Homecoming festivities were in full effect after the Tribe won 27-21 against Delaware (10-8-22)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: William and Mary Athletics
After the first quarter with no points, William and Mary lead a 12 play 60-yard drive capped off by Bronson Yoder, who made his return to the lineup with another 100-yard game. Late in the second quarter with the Tribe leading 10-7, Malachi Imoh showed why any defensive coordinator who doesn’t recognize him will pay by completing a halfback toss for a 12-yard touchdown pass to Lachlan Pitts giving the Tribe their only passing touchdown of the game. That was off an impressive 12-play 91-yard drive right before the half to give the Tribe a 17-7 lead at the half. After a stalled possession by the offense, Will Whitehurst booted a punt where Zane Lewis of Delaware muffed the punt twice and on the second one forced by Caylin Newton was recovered by JT Mayo of the Tribe. With a short field, the Tribe punched it in with the wildcat look between Imoh and Donavyn Lester who also returned to the lineup but was capped off on a 1-yard scamper by quarterback Darius Wilson all out of the shotgun. This appeared to be one of those statement drives where they leaned on the running game in multiple forms. With a 24-7 lead the defense gave up back-to-back 60-plus yard drives to bring the game within a field goal going into the fourth quarter. Delaware drove the ball right down the field again in what appeared to be the same thing as the two previous touchdowns however on third down and six on the Tribe 9-yard line, the defense made what would be the play of the game blowing up the offensive line and met the running back 3 yards in the backfield and forced a fumble to get the Tribe out of trouble.
The Tribe totaling 271 yards on the ground is why they have a chance to go deep in the playoff run by sustaining drives. They started the drive with 10:44 left to play and although they missed a 49-yard kick from Ethan Chang, the Tribe took off just under 6 minutes as Delaware received the ball back with 4:55 left to play. The Tribe defense has been “clutch” whenever they have had their name called in a tough situation and managed to force a 3 and out with 4:05 left to play. Senior linebacker Isaiah Jones led the way with 8 tackles for a bend but don’t-break approach this week forcing Delaware to go 1-11 on third down. Chang capped off the drive with a 41-yard kick to give the Tribe a 27-21 lead. After a couple of first downs, the Tribe got a break as Delaware was marching and got called for holding moving them back from the 24-yard line to the 34-yard line. With the clock running for the last play, they tried numerous laterals which ended up as a fumble recovered by Nate Lynn to end the game giving the Tribe their 5th win of the season. They will have a week off from the Homecoming festivities looking to regain momentum on the back stretch of a tough schedule. They travel to Towson, Maryland to face the Tigers of Towson at 4 pm
