. Sherman, a junior playing in his hometown for the last time, then got a little excited. He ran to the 50-yard line while pounding on his chest.
Scott, a former player at West Forsyth, saw what Sherman did and took note.
"I saw what he did," Scott said. "It is what it is. He's from Winston and I'm from the city and I understand why he did it, but his team still lost."
Coach Carey Bailey of the Bison said he didn't like what Sherman did and he kept Sherman off limits to reporters afterward.
"That's not how we want to represent our program," Bailey said. "The one thing that we want to do since we got here is be a disciplined team. And once you do something outside the team structure, it's not going to be tolerated and it will be dealt with."
At the time of the Sherman's outburst, the Rams had a seven-point lead but Bailey said he wasn't sure if it motivated the Rams even more. "I don't know, they were playing pretty well before that," Bailey said.
The Rams came right back when Bryant Bayne caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Dunston for a 21-7 lead, after Adnan Kljajic made the point-after attempt. But Bayne would later suffer a broken ankle while making a catch late in the first half and is likely lost for the season.
The Rams had another chance to score before the half. They moved to the Bison 9-yard line with 28 seconds to go. Two plays later, however, Dunston threw his sixth interception of the season when Martin Decembert stepped in front of Dominique Fitzgerald in the end zone with four seconds left.
Blount took the blame for the Rams' only turnover of the game.
"That's probably my fault, we got a little greedy at the end of the half trying to get six more points," Blount said. "We probably should have put the ball in the middle of the field and kicked a field goal."
Dunston completed 11 of 16 passes for a career-high 248 yards and two touchdowns. He also had nine carries for 47 yards and a touchdown in the second half.
Quarterback Floyd Haigler was intercepted by Scott at the Rams' 5 and Scott made a nice return of 25 yards. From there the Rams went six plays with Dunston scoring from 41 yards out.
On the scoring play, Dunston made a nice fake to running back Rod Fluellen, then went around the left side, found an opening and broke two tackles along the way.
The Bison cut the lead to 28-10 with 12:04 left in the game on a 38-yard field goal from John Mendoza.
In the previous two games, the Rams combined for 15 turnovers, with Dunston struggling in each game.
"I just had confidence in my offensive line and the game plan Coach Blount called for us," Dunston said. "I knew it was something different because we prepared all week for this, and it just came through for us. After I got into the groove, I just felt like the whole offense was going to keep going and going."
The Rams' defense also had a good night. Scott, Alex Chandler and DeRon Middleton each had interceptions. Middleton, a former player at Parkland and a senior, had the best interception of the night. He picked off a Haigler pass and went 81 yards for a touchdown to make the score 34-10 with 6:24 left in the game.
Dunston said that there was a lot to celebrate in the locker room after getting the first win of the season.
"It's good for us, it's good for the morale of the team," Dunston said. "I told everybody in the locker room ‘You don't ever want to lose this feeling so remember this.'"
■ ohn Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
Howard 0 7 0 3 -- 10
WSSU 14 7 7 6 -- 34
First Quarter
WSSU--Sutton 7 pass from Dunston (Kljajic kick), 5:05.
WSSU--Sutton 2 run (Kljajic kick), 1:26.
Second Quarter
Howard--Sherman 4 pass from Haigler (Mendoza kick), 8:35.
WSSU--Bayne 45 pass from Dunston (Kljajic kick), 7:15.
Third Quarter
WSSU--Dunston 41 run (Kljajic kick), 6:28.
Fourth Quarter
Howard--FG Mendoza 38, 12:07.
WSSU--Middleton 81 interception return (kick blocked), 6:24.
A--5,107.
TEAM STATISTICS
Howard WSSU
First downs 23 18
Rushes-yards 22-97 43-181
Passing 225 248
Comp-Att-Int 28-51-3 11-16-1
Return Yards 31 116
Punts-Avg. 3-34.3 4-38.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-62 6-38
Time of Possession 31:19 28:41
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Howard, Whittaker 11-49, Haigler 10-48, McElrathbey 1-0. WSSU, Munford 10-49, Dunston 9-47, Fluellen 13-41, Mack 1-33, Blount 5-7, Sutton 4-4, W.Wilson 1-0.
PASSING--Howard, Haigler 28-51-3-225. WSSU, Dunston 11-16-1-248.
RECEIVING--Howard, W.Carter 10-69, Sherman 8-75, McElrathbey 7-56, Alexander 1-15, Hayes 1-7, Croner 1-3. WSSU, Bayne 4-150, Fitzgerald 1-40, Wynn 1-25, Scarbrough 1-12, Fluellen 1-8, Sutton 1-7, Jenkins 1-6, Munford 1-0.
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