Feb. 4. 2008
The News Argus
5
Sports
William Hayes continues
to rack up accolades
Aggies "'Rush" to win
Photo by Charles E. Watkins
Winston-Salem State’s Roy Peake guards a North Carolina A&T player.
Jan.22, 2008
PITTSBURGH, PA
Winston-Salem State University defen
sive end William Hayes has been named
to the American Urban Radio Networks
(AURN) 2007 SBN Sports Black College
All-American (BCAA) Team. He will be
honored during the annual BCAA
Awards Weekend Feb. 15-16 in Atlanta.
Hayes led WSSU with 8.5 sacks and
was second on the team in total tackles
with 78. He also broke up three passes
and recovered four fumbles, two of
which he returned for touchdowns for
the Rams.
Over his past two seasons at WSSU,
Hayes, a former star at High Point
Andrews, combined for 16 sacks and
129 tackles.
Eighteen schools are represented on
the list, led by three honors for the SBN
Black College National Champion
Tuskegee Golden Tigers.
Quarterback Jacary Atkinson of
Tuskegee, who was named SBN Sports
Doug Williams Offensive Player of the
Year. Bethune Cookman linebacker
Ronnie McCullough was named the
SBN Sports Mel Blount Defensive Player
of the Year, and Tuskegee head coach
Willie Slater was named SBN Sports
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year.
Atkinson was the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(SIAC) MVP and Offensive Player of the
Year, lead the conference and Division II
football in passing efficiency (188.0).
The running backs are Alabama State's
Jay Peck and Chad Simpson of Morgan
State. Peck was named Southwestern
Athletic Conference (SWAC) Offensive
Player of the Year and finished the sea
son with 246 carries for 1,186 yards and
six touchdowns. Simpson led the Mid-
Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in
rushing and set a single-season school
record by accounting for 1,402 yards.
Grambling State's Clyde Edwards,
Howard University's Jarahn Williams
and Charles Moody of Alabama A&M
make up the receiving corps. Edwards
became GSU's career record holder for
career receiving yards, (2484) receptions
(147) and touchdown receptions (37).
Williams, a 5-10, 185-pound senior, led
all MEAC receivers with 15 TD recep
tions while tying for the conference lead
in scoring. Moody led SWAC tight
ends with 38 receptions for 423 yards
and 11.1 yards per catch. He also caught
two touchdown passes.
The offensive linemen selections
include Jackson State's Lorenzo Breland,
Norfolk State's Jason Kressen, South
Carolina State's James Lee.
The defensive line is led by repeat per
formers Rudolph Hardie of Howard
University and Hampton University's
Kendall Langford. They are joined by
William Hayes of Winston-Salem State
and Curtis Johnson of Clark-Atlanta.
Zach East of Prairie View, Marquez
Davis of NSU and Bethune Cookman's
Ronnie McCullough - the Mel Blount
Defensive Player of the Year Award —
are the linebackers. East was also named
SWAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Davis, led NSU and ranked second in
the MEAC with 107 tackles, 9.5 of which
came behind the line of scrimmage.
McCullough was named MEAC
Defensive Player of the Year after finish
ing atop the nation with 149 tackles.
Tlie defensive secondary is made up
of Alabama A&M's A1 Donaldson,
Southern's Jarmaul George, Tennessee
State's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
and Bobbie Williams of BCU.
Donaldson was the nation's co-leader in
interceptions with nine. George had a
Jaguar 64 tackles and four interceptions.
Rodgers-Cromartie finished the 2007
season with two interceptions, both
returned for TDs (69 and 71 yards).
Williams ended the year with two inter
ceptions and a team second-best 77 tack
les.
Peter Gaertner of Delaware State
University is SBN's 2007 placekicker.
During the season he led the MEAC
with a DSU-record 19 field goals.
Brandon Larkin of Clark-Atlanta, who
finished second in the nation (Division
II) in punting with 46.3 yards per game,
is the punter.
By Steven J. Gaither
EDITOR IN CHIEF
It was a game ten years it the mak
ing, but it only took five minutes to
decide.
North Carolina A&T guard Steven
Rush scored 23 points, including nine
in the first five minutes, as A&T
jumped out to a 17-4 lead and coasted
to a 75-56 win over rival Winston-
Salem State in the Corbett Arena in
Greensboro on Jan. 26. It was the first
time the two former CIAA rivals
squared off since the 1997-98 season.
Leading the way for the Rams was
Jamal Durham with 17 points, 10
rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
Durham was the only Ram to score in
double figures. Darrell Wonge fin
ished with nine points and four
rebounds.
After the game. Rams head coach
Bobby Collins admitted that Rush's
quick start critically wounded the
Rams early in the game.
"He was just on fire," said Collins.
"He was shooting them from like 25-
feet. I was just glad Coach Eaves took
him out of the game. That was the
only way we could stop him."
After trailing 41-23 at half time, the
Rams managed to cut the lead to 12
when Isaiah Tucker's 12-foot jumper
made the score 47-35 with less than 13
minutes remaining.
The Aggies came back to answer
with a 11-2 run in the next three min
utes that put the game away for good.
The Aggies outshot (40 percent to 33
percent) and out rebounded (48 to 43)
the Rams. They also got to the free-
throw line with more frequency, hit
ting on 20 of 29 attempts, while the
Rams made just 11 of 22 attempts.
