Guilford and Greensboro College Season’s Over/Wake Forest Keeps Winning Big

In the College Football Corner it’s all over for the Guilford College Quakers and the Greensboro College Pride.  The Quakers closed things out with a 27-23 loss to Emory and Henry and finish at 6-4, while the Pride dropped their finale 42-20 to N.C. Wesleyan and complete the 2006 campaign with a 3-7 overall mark.

The Greensboro locals are all done except for N.C. A&T and they end up the year this Saturday against South Carolina State.  The Aggies and Bulldogs will be playing at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.  A&T stands at 0-10 after last Saturday’s 45-0 loss to Elon.

Elon has a chance to finish above .500 if they can defeat The Citadel in the last game for the Phoenix Saturday at Rhodes Stadium on the Elon campus.  Elon sits at 5-5 as they ready for the final countdown.  Staying with the Southern Conference theme, the Appalachian State Mountaineers claimed the Old Mountain Jug when they clobbered Western Carolina 31-9 at Cullowhee.  Freshman QB Armanti Edwards did it again as he rushed for 119 yards, scored 2 TD’s and passed for 1 touchdown, while RB Kevin Richardson added 96 yards rushing and another TD.  App is 7-0/10-1 and they await the NCAA I-AA playoffs with home field advantage throughout their title defense.

The East Carolina Pirates made it 4 wins in a row with a 33-20 victory over Marshall.  Senior QB James Pinkney threw for 270 yards on 20-27 passing and a touchdown in his final home game.  Pirates’ kicker Robert E. Lee booted 4 field goals to send ECU to 5-2/6-4 and a road game coming up on Saturday at Rice.  Winston-Salem State(4-6) closes out their season at Norfolk State. 

The other team from Winston-Salem is the Big Story.  The Demon Deacons are 9-1 after beating Florida State 30-0.  Nobody had ever shut out a Bobby Bowden-coached team at Doak Cambell Stadium.  Wake is for real and they have another real tough game coming up Saturday when Virginia Tech comes to Groves Stadium.  The Hokies will be favored but what else is new?  Wake has become the highest ranked underdog team in the country.  WFU AD Ron Wellman spoke at the Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday during the Little Four luncheon and Wellman said Jim Grobe is the most humble man he has ever met.  Grobe can be seen walking across the Wake campus and he will just go and hug one of his players.  Grobe preaches family first and then the football games will take care of themself.  Grobe always says a team prayer before and after the game and he encourages his players to be in church on Sunday mornings.  Wake’s offense has been nothing fancy and their FG kicker Sam Swank continues to be a huge threat but it’s the Demon Deacon “D” that’s winning the Big Games for Jim Grobe’s squad at this late stage of the season.

Wake Forest wears the Black and Gold but coach Jim Grobe’s red-shirt system has been the key to his long-term success at Wake.  The fifth-year seniors and company will take a 5-1 ACC mark and their 9-1 overall record into the VA.Tech game and the Hokies counter at 5-2/7-2 and if the Deacs can squeak out another victory they will be one step closer to the ACC Championship game against Georgia Tech.

The Wake Foest Demon Deacons, “The Triad’s Team”.  That’s the new motto from Deac AD Ron Wellman, and I like the way that sounds and you have to admit, no matter who you pull for, Wake looks pretty darn good too.   Â