Coach Connell Maynor of Winston-Salem State has done a good job keeping his players from worrying about whether one game is more important than another. He doesn’t have that luxury this week.
The 18th-ranked Rams (8-1, 5-1 CIAA) will play the Shaw Bears (6-2, 5-0) in their regular-season finale Saturday. For WSSU, it might as well be a championship game.
“It doesn’t get any bigger,” Maynor said.
“We have to win it.”
The game will help settle who wins the CIAA’s Southern Division title. A loss most likely would end the season for the Rams, eliminating them from the Southern Division race and a shot at the Division II playoffs.
“Every game we play now is like a playoff game,” Maynor said. “We have to win out because our backs are against the wall for the playoffs, and we need to win to keep our hope alive for the CIAA championship. If we lose, we know our season is over with.”
The Rams’ 10 seniors are trying not to think about that possibility.
Defensive lineman Juan Corders and safety Jared Mitchell, both from Durham, will play in front of family and friends, but both agree it’s strictly a business trip.
“This is what everything boils down to,” said Corders, who leads the Rams with five sacks and five fumble recoveries. “All those summer workouts, winter workouts and spring workouts, it now comes down to the final game. It’s about who wants it the most.”
Linebacker Shawn Kearney, also a senior, has stressed the significance of the game to younger teammates.
“I’ve tried to preach to the younger guys how important this game is,” Kearney said. “Some of them don’t understand how important it is for us as a team. And especially for us seniors, it’s a real big game.
“It’s basically a championship game because we are playing it as if that’s the case. We are doing everything we can to be ready.”
Mitchell, who starred at Durham Hillside, will line up across from quarterback Kevin Atkins of Shaw, a cousin of his and one of the CIAA’s top players. The two also played against each other as high-school seniors in 2005, when Atkins was at Southern Durham.
“Kevin actually ended my career in high school,” Mitchell said. “It was Hillside against Southern, and we lost to them and that was my final high-school game. And I didn’t think it would be. And it could be the same here if we lose on Saturday.”
The last time WSSU and Shaw played was in 1978, and WSSU won 72-0. Shaw dropped football after that game because of budgetary concerns, but revived the program in 2003. The Bears won CIAA titles in 2007 and 2008 and nearly returned to the title game last season.
Maynor knows the Bears have plenty of talent and experience.
“Shaw’s probably going to be the second-best team we’ve played all year behind only N.C. Central,” Maynor said.
jdell@wsjournal.com
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