MURFREESBORO, NC – The potent Winston-Salem State University offense racked up 619 yards as the Rams cruised to a 55-24 victory over Chowan University on Saturday night.  WSSU quarterback Kameron Smith threw for 355 yards and six touchdowns, while teammate Nicholas Cooper rushed for 98 yards.  Chowan is now 1-2 overall, and 0-1 in the CIAA.  The Rams move to 3-0, with all three wins coming in CIAA play.

Winston-Salem State got going early.  After a bad snap on a punt attempt by Chowan, WSSU began their first drive of the game at the Hawks' five yard line.  Two plays later, Smith found Cedric Hickman in the end zone to give the Rams an early 7-0 advantage. 

Winston-Salem State forced a pair of Chowan three-and-outs, then put together a six play, 47 yard drive which resulted in Smith's second touchdown pass of the game, this time to Cooper.  The Rams made it 20-0 at the 13:43 mark of the second quarter when backup quarterback Jamie DeGeare threw a 20 yard touchdown pass to Tehvyn Brantley.

The Hawks bounced right back with a touchdown of their own at the 11:35 mark, when Cameron Stover hooked up with reigning CIAA Receiver of the Week Robert Holland to make the score 20-7.  Winston-Salem State did not wait long to respond, going on an eight play, 74 yard drive to take a 27-7 lead with 7:51 remaining in the first half.

Chowan then went on a methodical 11 play drive which was capped by Ryan Murphy's 22 yard field goal to bring the Hawks within 17 at 27-10.  Stover went 4-7 on the drive for 65 yards.  He would finish the evening with 162 passing yards and one touchdown pass.

On the first play of their ensuing drive, Smith tossed an 85 yard bomb to Jahuann Butler to bring the score to 34-10 with 3:46 left in the second quarter.  That score would remain until halftime.  At the break, the Rams compiled 343 yards of total offense.  Chowan led the time of possession battle, however, 15:12 to 14:48.

The Chowan defense came out strong in the second half, registering a tackle for loss and a sack on WSSU's opening drive.  The Hawk offense could not capitalize after forcing the punt, though, and the Rams scored again at the 11:19 mark.  Patrick Terry caught a Kameron Smith pass from six yards out to give the Rams a commanding 41-10 advantage.

The Rams would score once more in the period and took a 48-10 lead into the final quarter.  Ryan Simpson, playing quarterback for the injured Stover, found Holland in the end zone with 9:37 remaining in the game.  With that touchdown catch, Holland increased his season total to six.   

Winston-Salem State scored on their next drive when Maurice Lewis hauled in a 70 yard pass from DeGeare.  Lewis was the eighth different Ram receiver to catch a touchdown pass during the game.  Kevin Hodrick caught his fourth touchdown of the season with 4:57 on the clock to make the score 55-24, which would remain until the clock struck zero.

For Chowan, Ryan Simpson led the ground attack with 65 yards on six carries.  He was also 5-8 passing for 68 yards and two scores.  Dual threat Ryan Murphy caught two balls for 58 yards, and averaged 38.4 yards per punt.  Patrick Charles led the defensive effort with 7.0 tackles, while teammate Jason Ampy was not far behind with 6.5.

The Hawks will travel to Petersburg, VA next Saturday to take on the Panthers of Virginia Union University, who are currently 1-2 on the season.  Kickoff is set for 6:00pm.