The Tribe make big plays to lead to a 37-21 home opener win (9-10-22)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: William & Mary Football Twitter
William and Mary kick off the home opener versus Campbell on a Saturday night at Walter J. Zable stadium for the first meeting ever between the two teams. The Tribe comes off of a strong road performance looking to bring that momentum home for the opener. After winning the coin toss, the Tribe elected to receive. The Tribe got started on the 27 with a little bit of trickery connecting on a wide-open pass for the first down. After being forced to a fourth and two, Darius Wilson scrambled for a first down. More razzle-dazzle with bringing in Hollis Mathis as a dual-threat running more than passing pushing the Tribe into their first red zone possession.
After a 30-yard kick by Ethan Chang, the Tribe scores on both opening drives with field goals. The defense came out to cause havoc giving up one first down and then getting the first sack by Momen Zahid to force the first punt. Halfway thru the first quarter, the Tribe began the second drive on their 42-yard after a penalty. The passing game appears to show why Darius Wilson got the nod this year as he goes back-to-back passes for first downs. After 8 plays and 58 yards later, Donavyn Lester punched in the game’s first touchdown to give the Tribe a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. With one minute left in the first quarter, Campbell finally marches deep into William and Mary territory only to lose yards on the second sack for the Tribe coming off the edge with a cornerback blitz by Malcolm Spencer. After a short gain, the Tribe stops Campbell to force a 4th and long where the Tribe began the third possession on the 12 -yard line. This possession ended with the first 3 and out. After a quick first down, Campbell entered Tribe territory for the second possession only to be picked off by cornerback Jalen Jones.
On this next drive, the Tribe pounded the rock with Mathis, Bronson Yoder, and Lester as they entered another red zone possession. This one was capped off by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Colton Turner. In an important end-of-the-half drive by Campbell to try and put points on the board, the Tribe defense on third down rushed the quarterback to force an errant throw with a wide-open receiver in the endzone. Campbell converted on fourth down with under one minute left and on the next play converted a 20-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 17-7 going into the half. Coming out of the second half the Tribe defense forced a punt. However, the punt was muffed and gave the Camels life. After the defense gave another stout effort forcing an attempted field goal only to fall short of a penalty giving the Camels a fresh set of downs. Quarterback Hajj Malik Williams of Campbell ran in for a 7-yard touchdown scamper closing the gap to 17-14. After looking at the part for the first half going 8-10, Wilson seemed to struggle with reading the field as he had time but no results. Thanks to the ground and pound the Tribe extended their lead to 24-14 thanks to a touchdown run by Malachi Imoh.
And on the next possession, Jalen Jones gets his second pick of the game but returns this one for 33-yards to extend the lead 31-14 with 3:42 left in the third. Right before the end of the third Hajj Malik Williams scampers in for a touchdown closing the gap. In what might be a secret weapon for the Tribe when it comes to explosive plays, Imoh runs for a 55-yard touchdown untouched. While the third quarter created a track meet as both teams totaled 34 points, the fourth quarter was anything but it. Whenever the defense needed to answer they did. Jalen Jones who is the player of the game totaled 3 interceptions Unfortunately, other than 2 big runs by Imoh the offense sputtered in the second. It appears as if the offense is trying to establish a better passing game with a little wiggle room as they improve to 2-0 with a 37-21 victory. The Tribe will travel to Lafayette for a 3:30 pm showdown where the Tribe looks to improve to 3-0.
