NC Central 20, Winston-Salem St 17

October 15, 2005

Winston-Salem, NC - The 2005 edition of the CIAA’s best football rivalry looked eerily similar to the 2004 version as the Eagles of North Carolina Central University once again used late-game heroics to defeat the Rams of Winston-Salem State, 20-17. The Eagles scored the winning touchdown on an Adrian Warren to Brad Hinton pass with only 1:38 remaining in the game.

The game’s early moments looked as though this year’s contest would be different, yet as all in attendance can attest to, looks are often times deceiving.

Following the game’s opening kickoff, the Rams immediately took advantage of their superior running game as WSSU immediately marched downfield on a six-play, 65-yard drive that was capped by a Martin Hicks 18-yard touchdown run to put the home-team Rams up 7-0 only 3:01 into the contest.

Following a stalled North Carolina Central drive, the Rams once again used their running game to build a two touchdown lead as Hicks scored his second touchdown of the game on a six-yard touchdown run that closed a six-play, 72-yard drive that used 3:24 off of the clock. With the touchdown and Matt Hind point-after attempt, WSSU led the game 14-0.

The Eagles wasted no time as they cut the WSSU lead back to only seven points at 14-7 as Greg Pruitt powered his way into the Ram endzone from two yards out as NCCU used 4:42 of clock to put together a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive.

The two teams would then trade a pair of second-quarter field goals, a 44-yarder from Hind for the Rams, and a career-best 46-yarder for NCCU’s Brandon Gilbert as the two rivals headed to the locker room at the half with WSSU holding a 17-10 lead.

The second half of play would stay stagnant in terms of offense as the two teams mounted offensive chances, yet both defenses were more than up to the challenge as neither team scored over the span of the next 28 minutes of play.

The game would come down to an important fourth quarter drive which saw the Rams make a key mistake that proved costly to the game’s final outcome.

On fourth down and two, the Rams’ Quentin Jones jumped offsides, his second offsides penalty of the evening, giving the Eagles a first down via penalty.

That costly penalty enabled the Eagles to have new life, a life which they used to earn the win when Adrian Warren found Brad Hinton in the back of the endzone for the game-winning touchdown on third and goal from the WSSU 22-yard line with only 1:38 remaining in the contest.

Despite a 31 yard kickoff return by the Rams’ Tionti Powell on the ensuing kickoff, the Rams were unable to put together a game-winning drive of their own as the Ram faithful at Bowman Gray watched the seconds tick off the clock, sealing the NCCU victory.

With the loss, the Rams fall to 4-4 overall and more importantly fall to 4-1 in the CIAA. The Eagles improve to 7-1 overall and move to 4-1 in the CIAA as they now hold the tie-breaker advantage over WSSU in the CIAA Western Division title race.

The Rams return to action on Saturday, October 22nd, at 6:00 pm as they play host to the Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University at Bowman Gray Stadium.