Saturday was senior day for Winston-Salem State and the game lived up to its billing as Winston-Salem State got big production out of its upperclassmen, defeating North Carolina Central 35-10 in the home finale.
Rams’ quarterback Monte Purvis did a little bit of everything in his final game in the city of Winston-Salem. The former Parkland High star went 8 for 13 passing, throwing for 134 yards and a touchdown. Purvis also ran for a game-high 134 yards and a touchdown. His high-school teammate Jed Bines ran for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns in his final home game. As a team, the Rams gained 470 yards, including 336 on the ground.
“All these seniors, the guys that are local, and even the guys that were not local are gonna be missed here,” said Rams head coach Kermit Blount. “This was a big year for us and those guys helped turn our program into what it is today.”
The Rams came out smoking in the first half, scoring on four of their first five possessions of the game, and leading 28-10 at halftime. The second half was more of a defensive battle, but the Rams were able to capitalize of the Eagles’ miscues and never really let them back in the game.
NCCU quarterback Stadford Brown went 17 for 38 passing, including a 29-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Blackwell, but he also threw 4 interceptions. And although Brown was not sacked, he spent the better part of the afternoon dodging Ram defenders in the backfield.
Taylor Gray’s 33-yard field goal gave NCCU the lead briefly, but WSSU answered back on with a 10-yard touchdown run by Bines and never looked back.
In the second quarter the Rams called Bines’ number and he responded with a 1-yard touchdown run. Rodrick Fluellen, who ran for 107 yards on the day, scored a 1-yard touchdown, giving the Rams a 21-3 lead. Purvis then connected with receiver Bryant Bayne for a 63-yard touchdown pass, extending WSSU’s lead with 1:53 left in the first half. The Eagles scored their only touchdown of the night when Brown connected with Blackwell with three seconds remaining to make the score 28-10 heading into the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, Purvis put the exclamation point on the win with his 22-yard touchdown scramble with 3:30 left to go.
After the game, Purvis admitted that the Rams had been eyeing this game on the schedule for awhile.
“All week, all we’ve been talking about his how they beat us,” said Purvis, referencing WSSU’s close loses the last two times the teams had played in 2004 and ’05. “We felt like they took our rings when we were in the CIAA so I felt like they set it up on the schedule at a good time.”
Notes
Bines’ second touchdown gave him 35 for his career, tying him with Broderick Graves for fourth on the Rams career rushing touchdown lists
WSSU’s win over NCCU was the first since the two teams left the CIAA and moved to Division I. WSSU will close out the season on the road against Norfolk State (7-3).
Check out Steven Gaither’s WSSU sports blog at: http://sgaither8504.blogspot.com/2007/11/big-day-for-wssu.html