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Rams' win a result of strong ground game
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Published: October 28, 2009
Winston-Salem State went back to basics Saturday in its 16-10 win over Bethune-Cookman.
The Rams adjusted their offense to feature the running game, and back Ced Hickman in particular, and won for the first time this season. Hickman ran for 97 yards on nine carries and scored the decisive touchdown on 12-yard run with 9:15 left in the game.
"I'm a guy that likes to run the football," Coach Kermit Blount said yesterday. "And I thought we did a nice job of getting Ced out there, and he was able to carry the load for us. And I also thought our offensive line grew up a little bit."
The Rams tweaked their Spread offense to include more running, and things opened up when Hickman started to produce. The Rams ran for a season-high 205 yards on 32 carries, an average of 6.4 yards.
Quarterbacks Jarrett Dunston and Branden Williams were only a combined 4 of 9 passing, but Dunston did throw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Fitzgerald in the first half.
In Blount's earlier years, the Rams ran the Veer, and their backs almost always found holes in the defense. In recent years, WSSU -- like many other college teams -- ran more of a Spread offense.
"Any time you run the football you like to go north and south, and we did that on Saturday," Blount said. "With our young guys up front, they started to feel confidence, and that helped us run effectively."
The Rams will play Hampton at Bowman Gray Stadium on Saturday in their first home game since Sept. 10.
"We will go in with our game plan, and then see how the flow of the game is," Blount said. "You want to be able to run the ball to make the pass more effective, so we won't change our approach."
Hickman, an N.C. State transfer who starred at North Forsyth, has battled a shoulder injury most of this season.
"When he came into camp, he wasn't in the best of shape," Blount said of Hickman, 6-1 and 245 pounds. "He's starting to come around, and he set a mark for us on Saturday and I told him we expect him to continue to play like that."
jdell@wsjournal.com
727-4081
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