FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The #10 Winston-Salem State University Rams scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to pull away late and hold on to a 17-7 win over Fayetteville State Saturday at Luther "Nick" Jeralds Stadium.

With the win WSSU improves to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the CIAA's Southern Division and will earn its fourth straight CIAA Championship Game appearance. Fayetteville State falls to 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Division.

Early in the first quarter, the WSSU defense was up the challenge of a big game, as they would not let the Broncos get anything going, and stymied FSU into two punts.

But the Rams offense was on their heels, as for the second straight game, penalties would keep WSSU from getting anything going early.

Then the FSU Broncos would strike first, as Michael Johnson would field the Rams punt, and would break a tackles then race down the left sideline, 87 yards for a touchdown to put Fayetteville State up 7-0.

On the next series, the Rams looked as if they would be right back in the game after a 70 yard pass to Brenden Felder, but Felder would be called for unsportsmanlike conduct negating the long touchdown. The series would end on a blocked 40 yard field goal, keeping the score 7-0.

Neither team would threaten the endzone in the second quarter, and for the first time since the second game of the season, the WSSU would head into halftime, trailing.

As the Rams returned to the field in the second half, the sideline was more enthused, and although the first series ended in a punt, the defense continued to stifle the Broncos.

The WSSU defense would come up with a huge play, as they would force a fumble on the Broncos end of the field, and Phillip Sims would lead the Rams on a 30 yard, nine play drive that would end with a 12 yard touchdown pass from Sims to Eric Williams, to tie the game at 7-7.

Another defensive stop from the Winston-Salem State defense would give the ball back to its offense, with 5:20 left in the third quarter.

WSSU would use a solid mix of run and pass on their next series, and after 12 plays and 84 yards, Tyree Massey would find the endzone from 15 yards out to give the Rams their first lead of the day at 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Winston-Salem State would close out the scoring early in the fourth, as the Rams would take more than six minutes off of the clock, with a 14 play, 79 yard drive that would end with an Alejandro Suarez 23 yard field goal to give the Rams the final score of 17-7.

WSSU finished the game with 420 yards of offense (207 rushing, 213 passing) while holding Fayetteville State to 162 yards (104 rushing, 58 passing).

Tyree Massey led the Rams rushing attack with 14 carries for 87 yards and a score, and Maurice Lewis rushed for 76 yards on 15 carries. Mustafa Greene finished with 67 yards on six carries.

Phillip Sims finished the afternoon 12 of 22 passing for 141 yards and one score, while Rudy Johnson went five of 11 with one interception for 72 yards.

The Rams receiving corps was led by Eric Williams, who caught five passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. Marcel Caver had three catches for 63 yards and Brenden Felder also had three catches for 18 yards (incomplete stats).

Defensively, James Hickman led WSSU with eight tackles, 0.5 tackles for a loss, a sack and a fumble recovery. Danny Bunn, Larry Hearne and Terry Ross each had five tackles, with Bunn picking up a pass breakup and Hearne getting two pass breakups. Michael Bloomfield finished with four tackles a sack and 0.5 tackle for a loss, while Conor O'Neal also had four tackles, three sacks and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Alfy Hill picked up two sacks and Casey Davenport also picked up a sack. Everett Proctor had an interception.

Winston-Salem State will now face Virginia State University in the CIAA Championship Game next Saturday, November 15, at Durham County Stadium at 1:30 PM.