TRIBE ATONES FOR SNAP SNAFU
After giving away an early TD, injury-riddled Tribe comes through to upend Black Bears
WILLIAMSBURG – Missing three offensive starters against the nation’s 16thranked FCS team, the last thing William and Mary needed was to give the ball away on the first play from scrimmage. Yet that’s exactly what the Tribe did, and it created an early seven-point hole.
Short of the catastrophic, it would be difficult to envision a worse start under such circumstances.
But W&M didn’t blink. And with its best overall performance of the season, the Tribe came back to stun Maine 27-20 Saturday afternoon at Zable Stadium.
The Black Bears (4-3, 3-1 Colonial Athletic Association) had a chance to force overtime when they took over at the W&M 36-yard line with 2:36 remaining. But the Black Bears gained only 2 yards, and quarterback Chris Ferguson was intercepted by the Tribe’s Isaiah Laster with 1:56 remaining.
The Black Bears had no timeouts remaining, so W&M (3-4, 2-2) was able to run out the clock.
“Obviously, it was a very special win,” W&M coach Jimmye Laycock said. “Beating a team ranked like that, undefeated in the conference, especially after we give them a seven-to-nothing spot right there in the beginning.
“We talked to our players about the number of people who were out today with injuries and stuff like that. That’s part of the
game. Guys have to step up and play. You have to use that as an opportunity.”
The Tribe was missing wide receiver DeVonte Dedmon, its most explosive player on offense. Dedmon injured his ribs on the fourth play from scrimmage in last week’s loss at Towson. Also out was leading rusher Albert Funderburke.
Quarterback Shon Mitchell, who had started the season’s first six games before injuring his leg last week, dressed but did not play.
Backup quarterbacks Ted Hefter and Dean Rotger threw for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Nick Muse had eight catches for 107 yards, including his second career touchdown.
Kicker Kris Hooper, who came into Saturday’s game having missed four of his six field-goal attempts, went 2 for 2. His 37-yarder with 10:17 remaining gave the Tribe a 27-17 lead.
“I’ve got a feeling he’ll be our special teams player of the week,” Laycock said.
The game couldn’t have started much worse for the Tribe. On the first play from scrimmage, from the W&M 15-yard line, center Nick Wimmer’s shotgun snap sailed over Rotger’s head and into the end zone.
Maine’s Sterling Sheffield recovered, and only 12 seconds in, the Tribe trailed 7-0.
There was no pity party. W&M tied it on its third possession when Rotger, making his first college start, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Muse. That was set up by Rotger’s perfectly thrown 56-yard deep ball to Chris Conlan.
“We’ve gotten over that feeling of, ‘Oh, no, here we go again. Oh, no, poor us,’ ” Laycock said. “I think earlier in the season, we’d have let something like that stick with us. But I didn’t sense anything like that today.”
Rotger, who completed 4 of 6 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown, played five possessions before injuring his left (nonthrowing) shoulder. Hefter, a walk-on who had been third on the depth chart, entered and hit on 12 of 27 throws for 170 yards and a touchdown.
“Teddy, I give him a lot of credit because he didn’t have many snaps in practice this week,” Laycock said. “We were so busy getting Dean ready. He knew what he was doing in there.”
The defense more than helped by forcing three turnovers, including Arman Jones’ 90-yard interception return for a touchdown. The ball was deflected at the line of scrimmage by tackle Bill Murray, who had three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including two sacks.
“Bill Murray played lightsout,” Laycock said. Johnson can be reached by phone at 757-247-4649.