Rams dominate Golden Bulls 44-17 in homecoming contest

            Winston-Salem State's offense outclassed Johnson C. Smith's and the Rams came away with a 44-17 homecoming victory in front of 15,123 fans on Oct. 12.

       The Golden Bulls gave the Rams all that they could handle in the first half, but were unable to stifle WSSU's domination in the final two quarters.
            WSSU Head Coach Connell Maynor said he knew JCSU was not an easy opponent and wasn't surprised by how tight the game was through the first two quarters.
            "We knew they were a good football team," he said.
            "They only had two losses in their last 10 games coming in, and one of those was to us. Coach [Steve] Aycock has done a great job with those guys."
            The Golden Bulls won the coin toss and deferred. The Rams took advantage and drove 91 yards on 16 plays before junior quarterback Rudy Johnson finished with a 13-yard touchdown run to give his team a 7-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter.
            JCSU (4-2, 2-2 CIAA) answered quickly, scoring on its first drive of the game. Senior wide receiver Chris Patterson caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Keahn Wallace to cap off an eight-play, 65-yard drive and tie the game at 7-7 with 3:47 left in the first.
            Near the end of the first quarter, WSSU was forced to punt on its second drive of the game, and the Golden Bulls took over at midfield. After six plays and 46 yards, Wallace connected with sophomore wide receiver Fred Scott for 19 yards and his second touchdown of the day, giving JCSU a 14-7 lead with 14:53 left in the second quarter.
            The Rams offense was unable to respond on its ensuing drive and was forced to punt for the second straight time. Luckily, the defense immediately stepped up and forced the Golden Bulls punt - for the first time in the game.
            WSSU (5-1, 3-0 CIAA) made the most of the possession and rammed the ball down JCSU's throat. Junior running back Maurice Lewis finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 14-14 with 6:33 left in the first half.
            On the Golden Bulls next possession, the Rams defense forced a three-and-out.
            The Rams pushed for a score late in the half, but turned the ball over on downs with 0:27 left. JCSU took over at its own 18 and after four plays, ran out of time to bring the game to the half.
            The score was tied at the half despite the Rams outgaining the Golden Bulls 241 total yards to 106.
            Coach Maynor said he was satisfied with his team's play even though it hadn't yet translated into a lead.
            "We looked at the stats, and we had a lot more yards than they did," he said.
            "We knew we were moving the ball and doing what we wanted to do. We just had to buckle down, stop the little mistakes and execute better in the second half and that's what we did."
            JCSU started the second half on offense and went three-and-out, but so did the Rams on their first drive.
            During the Golden Bulls second possession, they were driving well and on their way to a touchdown before junior defensive lineman Alfy Hill sacked Wallace to force fourth down and a field goal attempt.
      Freshman kicker Erik Amaya made the 33-yard attempt to give JCSU a 17-14 lead with 9:09 left in the third quarter.
            The Rams answered and took a 21-17 lead on a 35-yard touchdown run by Johnson with 7:44 left in the third. The defense held up again on the Golden Bulls subsequent drive and forced them into their third straight three-and-out.
            JCSU's defense did what they could to stop the Rams, but two plays after a fourth down conversion, Johnson threw his first touchdown pass of the day, a 25-yarder to senior tight end Jerry Chandler. Touchdowns on back-to-back drives put the Rams in the lead, 28-17, with 1:33 left in the third.
            The Rams forced another punt without allowing a first down, thanks to senior defensive lineman Donnie Owens, who sacked Wallace on third-and-2 to force the punt.
            The Golden Bulls punted the ball away to start the fourth quarter, and the WSSU offense went to work again. The Rams drove 67 yards on 10 plays and added to the lead on a six-yard run by senior running back Patrick Mputu. WSSU led 35-17 with 9:55 left in the game.
            The Rams continued to put pressure on Wallace during JCSU's next drive. Senior defensive lineman John Rizor and junior defensive lineman Casey Davenport combined to sack him on first down, and he was hurried into an intentional grounding penalty on second down. WSSU's special teams unit proceeded to do their part when junior cornerback DeAndre Jones blocked the punt by freshman Matias Lembrecht deep in Golden Bulls territory, forcing a safety and giving the Rams a 37-17 advantage with 8:49 remaining.
            The homecoming victory was in sight, but the Rams offense was not finished. On their next drive, senior wide receiver Tehvyn Brantley took a screen pass from Johnson 38 yards for a score to give WSSU a 44-17 lead with 5:54 left.
            WSSU's defense forced JCSU to punt again with 4:20 remaining, but Brantley muffed it and gave the Golden Bulls the ball back inside Rams territory.
            Once again, the defense was up to the challenge. A strong stand led by Owens and Hill, who each recorded their second sacks, led to a 51-yard field goal attempt by Amaya that missed wide right.
     The Rams got the ball back and ran the clock out, a rare sight from WSSU since Maynor has been the coach.
            Johnson led the Rams offense as it put up 501 total yards. He completed 19 of 25 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 17 times for 122 yards and two scores.
 "We got a little ahead of ourselves early in the game," Johnson said.
            "Coach told us at halftime to take it one play at a time and one drive at a time. It worked, and we executed. This win shows that we can face adversity. It wasn't a blowout at first like we're used to, but we made a quick adjustment at halftime and came out and played like we know how to play."
            WSSU got a strong performance from its quarterback and its running backs. Lewis and Mputu provided great balance for the Rams offensively. Lewis carried the ball 22 times for 129 yards, and Mputu finished with 10 rushes for 85 yards; both had a touchdown.
            The Rams defense held the Golden Bulls to just 50 yards of offense in the second half. They forced JCSU to punt seven times, four of them coming after three-and-outs. WSSU defenders ganged up on Wallace and sacked him seven times. Owens had two of those sacks and was excited about the win.
            "This win will give us a lot of confidence," he said.
            "We knew it was going to come down to either us or them [JCSU] to represent our side [Southern Division] in the CIAA, and we won. It was a great win. We needed this."
            The Rams winning streak has extended to five games, and they will look to make it six wins in a row when they play St. Augustine's (3-3, 2-1 CIAA) in Raleigh on Oct. 19.