Ram Ramblings: Showcase for local baseball players will be at BB&T Ballpark

WINTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  When Coach Kevin Ritsche took over to rebuild the Winston-Salem State baseball program in 2010 he had an advantage thanks to the local high-school talent at his disposal.

Because of that wide range of talent that he’s openly recruited the Rams are the three-time defending CIAA champions. It’s no coincidence that the Rams had their best season in school history (39-13) last spring thanks to 19 local players on the 33-man roster.

“I think that the guys that first got here from this area have to get credit because they kind of started that pipeline in wanting to come here to play,” Ritsche said. “And now, three years later, we are getting even better local talent.”

To help foster that relationship even more with local high-school players WSSU is holding a showcase on Sept. 14 for anybody in grades ...

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FAMU Band Back at Football Game After Suspension

ORLANDO, Florida  --  Nearly two years after a drum major's hazing death silenced the music at Florida A&M football games, the famed Marching 100 band returned to the field Sunday with its familiar booms, drum rattles and other tones for the school's season-opener.

It was the band's first game appearance since a season-long suspension. The scrutiny following Robert Champion's 2011 death thrust the school into the national spotlight and led to the more than a dozen arrests and the resignation of top officials.

As the band marched into the Florida Citrus Bowl, fans stood and cheered, and some had tears in their eyes. Alumni said they celebrated the reappearance of a school symbol whose absence caused a core of its fan base to stay away on game days.

"They did have to be punished — if you want to say that," 1985 FAMU graduate Cedric Crawford said. "But it's great to have them back.

"It's almost not football season without the band — especially at FAMU," he said.



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Trayvon Martin's father leads FAMU football team onto Citrus Bowl field before opener

ORLANDO, Florida -- Trayvon Martin’s father led the FAMU football team onto the field before the Rattlers’ season opener Sunday at the Citrus Bowl, embracing his role as honorary captain this season.

Tracy Martin, whose son Trayvon was shot and killed in Sanford last year, has been working to raise funds in support of families scarred by violence. He welcomed the opportunity to spend time with the young Florida A&M team. Tracy Martin ran out of the Orlando Citrus Bowl tunnel with the Rattlers shortly before the start of their game against Mississippi Valley State, part of the 9th Annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge.

“It feels good just to be a part of that, man. I had a son that used to go to FAMU and Trayvon wanted to go to FAMU,” Martin said immediately after taking the field. “I’m good friends with coach [Earl] Holmes, the coaching staff . . . some of the kids on the team I even coached them in little league football, so it felt good to run out there with them.”

Martin and Holmes spoke during the summer and they decided it would be a good idea for Martin to be an honorary captain for this year’s squad to help bring more attention to the Trayvon Martin Foundation. The foundation’s purpose, according to the website trayvonmartinfoundation.org, is to raise awareness about ...

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Baker's seven TD passes fuel ACU Wildcats' 84-6 rout of Concordia-Selma

ABILENE, Texas  –  Quarterback John David Baker threw for 322 yards and a school-record seven touchdowns as Abilene Christian University opened its inaugural season as a member of NCAA Division I with an 84-6 romp over Concordia College (Selma, Alabama) Saturday night in Shotwell Stadium.

Baker, a senior seeing the first significant action of his career after watching Mitchell Gale throw for more 12,000 yards the last four seasons, completed nine of 11 passes for three TDs in the first quarter as ACU built a 27-0 lead, then added three others in the second quarter. He completed 16 of 19 passes before half as the Wildcats rolled to a 61-0 advantage.

Baker's seven TDs broke the ACU single-game record of seven held by Clint Longley (1973) and Billy Malone (2006 and 2008, both against West Texas A&M). For the night, Baker completed 17 of 20 passes and was not intercepted.

The 84 points were the second most in ACU history, behind a 93-68 win over West Texas A&M in the 2008 Division II playoffs, and in front of an 81-0 shutout of Daniel Baker College in 1920. The game was the Wildcats' first as a Division I FCS independent. ACU begins football play in the Southland Conference in 2014.
Darian Hogg caught 10 passes for 208 yards and two TDs, Charcandrick West ran for 125 yards and a score, and Darrell Cantu-Harkless ran for 99 yards and two TDs. The Wildcats scored 12 consecutive TDs and intercepted Concordia quarterbacks five times.

After senior wide receiver DeMarcus Thompson returned the opening kickoff 35 yards to the Hornets' 40-yard line, ACU's first drive was all West – three straight runs capped by his 21-yard scoring sprint. Freshman placekicker Nik Grau's PAT put the Wildcats up 7-0 at the 13:41 mark.



