Hampton edges WSSU in overtime

It would seem that Winston-Salem State has lost just about every way it could this season, but it found a new way yesterday.

This time the Rams fell apart in the last six minutes of regulation to lose to Hampton 16-13 in overtime. What also hurt was the fact that they lost in front of a large homecoming crowd of around 13,000 at Bowman Gray Stadium.

"Yeah, I would say this is the worst one," said wide receiver Omar Kizzie of the Rams. "This hurts a lot because we had control and let it get away."

The Pirates rallied from a 10-0 deficit led by quarterback David Legree, a sophomore transfer from Syracuse who started in place of the injured Herbert Bynes. Legree struggled for three quarters, but then turned it on by using his quick feet and led the Pirates to two scoring drives that tied the game at 10 and sent it to overtime.

With 5:23 left in regulation, Legree hit Isiah Thomas for a 14-yard touchdown to cut the Rams' lead to 10-7. But the Rams couldn't move the ball after getting it back, and the Pirates got another chance with 2:59 left.

This time Legree guided the Pirates (4-4) into field-goal range where freshman Jordan Stovall nailed a 30-yarder to tie the game with 11 seconds left in regulation.

Coach Kermit Blount of the Rams said he was disappointed with the way his defense failed to rise to the challenge at the end.

"Homecoming doesn't even factor in it, but what factors in is that we didn't make plays when we had a chance to make them," Blount said. "We had a chance early to take this game out of proportion, but down the stretch we didn't bow up on defense and make stops. We had a couple of bone-headed plays and that's the outcome of the ball game."

The Rams (1-7) have won just once in their past 10 home games dating to the end of the 2007 season, and they've lost three straight homecoming games.

In the overtime the Rams got the ball first and scored on Landen Thayer's career-best 46-yard field goal for a short-lived 13-10 lead.

The Pirates got the ball and ran four straight running plays to the left side. On the fourth one, Steve Robinson scored from 11 yards out for the game winner.

"We wanted to put it on our offensive line. I told them in overtime I didn't even want to pass it; we wanted to run it right at them," Legree said.

Defensive lineman Akeem Ward, who led the Rams with nine tackles, said he was winded in the fourth quarter. Ward wasn't the only tired player, because the defense had nothing left in overtime.

Ward was so distraught after the loss that instead of waiting on the field as the school band played the fight song, he went right to the locker room.

"I was real upset," Ward said of his early exit. "You work so hard and then it's like even more disappointing when it comes down to the last minute and you know you had chances to put the game away earlier."

The Rams have lost two overtime games this season, but earlier it appeared as if they were going to run away from the Pirates. They led 7-0 at halftime but Thayer missed a short field-goal attempt and another drive was stopped at midfield thanks to a questionable play call on a third-and-1 from the 50.

Late in the half, quarterback Jarrett Dunston tried a sneak but was stopped cold and the Rams were forced to punt from midfield.

The Rams scored on their second possession of the game thanks to a long punt return from Dominique Fitzgerald. He returned a punt 46 yards after fielding it at midfield.

Three plays later, running back Ced Hickman scored from 3 yards out going over the left side. After Thayer's point-after attempt was good, the Rams led 7-0 with 5:05 left in the first quarter.

Hickman said that for whatever reason they may have celebrated too soon. They were leading 10-0 when the Pirates got the ball with 6:50 left in the game.

But on the drive a costly face-mask penalty on top of a 25-yard completion to Lorenzo Patterson helped the Pirates along.

"I think we just felt like it was comfortable because we had the lead," Hickman said. "We just sat back in the driver's seat but it was really a close game all the way through and at the end they showed who was the toughest."

jdell@wsjournal.com


727-4081

Hampton 0 0 0 10 6 -- 16


WSSU 7 0 3 0 3 -- 13

First Quarter

WSSU--Hickman 3 run (Thayer kick), 5:05.

Third Quarter

WSSU--FG Thayer 33, 2:35.

Fourth Quarter

Hampton--I.Thomas 14 pass from Legree (Stovall kick), 5:23.

Hampton--FG Stovall 30, :11.

Overtime

WSSU--FG Thayer 46.

Hampton--S.Robinson 11 run.

A--14,372.

TEAM STATISTICS

Hampton WSSU

First downs 21 12

Rushes-yards 53-263 39-61

Passing 115 190

Comp-Att-Int 7-21-0 12-17-0

Return Yards 18 46

Punts-Avg. 6-39.3 6-44.0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 13-114 7-50

Time of Possession 29:34 30:26

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Hampton, Coker 28-109, S.Robinson 14-101, Legree 6-41, McCloude 3-8, I.Thomas 1-3, Griffin 1-1. Winston-Salem State, Hickman 15-48, Julmiste 1-7, Dunston 16-3, Munford 6-2, J.Harris 1-1.

PASSING--Hampton, Legree 7-21-0-115. Winston-Salem State, Dunston 12-16-0-190, Kizzie 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--Hampton, S.Robinson 2-29, I.Thomas 2-29, Patterson 1-39, Dunegan 1-16, Hicks 1-2. Winston-Salem State, Kizzie 5-56, Whidbee 3-47, Akinbiyi 1-55, Munford 1-14, Fitzgerald 1-11, J.Harris 1-7.