BEAST MODE

After a 27-7 victory at home against the New Haven Chargers Dec. 3, the Rams (13-0) are two games away from winning the NCAA Division II Championship.

No other CIAA football team has ever made it this far in the playoffs.

In the Rams first-ever matchup against the Chargers, they held them to their lowest point total of the season.

The Chargers, who traveled from Connecticut, came into the quarterfinal round averaging 43 points per game.

"Our great defense stopped their great offense," said Winston-Salem State Coach Connell Maynor.

"They've [the defense] been doing it all year. They get overlooked because of our offense."

The Rams next game at home will be in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Dec.  10 against the Wayne State Warriors.

The Warriors from Detroit have an 11-3 record.

In this year's playoffs, the Nov. 6 seed  Warriors have won every game road.

During the game, the Rams forced three turnovers, all interceptions.

The interception that helped the Rams secure the win was by linebacker Carlos Fields.

The junior from Henderson, N.C., stopped a 12-play drive that could have given the Chargers the lead in the third quarter.

"You can't turn the ball over in the playoffs. They did a great job," said New Haven Coach Peter Rossomando.

"I thought they were very well coached."

Rams defensive end Akeem Ward, who had 1.5 sacks, said that they proved once again that they are a strong defensive team.

Ward now leads the team with 6.5 sacks.

"We wanted to get to the quarterback and cause havoc," said Ward, a senior from Holly Springs, N.C.

Coach Maynor said that holding offenses like the Chargers to only one touchdown should encourage more credit being given to his defense.

"Everybody wants to talk about the guys scoring the touchdowns," Maynor said.

"The defense has continued to show that as long as they play like that, we're going to continue to win."

Maynor said that another one of the keys to the Rams success is the linemen on both sides of the football.

"We tell them to dominate; if the o-line and d-line dominate for 60 minutes we can do what we want to do on both sides of the ball," Maynor said.

On the offensive end, the Rams were led by running back Nicholas Cooper and wide receiver Jameze Massey.

Cooper had 132 rushing yards on 14 carries and Massey had 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback Kameron Smith also had a good day with 274 passing yards and two touchdowns.

For Massey, this was his best game of the season.

"We have a good running back in Nic Cooper, and they tried to load the box," Massey said about how the Charger defense played their offense.

"I was just trying to take that ninth man out the box and catch some deep balls," he said.

The Rams won the total offensive yards battle 444 to 330.

In this year's playoffs, the Chargers were a No.2 seed and now finished their season at 11-2 following their loss in the quarterfinals to the Rams.

The Rams, a No.1 seed, improved their record to 13-0.

With the Rams continuing to make history this season, Maynor understands that the team must remain focused.

"We still have a lot of work to do," Maynor said.

"We have two more ball games and we are going to take them one at a time. That's what we preach."

As the Rams move closer to the National Championship, WSSU fans are excited, including Chancellor Donald Reaves.

After being honored with championship rings last year for WSSU athletic teams, Reaves said that winning a National Championship in football would be fantastic.

"I would love to have that big National Championship ring. The team is doing really a great job," Reaves said.

With at the most two games remaining, Coach Maynor said that the team plans on finishing what they started.

"We're 13-0. We said we were going to go 15-0," Maynor said.

"We got to respect all and fear none."

For additional coverage on this game visit www.thenewsargus.com to read Sports Editor's Jordan Holloway's Rams Defensive Domination story and view highlight video.