The Story
Tribe Football Drops Final Home Game of the Season
Senior running back Jonathan Grimes added another page to his storied W&M career after a phenomenal performance on Saturday afternoon against rival Old Dominion. Grimes shouldered the load offensively all game long but unfortunately his effort wasn’t quite enough for the Tribe to seize the upset. The 11th-ranked Monarchs move to 9-2 (6-2 CAA) with the win, while the Tribe assured a losing season as they now sit at 4-6 (2-5 CAA) with just one game remaining this season.
The Tribe started the game by causing an ODU turnover on downs before driving the ball down to the opposing 13-yard line. A completion from sophomore Brent Caprio to Tre McBride was caught on the 1-yard line, but ODU cornerback Eriq Lewis forced a fumble before McBride could get into the end zone. With the Tribe threat thwarted, the Monarchs were first on the scoreboard after an efficient 4-play, 58-yard touchdown drive.
The Tribe offense responded well; a balanced attack led by Grimes on the ground and Caprio in the air drove W&M to the Monarch 25-yard line. Then, Grimes took a hand-off down the right side of the field where he made a few tacklers miss before breaking back down the left sideline for an easy score to end the opening quarter.
The second quarter began with both teams driving down the field for touchdowns. For the Tribe, Grimes punched one in from five yards out to tie the score at 14 apiece. On their next possession, William and Mary had gotten into the red zone, but head coach Jimmye Laycock decided to try a 35-yard field goal instead of go for it on a 4th down and two. Drake Kuhn’s kick was blocked and the score remained tied after the first half.
The two offenses continued exchanging blows throughout the second half. After receiving the kickoff, the Tribe embarked on a long drive to take a 21-14 lead. Grimes broke off a 19-yard run on the first play, and Caprio completed a long pass to tight end Alex Gottlieb to place the Tribe on ODU’s 5-yard line. A short gain by Grimes was followed by Caprio’s only touchdown pass of the game, which was caught by junior wide receiver D.J. Mangas.
Old Dominion struck back with a long drive of its own, culminating in a long touchdown pass. The final play was a flea flicker that fooled the Tribe defense; wide receiver Antonio Vaughn took a hand-off and then found his fellow receiver Reid Evans open in the end zone.
The Tribe scored their final touchdown on a time-consuming possession in which they relied on Grimes to charge downfield. The senior got touches on the final seven plays of the drive, picking up yards on each one before notching his third touchdown of the game from 2 yards out.
Just like they had all game long, the Monarchs responded quickly by marching downfield on just 5 plays to tie the score at 28-28 with just under 11 minutes remaining. After the game, Coach Laycock said: “We couldn’t slow them down when we needed to…it turned into a scoring contest.”
Sure enough, neither team’s offense was quite finished. The Tribe took the ball into Monarch territory before facing a critical 4th down and 2 on the 14-yard line. Just as he had earlier in the game, Laycock called on the kicking unit, which connected on a 31-yarder.
However, the Tribe defense, which had only produced two stops so far in the matchup, once again failed to slow down ODU. The Monarchs drove 74 yards for a touchdown to take the lead at 35-31 with 3 minutes left to play.
William and Mary’s counter-attack was cut short by Caprio’s first big mistake"an interception to ODU cornerback Eriq Lewis, who had forced a fumble earlier in the game. With the game on the line, the Tribe defense finally stepped up and held the Monarchs to a three-and-out.
Still, with 1:23 left on the clock, the Tribe got one last chance starting on their own 41-yard line. After a few short gains, a Monarch personal foul brought the Tribe to ODU’s 37-yard line. But, Caprio failed to seize the opportunity as he threw another interception to Eriq Lewis"his third forced turnover of the game.
Thus, William and Mary had it’s third straight loss, this one by a final score of 35-31. The Tribe football squad is starting to look like the 2010-2011 men’s basketball team insofar as the struggles in closing out close games.
Still, it was an epic performance by Jonathan Grimes, who racked up over 200 yards for the second straight game. Coach Laycock had nothing but praise for his offensive star, as he stated: “He’s got great vision, great strength, great balance, all those things that you want out of a running back.” Grimes truly was a workhorse in this game; he totaled a school-record 38 touches on his way to a career-high 227 rushing yards. Adding his 17 receiving yards and 87 return yards on special teams, Grimes also set a school-record with 335 all-purpose yards. The effort brings him to 2,223 all-purpose yards on the season, which just eclipses the school record that he set the previous year.
Sophomore quarterback Brent Caprio, who was making his third start of the season, had a proficient day behind center. He went 20-for-28 with 245 yards and a touchdown. However, the two interceptions he threw during the closing minutes proved to be crucial. Coach Laycock said: “We had our chances up until the end, but we just made a couple of bad decisions on some throws.”
For the fourth straight game, the Tribe scored more than 21 points. This stands in stark contrast to the first few games of the season in which the offense couldn’t find a rhythm or the end zone. William and Mary netted 503 yards against the Monarchs, which Coach Laycock joked was “about [equal to] our first four games right there.”
William and Mary returns to action next weekend in their final game of the season at the University of Richmond. Last year, the Tribe beat the Spiders resoundingly by a score of 41-3. The matchup is slated for noon on Saturday at Richmond’s Robins Stadium.