Early lead holds up for WSSU

ELIZABETH CITY -- Winning ugly took on a whole new meaning for Winston-Salem State in its season opener Saturday night.

WSSU scored three touchdowns in the first half of a penalty-marred game, then held on to defeat Elizabeth City State 22-17.

The teams combined for 22 penalties, and there was a bank of lights out at Roebuck Stadium, making the south end of the stadium more like a dungeon than a football stadium. Despite all that, the Rams won their CIAA opener.

"They had a game under their belt, and it was our first game under the lights," coach Connell Maynor of the Rams said. "We made some mistakes, and we knew we would make some, but the thing is what do you do when adversity hits? Our guys kept fighting and they hung in there."

Both teams had 11 penalties. The Vikings had 159 penalty yards, and the Rams 118.

An Elizabeth City State fan and Maynor had words after the game, and Maynor later told his team that fighting through the adversity will go a long way as the season progresses.

"We had a lot of penalties, we stopped ourselves," Maynor said. "We went in at halftime and we saw we could run the ball or pass the ball, but we kept getting penalties. We would get a personal foul, and we were beating ourselves."

Quarterback Kameron Smith had two touchdown passes in the first half, a 30-yarder to Tehyvn Brantley and a 27-yarder to Jamal Williams, a transfer playing in his first game for the Rams. Williams and Brantley wore matching lime-green cleats and combined for eight catches and 107 yards.

"It's just something different," Williams said of the shoes. "It's something we wanted to do, and if you look good, you play good."

There were many times the Rams didn't look good, but the defense stepped up, especially in the first half. Interceptions by Alton Keaton and Malcome Rowe set the tone as the Rams opened a 20-10 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Rams added a safety. Donnie Owens, another transfer playing in his first game, and fellow defensive lineman Akeem Ward harassed quarterback Creven Powell into intentionally grounding the ball from the end zone, an automatic safety.



That made it 22-10 with 6:53 left in the half.

"It was nice to see both of those guys (Keaton and Rowe) have interceptions because they both went to the same high school as I did," Owens said, referring to Fayetteville Byrd High School. "We all graduated from there, and I just tried to do my part as well."

Owens, who played at Coastal Carolina last season, had five tackles. Keaton had a team-high nine to go with his interception.

"I actually like a game like this when it's tight because we have to fight and have each other's back," Owens said. "Everybody did their part, and we got the win."

The Vikings went on a 25-play drive that covered 95 yards in the fourth quarter and scored when Daronte McNeill (23 carries for 90 yards) got his second touchdown, making it 22-17 after the extra point.

The Vikings ran nearly 10 minutes off the clock, and when the Rams got the ball back, it was Nic Cooper time. Cooper, who finished with 137 yards on 23 carries, kept the ball in WSSU's hands the rest of the way, helping run 3:40 off the clock by picking up three first downs.

"That was a long drive they had in the fourth quarter, and I told our offense if we got two first downs, we would win the game. The offense and Nic Cooper did the job," Maynor said. "They sucked it up and knew what was as stake."

The Rams rolled up 399 yards of offense, but the penalties hurt. One holding penalty on Brantley negated an 82-yard kickoff return by Williams for a touchdown.

For most of the game, the Vikings had more penalty yards than total yards.

"I think we did take a lot of time off the clock in the fourth quarter," said Powell, who was 11 of 25 passing for 103 yards with the two interceptions. "But I give Winston-Salem all the credit, their defense held us as long as they could."