After a scoreless first quarter, the #5 William & Mary Tribe scored the next 24 points and went on to defeat the VMI Keydets, 24-7, Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium in Lexington, Va.
The story of the day was the Tribe’s (1-1) ground game, as they pounded the ball for 216 yards on the ground, including 87 by starting tailback Jonathan Grimes. Two of W&M’s three touchdowns came on the ground, as Grimes and Keith McBride each scored via the run, while Grimes also caught the first score of the game, a six-yard touchdown pass from Michael Paulus.
VMI was held scoreless until the fourth quarter, when Adam Morgan relieved Eric Kordenbrock and marched the home team 90 yards in 16 plays, a drive that was capped by a fourth-down touchdown pass to Trent White. The TD strike was not only VMI’s first passing touchdown of the season, but it averted what would have been the first shutout against VMI at Foster Stadium since the 2001 season.
Morgan went 5 for 9 during his time in Saturday’s contest, while Kordenbrock was 13 for 26 with two interceptions. T.J. Talley led the Keydets in receptions with a career-high six, White’s four grabs tied a career-best and Chaz Jones paced the Keydet ground game with 64 yards on the afternoon.
The visitors received the opening kickoff and began the game with a heavy dose of Grimes, as he carried the ball eight times on W&M’s first 14 plays from scrimmage. The senior amassed 45 yards on the ground in the opening quarter, but the VMI defense held the remainder of the Tribe to 36 yards of total offense to keep the visitors off the scoreboard. Unfortunately for VMI, W&M did the same, holding the Keydets to just 47 yards, and neither team could dent the scoreboard in the opening period.
W&M had the ball to open the second quarter, continuing a drive at the Keydet 22. Grimes converted a third-and-two, rushing for five yards, and three plays later, Paulus found Grimes for the game’s opening touchdown. After the point after, the Tribe held a 7-0 lead just over two minutes into the second period.
Kordenbrock then marched his team down the field, a drive that saw VMI convert three consecutive third-down attempts. On the fourth third-down try, Kordenbrock found Talley for a nine-yard gain, setting up a key moment on fourth down from the W&M 24. With just a yard to go, VMI opted to go for the first down, but the Tribe defense stopped Chaz Jones to force the turnover on downs.
After an exchange of punts, the Tribe got the ball back on its own 43 with 3:49 left in the half. Three plays later, Paulus found Woolfork on a fade pattern down the left sideline, throwing the ball just beyond the VMI defender for the 34-yard completion and a first-and-goal. McBride ran the ball into the endzone on the next play, doubling the W&M lead to 14-0 and capping the first half scoring.
Grimes had 75 yards rushing at halftime, while VMI’s Talley had four of his eventual six catches. Emilio Calvin had seven tackles at the intermission.
The Keydets got the ball to open the second half, and were unable to pick up a first down on the initial series. On fourth down, Cameron Murray’s punt was blocked by the Tribe’s Marcus Hyde, and the visitors took over in VMI territory. The Keydet defense stiffened, however, and forced a punt.
VMI then took over on its own nine, and in one of the game’s bigger plays, Kordenbrock’s first down pass was tipped and intercepted by Hyde for the game’s first turnover. Three plays later, Grimes notched a three-yard touchdown run with 10:18 remaining in the third quarter, and the extra point made it 21-0, Tribe.
W&M took over again with 6:02 left in the quarter, starting a 17-play, 88-yard drive that would end early in the fourth period with a 20-yard Drake Kuhn field goal. The short kick put the Tribe up 24-0 with 12:27 left in the contest.
Kordenbrock was again intercepted on the ensuing drive, but Logan Staib notched his first career interception in the endzone, preventing further scoring. Morgan then took over and on his initial third down, scrambled for 18 yards and a first down. With a face mask penalty tacked on, the play was good for 33 yards, more than one-third of the distance on the 90-yard march.
Completions to Tracy Hairston and Talley, and three Chaz Jones runs, moved the Keydets into position for their scoring play, the 11-yard Morgan to White TD strike. It was Morgan’s fourth career touchdown pass and White’s second career TD grab, pulling the Keydets to within 24-7 and capping the scoring.
Defensively, Miguel Marshall made a career high 10 tackles, while Trae Watkins’ 10 stops were just one off his previous career-best.
VMI (0-2) will be back in action next Saturday, as the Keydets begin a three-game road trip by traveling to Richmond, Va. to take on the Richmond Spiders. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
QUOTES – VMI Head Coach Sparky Woods
“William & Mary was a tough football team. They were impressive and proved that they were the team we thought they were at the beginning of the season and prior to what happened to them at the Virginia game, and they controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage.”
“If we want to win games, we need to make our fourth and one plays, and we didn’t make ours today. They scored right before the half, and that was tough for us, as 7-0 at the half would have been a lot better than 14-0, but our team played better than last week and improved a lot. Our guys played hard, and managed to fight back after good plays by them. I thought we improved after a great week of preparation last week, and I thought we actually played better, not real good, but better this week. I think we at least narrowed the gap and improved our play against William & Mary since I’ve been here with Coach Laycock having a great staff that knows how to win. Overall, I thought we made some strides with our team today.”
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