South Carolina
State 52, Winston-Salem State 12
September 10, 2005
Orangeburg, SC – The Bulldogs of South Carolina State University showed
why they are the consensus favorite to defend their
2004 MEAC Co-Championship on Saturday evening at Bulldog
Stadium in Orangeburg, SC as they handed the Rams a
52-12 defeat to drop winless WSSU to 0-3 overall.
Right from the opening
kickoff, the Ram faithful could see that WSSU was in
for a long night as the normally sure-handed Martin
Hicks (Oxford, NC) fumbled the return, giving the home-team
Bulldogs the ball on the WSSU 30-yard line.
The ensuing drive would
see SCSU’s Troy McFadden power his way into the
end zone from one-yard out to give the Bulldogs an
early 7-0 lead with 11:58 remaining in the first quarter
of play.
After a failed offensive
drive, the Ram defense would do its job as they forced
a South Carolina State punt. However, once again,
the fumble jinx would haunt the Rams as senior wide-receiver
and kick-returner Brandon Hussey (Pinetops, NC) would
be snake-bitten as he fumbled the ball trying to do
too much on the return, again giving the Bulldogs the
ball at the WSSU 30-yard line.
The second straight fumble
inside their own territory would again haunt the Rams
as South Carolina State took advantage of the WSSU
miscue when Cleveland McCoy, the MEAC’s Offensive
Player of the Week last week, scurried into the WSSU
end zone from four-yards out to put SCSU up 14-0 with
two-minutes remaining in the first quarter of play.
WSSU showed flashes of
offensive brilliance on their next offensive possession
as junior running-back and First-Team All-CIAA performer
Jed Bines (Winston-Salem, NC) showed why he is the
favorite to win the CIAA rushing title as he ran over
and around the SCSU defense before two Monte Purvis
(Winston-Salem, NC) passes fell incomplete, forcing
the Rams to punt.
The next drive saw the
Bulldogs’ kicking game get in on the scoring
action as a stingy WSSU defense held SCSU to a 22-yard
field goal by Stepehn Graham as the Rams looked to
be getting themselves into the game.
However, a Monte Purvis
fumble would cost the Rams dearly. After being
flushed from the pocket, Purvis took off around the
left end, trying to make positive yards out of a sure-loss. However,
he was blind-sided by a SCSU defender who jarred the
ball loose, a ball which was recovered by the Bulldogs.
On the very next offense
play, Cleveland McCoy wasted no time in striking while
the proverbial iron was hot as he hit Chris Burgess
for a 51-yard touchdown strike, effectively putting
the nail in the Rams’ coffin as SCSU went ahead
by the score of 24-0.
WSSU would muster only
a 37-yard Matt Hind (Clemmons, NC) field goal in the
first 30 minutes of play, which was promptly answered
with another McCoy TD pass, as the Rams headed to the
locker room at the half trailing the Division I-AA
Bulldogs 31-3.
The third quarter of
play settled down, yet the Bulldogs would again give
their faithful something to cheer about on special
teams. The Rams, who scored the first points
of the second half on Hind’s second 37-yard field
goal of the contest, would fall short on their kickoff
return duties as the ensuing kickoff following Hind’s
FG would see Rondrieka Darby take the kick to the house
as he blazed 93 yards, untouched, to the WSSU end zone
to give SCSU a 38-6 lead.
The lone offensive bright
spot for WSSU would come at the 6:24 mark of the fourth
quarter as Jed Bines capped a 12-play, 78-yard drive
with a three-yard touchdown run.
The football-savvy Bines,
whose forward progress had been stopped at the goal
line, smartly outstretched his arms to break the plane
of the end zone and give WSSU its only touchdown of
the evening cutting the Rams’ deficit to 33 points
at 45-13.
The Bulldogs tacked on
another late touchdown in the game as back-up quarterback
Dustin Dubose hit Antonio Gaffney from seven-yards
out to record the game’s final points, putting
SCSU up 52-12.
Offensively, the Rams
looked the best that they have all season as they recorded
222 yards of total offense (137 rushing, 85 passing). On
the defensive side of the ball, Defensive Coordinate
Mike Ketchum’s 3-5-3 defensive scheme looks to
once again be paying dividends as the Rams held the
offensively potent Bulldogs to only 357 total yards
of offense.
The lone concern for
the Rams has to be special teams as the Bulldogs were
the recipients of two WSSU fumbles on kickoff and punt
returns and were helped out with a 93-yard kickoff
return for a touchdown.
The Rams fall to 0-3
with the loss (0-0 CIAA, 0-0 CIAA West) while the Bulldogs
improve to 2-0 overall with the win.
WSSU returns to action
on Saturday, September 17th, 2005 at 6:00
pm when they play host to the Vikings of Elizabeth
City State University at Bowman Gray Stadium in the
Rams’ first CIAA league game of 2005.
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