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? V; ? Photos by Brace Chapman
Eric Puryear
Puryear's 'inner strength' earned him spot in lineup
By SAM DAVIS
THEOwnmcm
Eric Puryear didn't play as well as be
would have liked last Saturday night against
Winston-Salem State. The three solo and
two assisted tackles he made didn't meet his
expectations. He also believes it helped con
tribute to his team's lackluster defensive
showing in the 20-7 loss to the Rams.
However, for once Eric Puryear was able
to look himself squarely in the mirror and
deal with his shortcomings.
Puryear, the starting strong safety at
North Carolina Central, says that hasn't
always been the case. And because of that
he's finally feeling comfortable with who is
and where he's headed.
From all indications, it looks like
Puiyear's athletic career is finally headed
upward. After heading off to Hampton Uni
versity on a football scholarship three sea
sons ago, Puryear has seen a lot of ups,
downs and bumps along the road. But now
he feels like he's where he needs to be
"The main thing is that I had to humble
myself," Puryear says "When I came out of
high school I didn't know how to do that.
That made it hard for me to accept what my
coaches and people around me were trying
to tell me. Now I find that it's not so hard to
do."
Puryear was a key member of Carver's
secondary during his senior season. He
helped lead a turnaround in the Yellowjack
ets' fortunes that eventually culminated in
Carver winning the state 3-A football cham
pionship last season.
But his career didn't exactly take off
when he signed with Hampton. He had trou
ble adjusting to the rigors of college athletics
and academics. He finally got fed up with the
Pirates' program and transferred to North
Carolina Central. He arrived just ahead of
first-year Rudy Abrams. Abrams' arrival
coincided with Puryear's about-face.
Set Puryaor on M
Puryoor drags down a Winston
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Rams defense stellar
in big win over NCCU;
key battle on horizon !
The table is set for Winston-Salem State's
football team.
The Rams have a showdown with Vir
ginia State on Saturday in a game that will
likely decide the 1999 CIAA championship.
WSSU set up the battle by taking a 20-7
victory over North Carolina Central in the
Midway Classic at Bowman Gray Stadium
.last Saturday night. And for the fourth week
in a row it was the Rams' defense that led the
way. WSSU shut down the league's most
potent offensive attack and came up with
four key turnovers.
The Rams' offense did just enough to
keep NCCU off-balance. Quarterback Tory
Woodbury gained 90 yards rushing in the
first half as the Rams took a 14-7 lead at the
half. WSSU's defense allowed only two first
See Press Box on B4
Photo by Bruce Chapman
WSSU needs a big game from Terrie
Newkirk, who came through with one of
his best games of the season against
N.C. Central.
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to bacoma tha world's No. I famala Iannis
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Firepower!
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Photo? by Bruce Chapman
fUftj Tailback Anthony butler
of West forsyth finds running
room in the Titans' win over
both Josh McOmm throw a
dutch touchdown pass to Matt
Bodonhoimor in West's victory.
17-14 win puts Titans back in playoff hunt
By SAM DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
A couple of huge offensive
plays on offense and defense,
along with a steady performance
by tailback Anthony Butler, kept
West Forsyth in the hunt for one
of two playoff berths in the Cen
tral Piedmont 4-A conference race.
The Titans recorded their
biggest victory of the season when
they defeated Mount Tabor 17-14
last Friday night in a conference
match-up in Clemmons.
Perhaps the most pivotal play
of the game came after Mount
Tabor* fought back to take a 7-3
lead. Chris Truesdale threw an 18
yard touchdown pass to Terrell
Cornelius to give the Spartans
their early lead. However, West
quarterback Josh McGee found
Matt Bodenheimer open on a 41
yard touchdown pass to give West
a 10-7 lead and control of the
game.
The Titans came right back
with another score, thanks to a big
play by their defensive unit.
Thomas Richmond recovered a
fumble on the ensuing kickoff and
Butler, who rushed for 145 yards
on 31 carries, added an 8-yard run
to give the Titans a 17-7 second
quarter lead.
