The Winston-Salem State football team lost its first game to UNC Pembroke, 25-21 on Sept. 5.
It was the Rams first regular-season loss since 2010; they had won 20 straight.
Head Coach Connell Maynor, now 35-5 in just over three seasons at WSSU, said his team did not play as well as it could have against UNCP. But he said he is still confident in his players and feels that they will bounce back.
“We didn’t play very well last night, but it’s still early,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We can still obtain all of our goals except for one, and that’s going undefeated. We can improve in all areas. We have a target on our backs. Everybody is going to get up to play us and we have to match their intensity for four quarters every game. We’ll watch the film, learn from these mistakes and get better.”
Even though the Rams lost several key players from last year’s team that made it to the national championship game,
Coach Maynor still believes this year’s team has enough talent to win the conference championship and make a run at the national championship.
“We still expect to win the CIAA championship, get in the playoffs, win our region, get back to the national championship game and win it,” he said.
“We have the team to get there and win [the CIAA and national championships], we just have to put all the pieces together.
“This team is talented, especially on the defensive side. We’re probably not as talented on the offensive side as we were last year because we lost some playmakers, but we like our team.”
Maynor said there are some strong leaders on this year’s team.
“Carlos Fields [senior linebacker, 2012 CIAA Defensive Player of the Year], Donnie Owens [senior defensive lineman, All-CIAA second team selection in 2012], Larry Hearne [senior defensive back], Daven Gray [senior offensive lineman, All-CIAA second team selection in 2012] and Anthony Carrothers [junior quarterback] are all guys that are capable of leading on and off the field for us.”
Carrothers is entering his first season as starting quarterback and has the daunting task of replacing Kam Smith, the 2012 Offensive Player of the Year in the CIAA and WSSU’s all-time leader in career passing yards and touchdowns.
Carrothers did not start the season the way Coach Maynor would have liked him to. He threw two interceptions and fumbled once in the opener, but his coach is still confident in him as the starting quarterback.
“He didn’t have his best game and we kind of needed him to play better,” Maynor said.
“Because we have so many new receivers and a young team, the quarterback really has to step his game up and bring the other guys along with him. He has to get better, but I believe he can do that. Everybody has to do their job and everybody has to step up and play a little bit better.”