Baker hit sophomore tight end Jamie Walker for a 15-yard TD pass on the second possession to give ACU a 14-0 lead with 6:53 left in the quarter.

He struck again on the next drive, turning a bad snap and busted play into a 30-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Drew Peters, who eluded a tackle and slipped into the end zone to pad ACU's lead to 21-0.

Baker's third TD of the first quarter was a 6-yarder to a sliding Thompson in the right corner of the end zone. The PAT was not successful, but the Wildcats moved out to a 27-0 advantage as time expired in the opening quarter.

Corcordia's first sustained drive of the game ended with an interception by senior linebacker Thor Woerner at the Wildcat 23-yard line. Baker was sacked on the first play following the turnover, but bounced back on the next play to hit wide receiver Darian Hogg in stride on an 88-yard TD pass-run. Grau's PAT gave ACU a 34-0 lead with less than three minutes gone in the second quarter.

Baker's fifth TD pass of the game was a 7-yard toss to Walker with 8:09 remaining, upping the ACU score to 41-0. He connected with Thompson again on a 34-yard scoring pass at the 4:29 mark to pad the Wildcat lead to 48-0.
Abilene Christian's sixth TD of the game was supplied by senior running back Darrel Cantu-Harkless, who ran three yards with 1:26 remaining to set a school record for most points scored in a first half. The old mark was 51 points scored Oct. 6, 2007, in a 58-7 rout of Northeastern State.

Cantu-Harkless added a 54-yard scoring run with 44 seconds left, and Grau's seventh PAT of the game pushed ACU's lead to 61-0.

The ACU defense stifled the Hornets to complete the first-half dominance, holding Concordia to 88 yards and five first downs. Meanwhile, the Wildcats rolled up 518 yards of offense and 21 first downs in scoring on all of its drives.

Sophomore ACU cornerback Tyler Chapa intercepted quarterback Matthew Rowser's first pass of the second half and returned it 31 yards for a TD with 43 seconds gone in the third quarter. Grau's PAT made the score 68-0.

ACU's advantage grew to 75-0 with three-and-a-half minutes gone in the third quarter when Baker threw his seventh TD pass of the game to Hogg, a 17-yarder. The Wildcat lead became 82-0 when Jeremiah Williams, a running back enrolled in the ACU Graduate School, ran 4 yards for another TD.

Concordia scored its first TD of the night when Cameron Mayfield hit David Hampton on a 21-yard play with 5:43 left in the third quarter. The PAT, however, was blocked and returned by Wildcat senior linebacker Jesse Harper for another two points that extended ACU's lead to 84-6.

DeMarcus Thompson caught three passes for 51 yards and two TDs. Grau was good on 10 of his 12 PAT kicks.

ACU returns to Shotwell Stadium next Saturday to play crosstown rival McMurry University at 6 p.m. CST.

COURTESY ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

Note: For MEAC/SWAC fans, the Wildcats will closeout the 2013 season at Prairie View A&M University on November 16, 2013, in Prairie View, Texas. But, who's looking ahead, Panthers?

Duke Cruises to Shutout Win Over NCCU in Bull City Gridiron Classic

DURHAM, North Carolina  --  North Carolina Central University's lone trip to the end zone against Duke University, a second-quarter fumble return for a touchdown by senior linebacker Tazmon Foster, was overturned by instant replay.  It was that kind of day for the Eagles.

NCCU's offense crossed midfield just once with Duke earning its first shutout since 1989, as the Blue Devils cruised to a 45-0 win during the Bull City Gridiron Classic inside Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday.

Six different Blue Devils scored touchdowns as Duke amassed 488 yards of total offense, including 257 rushing yards on 49 carries.  NCCU posted 184 yards of total offense with 103 yards coming through the air. Duke moved the chains 27 times, while the Eagles managed nine first downs.

In NCCU's best drive of the game, the Eagles pushed the ball 51 yards in 11 plays to the Duke 24-yard line at the end of the second quarter, but junior kicker Oleg Parent missed the 41-yard field goal try wide left.  Duke led 28-0 at halftime.

NCCU senior quarterback Jordan Reid completed 11-of-22 passes for 87 yards. Sophomore running back Idreis Augustus rushed for 50 yards on nine carries, while senior receiver Marvin Poole caught four passes for 27 yards.



