Winning Debut

HIGH POINT - Winston-Salem State came home to the CIAA and looked quite comfortable, routing Virginia Union 47-13 last night in front of about 9,000 at Simeon Stadium.

Playing at their home away from home, the Rams (1-0, 1-0 CIAA) dominated in their first game as a Division II program since 2005. It was such a festive atmosphere that those four previous lost seasons in transition trying to go Division I seemed like a distant memory.

Coach Connell Maynor did something not even Bill Hayes had done. Hayes, the school's athletics director who hand-picked Maynor to replace Kermit Blount, lost his first game as head coach of the Rams in 1976. Maynor was all smiles after opening with an easy victory.

"We can't live in the past," Maynor said. "These are the 2010 Rams and we have a great defense with Coach (Kienus) Boulware and we just have to keep scoring points every week."

There was no shortage of points last night as the Rams scored on seven of their first eight possessions and the outcome was never in doubt.

The Rams, who were 1-10 last season, came out on fire, scoring on their first two possessions. They scored on five of six possessions in the half, rolling to a 27-0 lead. The 27 points scored in the first half were more than the Rams scored in any game last season.

Quarterback Octavious Hawkins, making his first start after spending three seasons at UMass, was 18 of 23 passing for 207 yards with two touchdowns and the offense had no turnovers.

For a team that averaged 121/2 points a game last season, it was quite a reversal.

Offensive lineman Travis Taylor, one of the many returning players, said he sensed in the first series that the Rams would dominate.

"I think we were prepared for this -- we have a lot of good football players on this team," Taylor said. "If we executed and blocked right and executed Coach Maynor's plan we would be OK. Don't get me wrong; Virginia Union is a good football team, but it was just a different feeling playing in this game then we had last year."

Hawkins hit wide receiver Dominique Fitzgerald (six catches for 84 yards) on a 26-yard crossing route for a touchdown to make it 10-0 after Landon Thayer's point-after attempt was good. Thayer had earlier nailed a 34-yard field goal as most of the fans were still piling into the stadium.

Despite the long wait to find parking spots, the late-arriving crowd was vocal throughout. The loudest cheers from the large Rams' contingent came on the final play of the half, when Thayer had to rush a 36-yard field-goal attempt with time winding down. But he nailed it for the 27-0 advantage.

Also scoring first-half touchdowns were running backs Kayvonn Springs (6 yards) and Nic Cooper, who bulled his way in from 2 yards out with a key block from fullback Ced Hickman. Cooper also scored late in the third quarter on a short run.

The final field goal of the half was set up by a big defensive play from linebacker Alton Keaton, who sacked Aris McGlone-English of the Panthers. The sack forced a fumble and lineman Juan Corders, who played linebacker last season, scooped it up and raced 55 yards before running out of gas and getting caught from behind.

Corders, who has a new Mohawk that he has dyed Rams' red, had three fumble recoveries as the defense forced four turnovers.

"It just promotes school pride and that's why I have it," Corders said. "We are just trying to get that back and we had a good start with tonight's W."

The Rams added two more touchdowns to start the second half. Hawkins hit wide receiver Tevin Brantley with a 47-yard strike and later Cooper added his second touchdown on a 3-yard run.

The Panthers (0-1) didn't lose any ground in the CIAA because for them it was a designated non-conference game.

Adding a late touchdown for the Rams was running back Daquan Leak, a deep reserve, who scored from 11 yards out to make it 47-7 early in the fourth quarter.

"We just wanted to come in tonight and execute," Fitzgerald said. "We weren't sure what was going to happen but we have been coming together at the first day of practice and we played all together in this game and the results were there for us."

Corders said it hasn't been easy trying to blend in the returning players with several transfers and freshmen on the Rams.

"It shows that we are growing and even though we went through that transition period and all of that and we had our ups and downs," Corders said. "It was a challenge for the new guys and the old guys who were still on the team but we all want to win -- that's our common bond."

Maynor, who was doused with water by two of his players with about 12 seconds left, said: "It was not easy. I'm just happy for the guys because they've been working hard and have been playing the price and all that work paid off for them. I've won championships, but I'm really happy for my coaches and the players because they put in all the hard work."

jdell@wsjournal.com.


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