Nov. 8, 2003

Winston-Salem, NC - The Winston-Salem State University Rams and the Falcons of St. Augustine's College combined for over 1000 yards of total offense on Saturday, but it was the Rams who capitalized more often and earned their seventh win of the 2003 season, again in spectacular fashion, by the score of 54-19.

The Rams and Falcons, meeting for the first time since 1965, battled back and forth all day long, but it was the Rams who used a career day from quarterback Rodney Milbourne (QB/Sr./5'11''/186/Battleboro, NC) and a pair of 100 yard rushers in Martin Hicks (RB/So./5'7"/180/Oxford, NC) and Jed Bines (RB/Fr./5'10"/190/Winston-Salem, NC) to snuff out any hope of a Falcon upset, easily winning the season-ending contest 54-19.

Milbourne, playing in his final game of his college football career, played the entire game except for the opening series. He used his playing time wisely as he turned in his best career performance, going 12 for 16 for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns. He threw touchdown strikes of 14 and 32 yards en route to leading the Rams to victory.

The story of the evening would be Martin Hicks however, as he surpassed the 1000 yard rushing mark on the season. Coming into the contest, Hicks needed 178 yards to gain 1000 on the season, and he would gain all that and more on Saturday as he tallied 196 yards on 26 carries, and scored three touchdowns.

Hicks finishes the season with 1018 yards (net) on 151 attempts and a team-high fifteen touchdowns. He completes the season averaging 101.8 yards per game.

However, it was not only Hicks that carried the rushing workload as he was joined by rookie sensation Jed Bines who turned in a 104-yard performance, carrying the ball 14 times (7.4 yards per carry) while tacking on another pair of touchdowns, bringing his season total to seven. He finishes his rookie season with 574 yards rushing on 74 carries (7.5 yards per carry average) with seven touchdowns, solidifying his All-Rookie Team candidacy.

With the victory, the Rams finish the season with a 7-3 overall record (5-2 CIAA) and will surely finish the season ranked atop the CIAA in scoring (32.1 points per game), rushing yardage (2366 total yards), rushing yardage per game (236.6 yards rushing per game) and yards per game (396.1 yards per game). The Falcons meanwhile, fall to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the CIAA.