Coach Russell Stone of West
Forsyth said his team came
through with a clutch performance
With its back against the wall. The
Titans improved to 4-4-1 overall
and 1-1 in the conference.
"It was a big one for us," Stone
said. "We've lost a lot of close
. ones this year, but this time things
went our way. I think this could be
a sign that we're on our way back.
We're 4-4-1 right now and people
out here are a little spoiled. But we
feel that we're in a position to do
some good things."
The Titans will battle South
Rowan on Friday in another cru
cial conference battle. They have a
bye the following week before tak
ing on Reynolds in their season
finale.
"We're looking at it like we're
in the playoffs now," Stone said. .
"A loss now and we are out of it.
But if we can continue winning,
we can control our own destiny."
The Titans have one of their
youngest teams in many seasons.
The team has only four senior
See West on B2
Brown
Brown is adjusting
well to regimented
life at Fork Union
By SAM DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE -
FORK UNION, Va. - Wearing a uni
form and adapting to a regimented lifestyle
has come a lot easier than Art Brown expect
ed. ' - ? '
But then, Brown didn't expect to be at
Fork Union Military Academy, which is
located in the middle of the state of Virginia,
between Charlottesville and Richmond.
Brown had college recruiters drooling over
him for the past four seasons at Winston
Salem's Mount Tabor High, where he
rushed for more than 6,000 yards during his
career and scored more than 80 touchdowns.
The transition has been smooth, accord
ing to Brown, one of the leading rushers in
the history of high school football in North
Carolina. He is nearing the completion of
the first mini-semester at Fork Union and
said he's on track to accomplish his academ
ic goal. -
After leading Mount Tabor to within one
game of the state 4-A championship game
last season. Brown turned down a long list
of suitors fo sign a scholarship with the Uni
versity of Virginia. When he fell short on his
college entrance test requirements, he decid
ed to enroll at Fork Union for a year to
improve his test scores and grade poiqt aver
age.
See Brown on B4
Carver's JV comes from behind,
takes key 19-14 win over Panthers
By SAM DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE
Koryell Williams' clutch passing and running
helped Carver's junior varsi
ty Tight from behind to take a
19-14 victory over Greens
boro Dudley in an important
Piedmont Triad 4-A Confer
ence battle last Thursday at
Carver.
Carver's victory not only
helped the Yellowjackets
improve to 3-0 in the confer
ence, it also helped them to
keep their home winning
streak alive. The loss was
Dudley's first in the confer
ence (3-1) and dropped the Panthers to 6-2 overall.
Dudley put up a big fight before surrendering
the game-winning points to Carver. The Panthers
fought back from a 12-0 first-quarter deficit to go
ahead 14-12 early in the fourth quarter. However,
Carver was able to mount a drive in the fourth
'
*
quarter that culminated in Williams' 12-yard pass
to Johnny Oglesby for the winning touchdown.
The Yellowjackets added on the PAT to close out
the scoring.
"I have to give credit to Carver for the way it
played," said coach Chuck Hayes of Dudley.
"Koryell Williams is a big strong quarterback and
he made some big plays to help his team. Princeton
Scott played real well for them and they came
through with some big plays when they needed
them."
Williams and Scott added Carver's first two
scores to give the Yellowjackets their early 12-0
lead. But Dudley capitalized on several big plays
on special teams to get back into the game.
Thomas Hastye added a spark with his running
and passing as Dudley closed the gap to 12-6.
Hastye then lofted a 31-yard pass for a touchdown
that tied the game at 12. Dudley then converted a
key two-point conversion to tike a 14-12 lead on
Nigel Bell's run in the third quarter.
But the battle-tested Yellowjackets mounted
See Carver JV on kS
s
Taking flight!
Joel Justus, a 6-5 senior from Mount Tabor
High, made a verbal tommitmont to attend
the University of North Carolina-Wilmington
on a basketball scholarship. Justus helped
lead the Spartans to an I $-12 record and to
the third round of the state 4-A playoff, iott
year. Justus averaged lb.2 points, 4.3 assists
^ and 3.1 rebounds per game.