Winters doing outstanding job at Wayne State, Warriors ranked 19th
Wayne State football coach Paul Winters talked prior to the season about how his team needed to finish games to beat the elite teams in the GLIAC.
Winters had drilled the point across to his players and they have responded by helping the Warriors become a national power.
Wayne State ... a national power? That's right. On Saturday, the Warriors came back from a 33-20 halftime deficit to defeat No. 18 Ashland, 47-40 for a successful Homecoming.
Wayne State entered last week with a No. 22 national ranking, it's highest in school history. By beating Ashland and quarterback Bill Cundiff, last year's GLIAC Player of the Year, the Warriors moved up to No. 19.
"I'm proud of these kids," said Winters who took over a 1-9 team following the 2004 season and now has it on the verge of making the national playoffs. "We have a bunch of hard working guys who show up every day, do what you ask them to do and are now getting rewarded for it."
The Warriors are led by senior All-American running back Joique Bell, but the defense also stepped up against Ashland.
There were two keys," said Winters of the win over Ashland. "No. 1, our defense really stopped them in the second half, and came up with a great goal line stand. And, No. 2, our offense continued to score points with Joique Bell having a great game.
Bell already has matched his rushing yards of a year ago. He rushed for 272 yards on 32 carries and scored five touchdowns against Ashland to push his total to 1,162 (186 carries, 15 TDs), compared to 1,152 yards (218 carries, 12 TDs) last year.
"Last year was a bad one for Bell and that was probably because we didn't sustain our offense and give him enough carries," Winters said. "He's in great physical condition this year and our offensive line has improved."
Freshman quarterback Mickey Mohner has also played well, throwing for 153 yards and two touchdowns against Ashland.
Wayne State is off to its first 5-1 start since 1976. The Warriors are 4-1 in the conference, one game behind No. 1 Grand Valley, and will play at Northern Michigan Saturday. Their showdown with Grand Valley is set for Nov. 7.
So how can the Warriors keep up their impressive play?
"We just need to stay healthy," Winters said.
And, it doesn't hurt to keep handing the ball off to Joique Bell either.