"If they hit hit a few shots, it would
have been a much closer game," said
A&T head coach Jerry Eaves, who
picked up a win in his first game
against WSSU.
"Steve (Rush) was tremendous for
us in the first eight or nine minutes of
the first-half. "
Nearly 6,000 people packed into the
gym to see the two rivals play for the
first time this decade. The Corbett
Arena is known as a tough place to
play and it lived up to it's reputation
against the rival Rams. "
"You come into a place like this,
into a hostile environment, you have
to be mentally tough and mentally
focused," Collins said."That's some
thing that we weren't tonight."
WSSU football continues to earn
accolades on and off the field
Are we moving backwards?
Larry Williams
Staff Reporter
Media Relations
Winston-Salem State University senior defensive
end William Hayes and senior linebacker Thadeus
Griffin have both earned spots on the 2007 Sports
Network FCS All-America teams as announced
recently.
Griffin, a 6'2", 255-pound senior linebacker from
Sumter, South Carolina eamed Sports Network FCS
All-America Honorable Mention honors and also
eamed a place on the FCS Mid-Major and
Independent All-America First Team.
Griffin led the Rams in tackles for the third con
secutive season as he tallied 117 total tackles, 49 of
which were solo tackles. He also tied for second on
the Rams' roster with 10 tackles for loss while pick
ing off three passes and collecting a sack.
Hayes, a 6'3", 260-pound defensive end from
High Point, North Carolina eamed FCS Mid-Major
and Independent All-America Second Team honors
as he ranked second on the Rams' roster in tackles
with 78 including a team-leading 19 tackles for loss
including 8.5 sacks. Hayes tallied three passes
defended, 12 quarterback hurries and four fumble
recoveries, two of which he returned for touch
downs.
In addition to Hayes' FCS Mid-Major Second
Team All-America honors, Hayes was named to the
SBN Sports Black College All-America Team, was
invited to play in the 2008 Heritage Bowl, and was
selected to play in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star
Game in El Paso, Texas.
The Texas vs. The Nation Game is a post-season
college football all-star game that was established
in 2006 as part of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS
football season. The format of the game pits a team
of top-rated college seniors who played college or
high school football in Texas against a squad of top-
rated seniors from the rest of the nation. Seniors
rated in the top 15 at their position by the NFL are
eligible to play in the game.
"Sticks and stones may break my
bones but words can never hurt
me." Many people have heard that
saying for
Opinion
Photo by Mark W. Sutton
Winston-Salem State’s Linebacker Thad Griffin
and defensive end Will Hayes were named to
the 2007 Sports Network All-America team.
The game is held in El Paso, Texas at the Sun
Bowl Stadium. The first occurrence of the game was
held on February 2, 2007 to conclude the college
football season, and was broadcast on CSTV. The
2008 edition of the Texas vs. The Nation game will
again be broadcast live on CSTV at 3:00 pm
Mountain Time from the Sun Bowl in El Paso,
Texas.
Griffin and Hayes are the first two WSSU players
to receive national honors since the Rams made the
move to NCAA Division I two seasons ago.
For more updates, log on to WSSUrams.com
years from
parents when
being teased
by other chil
dren. Well,
the recent
comments
and decisions
by some paid professionals are
putting that saying to the test.
By now most of you have heard
that the Golf Channel Kelly
Tilghman, suggested on Jan. 4 that
one way for young players on the
PGA tour to deal with the chal
lenge posed by Tiger Woods
would be to "lynch him in a back
alley." Tilghman quickly apolo
gized to viewers and to Woods
directly. Tiger said he forgave his
friend of 10 to 11 years, calling it a
"non-issue" and that all was
behind him.
"It was unfortunate," Woods said.
"Kelly and I did speak. There was no
ill intent. She regrets saying it. In my
eyes, it's all said and done."
Well sorry Tiger, but it is not that
easy for some. In the past year a
national syndicated radio host, Don
Imus, has referred to women of color
playing basketball as "nappy headed
ho's." A very successful TTV person
ality "Dog lihe Bounty Hunter"
(Duane Chapman) has been
recorded telling his son not to date a
black girl because " I'm not going to
take a chance ever in life of losing
everything I've worked for 30 years
because some drunken nigger heard
us say nigger and turned us into the
Enquirer magazine."
Speaking of magazines, Golfweeks
Dave Seanor, vice
president and edi
tor, thought it was
appropriate to put
a NOOSE on the
cover of its Jan. 19
issue. According to
— Tuskegee
University, 3,466
blacks were lynched in the United
States from 1882 to 1968. These facts
must have somehow gotten lost in
Mr. Seanor's memory.
So what is driving this wave of
public racial insensitivity? No one
can give the exact answer. Some peo
ple believe that this is a racist coun
try at its core and this is how a cer
tain number of people really think.
Others say that some black people
refer to each other with words that
have a negative history (nigger, boy,
dog, bitch), so what is the big deal?
There are some people who think
this country is making positive
strides in racial interacHons. For
example, a black man is considered
by some to be the leading candidate
to be president of the United States.
However, these people do not speak
for the majority of the country.
Whether you agree with one of the
opposing sides or have your own
opinion, we should all have a raised
eyebrow with this current trend. The
moment we start to allow racial
insensitivity to become the norm
again we will be a taking a major
step back.