William & Mary Start Season On The Right Foot, Defeats Campbell 34-24 (8-31-23)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
All Photos Courtesy: William & Mary Football
Coming into a season where the expectations for the Mike London-led William and Mary Tribe were higher than ever, the number 4 team in the nation came out strong in the season opener traveling to North Carolina to face Campbell University. In the first drive, Campbell came out and produced an 85-yard series consisting of 5 first downs and a touchdown to cap off the drive.
The Tribe returned the favor with not a rushing touchdown, but a 7-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Kendrick. The defense of William and Mary started to get settled in creating a turnover to give the ball back to the offense where Bronson Yoder capped off the drive with a direct snap touchdown run to put the Tribe up 14-7. After Campbell tied the game up on a 14-yard pass from Williams to Wilkins, the Tribe scored 10 unanswered points with Yoder’s second direct snap score and then capped off right before the half by Davidson transfer Cadon Bonoffski who seems to be a weapon.
After going into the half up 24-14 In football the turnover battle is real and with a polished unit, the Tribe won that battle with no turnovers and recovering two fumbles. The third quarter was a staple quarter for the Tribe while not scoring a touchdown showed that the defense takes pride in scoreless quarters. With under 2 minutes left in the third Bonoffski hits his second field goal from 45 yards out to put the Tribe up 27-14. In the fourth quarter, the Campbell returned the favor with a 45-yard field goal of their own bringing the game to a 10-point lead for William and Mary 27-17.
The Tribe put together a drive to separate with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Martin Lucas for Wilson’s second strike of the game. This part of the game is key while the Tribe was able to close out Campbell, they lost the quarter 10-7 as Campbell added a touchdown at the end of the game. When you are number 4 in the country everything counts. While dominating in all phases of the game the score did not reflect it with a 34-24 win in the season opener. On a positive note, having all phases of the game available in week one says that the Tribe has a lot more growth in front of them. The offensive attack seemed a lot more balanced already with the Tribe accounting for over 450 yards of total offense.
Last year 300 of it would have been from the ground however Darrius Wilson complied a 144-passer rating going 17 of 27 with 182 in the air and 2 touchdown strikes. Bronson Yoder ran for 124 yards with 2 scores to lead the ground attack. Martin Lucas and Malachi Imoh seem to be Swiss army knives in London’s offensive combining for just under 200 yards of total offense. The Tribe will welcome Wofford to Williamsburg as they have their season opener coming up on September 9th at 6 p.m.
