Good Endings

Special to the ArgusThe Rams continued their trend of blowing opponents out with a 54-19 victory over the Falcons of St. Augustine College as they completed a 7-3 (5-2 CIAA) record this season.The Ram’s offense got out of the gate quickly, scoring on their first possession of the game. The Rams moved the ball down the field in a 7 play 65-yard drive with Jerrick Bynes scoring on a 19-yard touchdown run with 12:01 left in the first quarter. But, the Falcons answered two possessions later with a 70-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Darrell Nesbitt to receiver Ed Montgomery.The game stayed tight in the penalty filled second quarter. In one series the Rams were penalized eight times and had to punt the ball away. On the kick, punter Chad Oakley was hit by one of the Falcon’s defensive backs. A roughing the kicker penalty was charged to the Falcons, giving the ball back to the Rams. Both teams kicking games struggled in the second quarter as well. Place kicker Ashton Oakley had one extra point blocked and missed another. Fortunately, Falcons kicker Auther Lemon also missed his extra point opportunity, and the Falcons punter Sintell Crew only averaged 36 yards per punt all day. In the second quarter the Rams scored on a 14-yard pass from quarterback Rodney Milbourne to receiver Brandon Hussey. Falcon’s quarterback Nesbitt countered by scoring a touchdown of his own off of a 1-yard run with 6:39 left in the quarter. Ram’s tailback Martin Hicks finished off the scoring in the second quarter with a 1-yard plunge for a touchdown with 3:39 left. Hick’s score put the Rams ahead by a touchdown, 19-12, at halftime.With 8:33 left quarterback Milbourne, on a broken play, threw a 32-yard pass to receiver Jared Brevard for a touchdown putting the Rams ahead by two scores. The back breaker for the Falcons would come in the next series of plays. On the next Falcons’ possession quarterback Nesbitt had a 30-yard scramble and was heading for the end zone. Before he could get there a Ram defender punched the ball out of his hand, and the ball went in and through the end zone. The fumble out of the end zone gave the Rams the ball at their 20-yard line and negated a sure touchdown for the Falcons. On the next offensive possession, after a couple of penalties, the Rams found themselves in a third down and 26 situation. On third down Milbourne was able to complete a 30-yard pass to Brevard enabling the Rams to keep possession of the ball. A few plays later, with 41 seconds left in the third quarter, Bynes had a 6-yard touchdown run to put the Rams ahead by 21 points. In the fourth quarter the Falcons put up no further resistance. The Rams scored three touchdowns in the quarter. Martin Hicks had touchdown runs of 55 and 49 yards, and tailback Brandon Norman added a 24-yard touchdown run with 1:12 left in the quarter. Late in the fourth quarter, Hicks reached the 1,000-yard plateau (he rushed for 1,000 yards this season). Freshman Jerrick Bynes also had a strong showing rushing the ball late in the season. The defense posted two shutouts in their last three games and started showing some continuity at the end of the season. Plus, quarterback Josh McGee returns for his final season as Ram next year.Even though this was the last game of the season this rout shows that the Rams have a bright future and a lot to look forward to for next season.