VILLANOVA, Pa. - The sixth-ranked William and Mary football team concluded one of the best seasons in the program's 115-year history with a 14-13 loss at No. 2/3 Villanova in the NCAA Semifinals on Friday evening.
Despite the loss, W&M finished the season with an 11-3 mark, which equals the school record for victories established in 2004. Additionally, the squad set school records for fewest points allowed per contest (since going to an 11-game schedule) (12.1 ppg), fewest rushing yards allowed per game (61.1), most sacks (49) and most tackles for a loss (112).
As it did against all 14 opponents this season, the Tribe outgained Villanova, 336-267. Individually, junior wide receiver Cam Dohse finished with a five catches for a career-high 148 yards, which included a school and NCAA Playoff record 98-yard touchdown reception from senior quarterback
R.J. Archer. In addition to the touchdown pass, Archer completed 21-of-35 passes for 239 yards and finished the season with 261 completions, which ties for second on the program's single-season list with Stan Yagiello's total in 1984.
Sophomore running back
Jonathan Grimes rushed for 59 yards and moved up to third on W&M's single-season list (1,294). Additionally he moved into the program's career top 10 with 2,223 rushing yards.
Defensively, junior tackle Michael Stover totaled a career-high 11 tackles to go with a sack and 3.0 tackles for a loss.
While neither team was able to generate much offense in the first quarter, the Tribe got on the scoreboard first when Dohse hauled in an NCAA playoff-record 98-yard touchdown reception down the left sideline with 10:45 showing in the second quarter. Facing a third-and-nine, Archer lofted a pass out of the end zone to Dohse, who beat his defender and made the catch near the W&M 40 before racing into the end zone.
W&M tacked on another score when senior place-kicker
Brian Pate made a career-long 46-yard field goal as the first half clock expired to give the Tribe a 10-0 advantage. With the successful kick, Pate passed former Tribe standout Steve Christie as the single-season record holder with 22 field goals. Archer engineered the 12-play, 55-yard drive that started on the College's own 17-yard line with 2:17 showing.
The Tribe outgained Villanova, 257-70, in the first half and ran twice and many plays (45-21) en route to controlling the ball for 20:46. W&M was especially dominant in the second quarter when it outgained the Wildcats, 202-13. In addition to racking up the yards, the College converted 8-of-11 third downs while holding VU to no conversions on six opportunities. Making the Tribe's effort especially impressive was the fact that three of its drives began inside its own 3-yard line.
Villanova narrowed the margin to 10-7 on its second offensive possession of the second half when wide receiver Matt Szczur took a direct snap from center and raced 62 yards for a touchdown with 9:03 remaining in the third quarter.
W&M answered on its ensuing possession with a 15-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with a 40-yard field goal from the right hash by Pate with 2:13 showing in the third quarter. The kick moved Pate into third on the program's single-season scoring list (108). Dohse came up big on the drive with three catches for 31 yards, including a 9-yard grab on a fourth-and-6 from the VU 35.
Villanova responded with a touchdown on the following drive to go ahead, 14-13, when quarterback Chris Whitney scored on rush from a less than a yard out with 10:57 remaining. Szczur helped set up the score with a 9-yard run on a fake punt near midfield to keep the drive alive.
While the Tribe had two more possessions down the stretch, it was unable to generate any first downs.
Still trailing by one with 2:40 remaining, the Tribe had a chance to gain on more possession but VU converted a fourth-and-less-than-one from the W&M 14 and was able to run out the clock.
Box Score
