Winston-Salem State's unbeaten season is alive, but barely.
The Rams, ranked No. 9 in the Division II coaches' poll, needed a key defensive play in the fourth quarter to secure a 21-14 victory against the Shaw Bears in front of about 3,500 at windy Bowman Gray Stadium.
An interception by defensive back Cameron Demps with 8:21 left turned the momentum in the favor of the Rams, who improved to 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the CIAA — and posted their first unbeaten conference finish since 1999.
Coach Connell Maynor of WSSU preached all last week that the Bears, last season's CIAA champs but now 2-7, would come at the Rams hard.
"These guys are the ex-champions, and I knew they wouldn't have any quit in them," Maynor said. "We knew they would come out and fight us. And they gave us their best shot. And it was a good test, and we needed that."
The Rams were clinging to a 14-7 lead, and the Bears were driving when quarterback Quinshon Odom tried to hit wide receiver James Pettway. But Demps stepped in front for the interception and went 64 yards the other way.
On the next play, quarterback Kameron Smith of the Rams went up the middle for 25 yards and the touchdown that sealed the Bears' fate. Alejandro Suarez's extra point made the score 21-7 with 7:54 left.
"That was a big play," Maynor said. "Then we turned around and scored right away, but then we had a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter and (Demps) gambled on a play and they had a big gainer."
Demps said that Odom, who threw two touchdown passes and his eighth and ninth interceptions of the season, kept going to the well too often on the square-out pattern.
"All day they were throwing the out route on us," Demps said. "I just anticipated he was going to throw it again, and I just came up with it."
Shaw's defense punished WSSU's vaunted running game. Nic Cooper, the leading rusher in the CIAA, managed just 16 yards on 11 carries, and the Rams ran for just 16 yards as a team. WSSU also had a season-low 124 yards of offense.
Stanley Porter and Charles Deas, anchoring the defensive line for the Bears, clogged the middle at every turn.
"We had to contain (Nic) Cooper, and we knew how good he is," Deas said. "We've heard about him all year, and we wanted to keep him under 100 yards, and we did that pretty well."
The Bears racked up 269 yards, but penalties (12 for 111 yards) and the two interceptions by Odom were costly.
Linebacker Alton Keaton had seven tackles and an interception and was one of 14 seniors playing his final regular-season home game.
"It feels good to win it," Keaton said. "They beat us last year, so this was a special one. We just wanted it more. They've got a good team, but we played hard for 60 minutes."
The Rams scored on their first possession when Dominique Fitzgerald caught a 3-yard bullet pass from Smith and went up 7-0 after Suarez's point-after kick.
The Rams didn't get another first down the rest of the half, and the score was tied at 7 at halftime.
WSSU took the lead for good early in the third quarter when seldom-used wide receiver Jameze Massey made a nice leaping catch on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Smith. Cooper picked up a blitzing linebacker with a block to give Smith time, and Massey beat Derrick Washington in one-on-one coverage.
WSSU will close its regular-season next Saturday at UNC Pembroke and then will play Elizabeth City State in the CIAA title game Nov. 12 in Durham.
"This is the playoff-stretch run, and games are going to get tighter and tighter," Maynor said, "and we have to start making plays down the stretch."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement