^4 The Chronicle5?^fyeflr* oPORTSWEEKMiHM^ I Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point ? *?CTION OCTOISI I, Mfl ?HJPIP < / ; McCloud hopes to live up to his nickname for YeDowjackets , . v Adrian "M* McCloud Senior plays both sides offootball for Carver's undefeated varsity By THERESA DAVIS ForTlff CMKJWOJ ' Anyone who knows anything about Carver's varsity football team is familiar with Adrian McCloud. That's right, Adrian McCloud. When it conies to his teammates and friends, few of them recognize that name. They simply refer to him as "Bull''. No last name is needed around Carv er High. Others, including opponents, however, know the name well. For three seasons it has been ( called over the public address system frequently at Yellow jacket games. This season McCloud is the only player who spends a lot of time playing on both sides of the ball for Carver, the No. 4 rated team in North Carolina 3-A foot ball A two-time all-conference player at offensive guard, McCloud is one of the team's leaders. It is a tough task for him to line down along the defensive line, then snap the football at center or pull around the corner from a guard position. But McCloud is willing to make the sacrifice. "When 1 have to play both offense and defense I get very tired of seeing the field, but if it is going to help us become state champs it is all worth my while," he said, during a recent interview. McCloud has been an integral part of a Yellowjacket program that has unproved steadily since his sophomore season. After helping the junior varsity capture a conference championship as a freshman, McCloud whs moved up to the varsity the following season. He was named to the All Conference Team as the Yellow jackets captured a conference championship on the field. The previous season the team had posted a 1-9-1 record. The past two seasons the expectations have been high for the program and for McCloud individually. Especially last year when the Yellowjackets won the Piedmont Triad 3-A Conference and advanced to the 3-A State playofTs. "We expected to beat a lot of teams, but we didn't win the games that we needed to win," be said. "But I can see the changes in the program because the play ers want to win and we have coaches who are there that want to help us to achieve our goals" Those goals include taking the Yeilowjacket program to new heights Thus far the team is undefeated (5-0) going into Fri day night's Homecoming Game against Western Guilford at David Lash Stadium. Carver is 1 0 in the conference and can't afford to stumble down the stretch. The team began the sea son by defeating four consecutive 4-A opponents But now it must stay focused as it faces confer ence opponents and make a bid to receive one of the conference's two playoff berths The team knows it can't afford a slip up. ? "The main thing that every one wants this year is to become > state champions and in order to do that we must continue to prac tice hard and listen to what the coaches have to te|l us," he said. When it comes to team lead ership there are two other indi viduals who came up to the varsi ty with McCloud during their f sophomore seasons. Tauric Rice and Allen Pinkney have also played key roles in the team's I success. "I feel that A1 is the leader of the defense because he provides everyone with confidence," McCloud said. "Tauric leads because he does his stuflf on the J field. He does things that you would not expect him to do." But they aren't alone, aocord See MtCloud on 13 Defensive effort helped Rams get back on track J1 t m far too early to say that Winston Salem State recap its season with its 21-0 win over Virginia Union last Saturday. However, the Rams went a long way toward making a statement with their victo ry The Rams defense, which has played well since the middle of last season, is certainty mak ing its mark in Uie C1AA. The unit has allowed only 37 points in three games thus far and hasn't allowed a point in its previous three CIAA games. WSSU's streak of shutouts stretches back to last Oct. 25, "when the Ranis shut out Elizabeth City State 48-0. They followed that up with a 21 0 blanking of Bowie State in the season finale. : . The Rams started to gel as a unit even before lhen. They allowed only one touchdown in a 40 7 win over Johnson C. Smith in Week Eight, |Oct. 18). Perhaps the best sign of things to come happened when the Rams held powerful Virginia $tate to only 12 points in a 21-12 victory that $egan the Rams four-game winning streak last Reason ; Since then, the Rams have given up only seven points against CIAA competition. In all yames the Rams have given up 56 points in seven yames (an average of 8 points per game). ? Andrew Faison, the Rams' defensive coordi nator, has built a team that has slowly come to be . counted among the league's top units. The Rams ihave all the ingredients to make a championship 0 ut the team's thinking. The Rams lominated from beginning to end n their CIAA opener. "The main thing that we want id to work on was the basics," said roach Kermit Blount. "We went nto the week thinking that we tad a pretty good football team." None of the players felt a need o panic. And even though there ras certainly pressure for the earn to get into the win column, it lidn't affect their approach to the ame or game plan. The offensive nit, which had produced only 12 points in the loss to AAT and 10 in the opening loss against Cataw ba, knew it needed to step up. Offensive coordinator Mike Win bush said it wasn't a matter of not producing, the offense just needed to be more consistent. "What we really worked on was getting our offensive linemen to get a little more push," Win bush said. "We worked on run ning a lot of the simple plays (dur ing the off week). Tlie main thing was getting them motivated and ready to play." It was evident early against VliU that the plan of attack was working. After punting on their opening possession, the Rams put Set Roma