^4 The Chronicle5?^fyeflr*
oPORTSWEEKMiHM^
I Winston-Salem Greensboro High Point
? *?CTION OCTOISI I, Mfl
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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 <eam. WSSU is big and strong up front, has
hard-hitting linebackers who can plug gaps and
?run, and defensive backs who can cover pass
receivers and come up to make big hits to stop
the opponent from turning the corner.
It is not a departure from the Bill Hayes
teams or the ones that Pete Richardson coached
at WSSU before heading to Southern Univ.
But what separates this defensive unit from
others is that there are very few blue-chip players
who came into the program highly recruited. The
only one that can be looked upon that way is
Thomas Washington, the All-CIAA defensive
See Press Box on B2 L
'* JQHI
11
Photos bv Joe Daniels
Tyrone Murphy of WSSU (loft)
totvloM 9bo boll o boSo
In Virginia Unieni defente.
Murphy hod a career high 201
yard*. Very Woodbury (below)
ran for another to lead WSSU
to their 21-0 win.
Rams keep focus, take 21-0 win orer VUU
WSSU wins CIA A i
<
opener after taking week <
off to work on 'basics' j
By SAM DAVIS |
TheCwowicle j
From the start of pre-season (
practice the focus for Winston- (
Salem State was the same. Win- j
ning the CIAA championship was j
the goal. The means of getting
there never mattered. t
But after dropping their first v
two games, there were a lot of tl
question marks in the Rams' <j
camp. Still, the Rams never g
wavered. As they went through a u
Dye week after dropping a 20-12
iecision to North Carolina A&T,
here was never any urgency.
WSSU's 21-0 victory over Vir
ginia Union, last Saturday night
it Bowman Gray Stadium bore
>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 <mM
Dudley jayvees take eariy I
lead, hold on for 28-20 win ]
By DAMON FORD
TBOUKU ,
What looked like an easy victory for the Dud
ley High junior varsity team turned out to be a 28
20 dogfight over Western Guilford last Thursday
night in Greensboro.
After being shutout in the first half 20-0, West
ern Guilford tied the score at the 3:20 mark of the
fourth quarter when quarterback Nick Luard
faked the handoff to his running back, rolled out
to his left, rounded the corner and ran 60 yards for
a touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, Dudley started on
Western's 4 5-yard line and, slowly but surely nahde #\
its way down field.
After the Panthers used a timeout to set up
their play with 18 seconds remaining and the ball
on the 13 yard line, Thomas Hast ye fought his way
up the middle on a quarterback keeper to the two
yard line. As he was being tackled. Hast ye tried to ; i
stretch for the end zone but the ball rolled out of
his hands and a player from the visiting Hornets
- recovered it.
After conferring for a minute with other line
judges, the game official ruled Hastye down before
the fumble On the next play Dudley's Artis Clay
ran two yards for six points and completed the two
point conversion with five seconds remaining
which all but sewed up the win.
"On the last drive we put in our first string
offense line and that seemed to do what we need
ed," said Dudley JV coach Chuck Hayes "We felt
that if we had the ball we were going to go right '
back to the power I series because they had not |
stopped it. We got good blocking and Artis Clay
ran the ball real well tonight for us"
Even with the tough loss Chris Causey, West
ern Guilford's coach, found a number of positives
from the second half to build upon.
"(The offensive line) did a great job because
Dudley was crowding the line with seven or eight
guys every play," he said. "We went with our power
backfield which gave us two fullbacks in there giv
ing us a push but the offensive line did a great job
in the second half."
In the first two quarters the Panthers were in
complete control.
Dudley scored on its first possession when run
ning back Anthony McCormick took a handoff up
the middle of the Hornet's defense and gave the
Panthers a 6-0 lead. McCormick scored his second
Set Pudtay on 13
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Carver JV's bounce back with 39-7 win over Glenn in conference opener |
By THERESA DAVIS
Fon The Chbowkxb
Coming off its first loss in two
years, Carver's junior varsity foot
ball team found itself in a unique
situation. The Yellowjackets
trailed Glenn 7-0 less than three
minutes into their conference
opener last Thursday.
Sam Davis, Carver's coach,
said he didn't expect his team to
panic. It didn't. Carver reeled off
39 consecutive points to defeat
the Bobcats by a 39-7 score.
"The sign of a good team is
determined by how it responds to
adversity," he said. "Even before
our loss (in double overtime) I
kept telling the kids that. No
coach ever wants to lose, but
sometimes the best lessons are
learned when you lose." \
Carver came fighting back
with a vengeance after it fumbled
on the opening series agaifast
Glenn and watched the Bobcats
score on their first offensive play.
Derrick Adams took the ensuing
kickoff, got behind a wall of
teammates and sprinted 85 yards
to the end zone to put Carver on
the scoreboard. Although the Yel
lowjackets were unsuccessful on
the two-point conversion attempt,
the touchdown got them back on
track.
The Yellowjackets held Glenn
on its next possession and then
took the lead for good. Jamie
Williams took a pitch from Mar
shall Cunningham and raced
uuwn me siuciuic ior a zt-yara
touchdown.
From there, the Yellowjackets
rolled on throughout the game.
See Carver JV on ?2
Orag Dahon
A.Jf _ <%i a
Kmfth Springs