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Foster topped the Eagles' defense with a game-high 13 tackles, including two assisted hits for a loss. Fellow senior linebacker Tyriqe Williams collected eight takedowns, while senior lineman Aaron Wallace and redshirt-freshman linebacker Jordan Miles contributed seven stops each. Sophomore linebacker Neil Williams accounted for NCCU's lone turnover with an interception to go along with two tackles.

"We kept fighting," said NCCU interim head coach Dwayne Foster. "Although we did not come out on top, we didn't hang our heads and quit. I thought we played extremely hard. We are going to use that as a positive and build off of it."

NCCU returns to action on Sept. 7 by hosting former CIAA foe Saint Augustine's University inside O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium at 2 p.m.

COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Big plays help lead Northern Colorado Bears to season opening victory over Langston

GREELEY, Colorado – On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Northern Colorado senior quarterback Seth Lobato (Eaton, Colo.) hit junior wide receiver Dimitri Stimphil (Homestead, Fla.) for a 60-yard touchdown that extended the Bears lead to 17-3 and two drives later the pair connected on an 80-yard strike to lift the team to a 31-10 victory over Langston in the season opener for both teams.

"When you talk about football," Head Coach Earnest Collins Jr. said. "It is about a play here and a play there – just ask K-State. That's why you don't bring an opponent in and say 'this is an easy victory.' You can't do that anymore. We have players that can play at any level and they have players that can play at this level, so it evens out the pot. You can't go into a game believing that just because it's a lower level school you're going to win."

Stimphil caught five passes for a career-best 219 yards and two touchdowns, shattering his previous career-high of 76 yards from the 2011 game at Eastern Washington. His total of 219 receiving yards is also the eighth-highest total in school history and the second-highest since the Bears joined the Big Sky Conference in 2007.

Lobato ended the afternoon 17 for 30 for 314 yards, throwing three touchdowns and he connected with five other players besides Stimphil.

The Bears' defense also intercepted the Lions three times and forced a turnover on downs, which set up the 80-yard TD strike. Two of the three picks came from senior linebacker Conor Sparacio (Aurora, Colo.), who started the second game of his career and tallied seven tackles.



Junior college transfer Max Flores (Yuba City, Calif.) led the team with 15 tackles, while sophomore linebacker JaQueal Walker (Plaquemine, La.) added 14 stops and a pass breakup.

True freshman running back Darius Graham (Lawton, Okla.) made quite a splash in his collegiate debut, carrying the ball 17 times for 93 yards and one touchdown. "The kid has a lot of natural ability," Collins said. "We just have to teach him he can't bounce everything to the outside because they're as fast as you are now. He's 230 pounds and sometimes you've got to run some people over and keep going and we got him doing a little of that in the second half. He's going to be a special player for us and it's going to be good to have a 1-2 punch."

Langston scored first, making a 25-yard field goals with 9:05 on the clock in the first quarter. The Bears answered with a 41-yarder off the foot of senior kicker Dave Eden (Westminster, Colo.) with 13:20 to play in the second quarter to knot the score.

Lobato connected with senior wide receiver Will Jefferson Jr. (Moreno Valley, Calif.) from 11-yards out 1:42 before halftime for the 10-3 advantage at the break.

After Stimphil's back-to-back long touchdowns, Langston quarterback Jac'Quon Miles from Cedrick Jackson from 10 yards out for the 24-10 score early in the fourth quarter and Graham scored from 18-yards out with 6:38 remaining for the 31-10 final.

"They kind of drove me nuts in the beginning," Collins said. "To our guys credit, they hung with it and figured out. We knew there were going to be some issues coming out because of the crazy things (Langston does). A new head coach and a new team so you really don't know -- you can practice what you think you're going to see and I think our kids think too much, especially on the offensive side, trying to make the perfect check. Once we calmed them down they started to play better in the second half."

COURTESY NORTHERN COLORADO UNIVERSITY BEARS.COM

Georgia Southern rolls past Savannah State 77-9

STATESBORO, Georgia  -- STATESBORO — Georgia Southern got started slowly Saturday night. Savannah State never seemed to get started.

The ninth-ranked Eagles scored touchdowns on seven straight full possessions from the first to third quarters and rolled to a 77-9 season-opening victory over the Tigers before 16,528 fans at Paulson Stadium.

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Southern, a semifinalist in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs last season, established offensive control after missing two field goal tries on its first two possessions.

The 77 points and the 68-point margin of victory were the largest in GSU’s Jeff Monken’s head coaching career and ruined the coaching debut of SSU coach Earnest Wilson.

It was the second most points scored in school history. The Eagles set a scoring mark with 84 points against Johnson C. Smith in 2004.

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