The Tribe Has Spoken

Woosh. Can we just cruise to the W for once?

Really luck to come out of this one alive. Towson had 2 very good chances of scoring late and winning the game.

Looking at the stat line, it shouldn’t have even been close. Towson with 24 first downs to W&M’s 12, and 422 yards total offense compare to W&Ms 284. But in the end the score is all that matters, and that was 27 to Towson’s 22.

The momentum really swung late in the first half. After some terrible run D and no movement on O, it was looking like 2006 all over again and the Tribe was down 13-0. But then Towson kicks off out of bounds, followed by an offside penalty, and on a play where TU was kicking off from the 20, David Caldwell brought it back to the TU 15. This set up a W&M FG. Then, after TU marched down the field yet again, Schaefer made a bone-headed pass which landed in Sean Lissemore’s hands and gave the Tribe even more momentum. A 61 yard connection to Elliot Mack also helped, and all of the sudden the Tribe is back in the game.

As if the tide hadn’t turned enough, TU got stopped inside 2 minutes and punted a terrible ball for about 15 yards. On a 3rd down play, Phillips connected with a wide open(blown coverage?) Joe Nicholas for another score, and a 17-13 Tribe lead.

The D came up with yet another stop, and had the ball on their own 27 with less than a minute left. First a running play, which gains 5 and brings the clock down a good amount. Then an incomplete pass, and the clock is stopped at 20 ticks. Surely we are going to sit on a 4 point lead going into the half, right? Nope, the O tries to force things, Phillips gets picked off and TU kicks a field goal. What are they thinking here? Trying to move the ball 40-50 yards in 20 seconds just so a kicker who was 0-1 at that point has a shot? You’ve got to kneel that ball, and that was the biggest mistake of the day.

The second half got off to a great start. TU’s first drive stalled around the W&M 15, and a Derek Cox INT ended it. The Tribe got the ball at the 27 and cashed in a field goal to extend the lead to 4 points. The next TU drive looked to be different, but ended up all the same. The Tigers drove all the way down to the W&M 31, where Derek Cox picked up another INT and this time returned it 69 yards. The Tribe punched it in on a Tony Viola 2 yard run, and it looked like they’d coast to the win at 27-16.

With 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, however, Towson struck back. On a play that seemed to last forever, Schaefer found a wide open receiver in the endzone for a TU score. They went for 2 but a bad snap halted their chances. 27-22, 10 minutes left.

Tribe moves to the Towson 32, bringing the clock down to about 5 minutes, and punts. Another weird call, but the ball was fair caught at the 9, so I’m not complaining. Towson drive stalls yet again, and the Tribe gets the ball back with just inside 4 minutes left. Time to run out the clock, right?

3 and out. TU ball at their own 47 with 1:24 left. After an incomplete pass, 3 straight catches get them down to the W&M 16 with about 50 seconds left. For some reason, TU tries a run play. Gains 2 yards, clock loses about 20 seconds. Second and 8 pass is incomplete from the 14. Then, Schaefer tries a 9-yard pass on an out-route, and VERY luckily for Tribe fans the WR drops it. On 4th down, Schaefer leads the Harrison too far. Tribe wins, Tribe wins.

This was a huge W for our team, but they have to learn to finish off the opponent. This game should have been over with 10 minutes left, rather than a 1 possession game. This will come with experience, and I think this team is getting better every week. @VU next week will be a real test. Hopefully they are ready.

Go Tribe!