Oct. 3, 2009

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Washington, D.C.--Willie Carter scored the game's only touchdown and the Bison defense held up against stiff challenges from the Rams as Howard University edged Winston-Salem State, 7-3 in a MEAC football contest at Greene Stadium before 2,883.

The first half featured a contest between the two punters, who had career days. The Rams' freshman punter Landen Thayer had 10 punts that averaged almost 47 yards per attempt with many of them seeming to hang forever before coming down. Although the Bison had what would have been field position advantage, Thayer negated it with his booming punts.

Howard's punter, Patrick Wolff was equally effective. Although he lacked the overall distance of Thayer's punts, he was especially effective placing the ball inside the 10-yard line 5 times, including two that landed inside the two-yard line.

The second half hinged on the play of the defenses and the individual talent of Carter, who made three big catches during the game's only TD drive. The Bison went 70 yards in eight plays with Carter capping off the drive with a 20-yard strike from Floyd Haigler (18 of 44, 193 yards).

From there, Howard (2-2) appeared to take control and twice had good field position but both times they were thwarted, first by a missed field goal and then by an interception as the Rams' defense once again proved to be the strength of the WSSU program.

Winston-Salem State (0-5) finally got on the board when they manufactured a gritty, 10-play drive. The Howard defense held, however, and forced a 43-yard field by Thayer with 8:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Howard held on downs on the Rams' next possession and forced a punt but Jeff Miller fumbled and gave the Rams' excellent field position at the Howard 14-yard line with a little over three minutes left.

But Winston-Salem State, which has lost 5 straight games in a season for the first time since 1975, had a bad snap on first down that lost 14 yards. The Rams never recovered as the Bison led by Will Croner's sack and pressure on the quarterback, held on downs and took over to run out the clock.

The loss drops WSSU to 0-5 overall while Howard improves to 2-2 overall. The Rams will have the Oct. 10 weekend off before returning to action on Oct. 17 as they travel to Davis, Calif. To face the Aggies of UC-Davis.

For additional information on WSSU football contact the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at WSSURams.com.