WILLIAMSBURG, VA - In a game that will go down as one of the most exciting in the lengthy Tribe football history, the 20th-ranked College of William and Mary defeated the No. 15 Villanova Wildcats, 47-44, to claim a share of the Atlantic 10 Football Conference title. It was a frenetic afternoon of action which saw national, school and individual records broken by the handful.

William and Mary improves to 8-3, 7-2 for the season, as Villanova falls to the same record. With the win, the Tribe moved into a four-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 conference, and seems a virtual lock for an invitation to the Division I-AA playoffs. The other teams in the tie are Hofstra, Villanova, and Maine, with Hofstra claiming the conference's automatic bid to the playoffs.


Commenting on his team's success (many thought that W&M was out of the conference championship picture after dropping consecutive games at mid-season), W&M Head Coach Jimmye Laycock said, "After losing at Rhode Island, it would've been easy for this team to say ?It's not our year.' But, hung together and never talked playoffs. We approached each game the same way, week to week. Out of our open date, we wanted to get better every week."

The offense dominated play for most of the game, as the two teams combined for 1,093 all-purpose yards. William and Mary was led by the colossal efforts of QB Dave Corley and TB Komlan Lonergan, who posted 340 total yards and 325 all-purpose yards, respectively, and combined for four touchdowns.

Villanova rallied behind RB Brian Westbrook who had 332 all-purpose yards, comfortably above the 122 yards he needed to become the NCAA career (all levels) all-purpose yards leader. Both coaches praised Westbrook, with Laycock stating, "Brian Westbrook is an unbelievable player." Wildcat Head Coach Andy Talley had this to say; "I told Brian on the sidelines, I don't know words for what he's been to us." Westbrook was supportive of his team when interviewed, saying, "I told my guys I'm proud of them, we came a long way this year," and also had this to say about his record-breaking performance, "I would have rather not broken the record, if it would have meant we could have won the game."

With the Tribe trailing, 14-3, late in the first quarter, Lonergan kick-started the Tribe offense by taking a Wildcat kick-off back 78 yards. The play, which turned out to be the longest of his career, set up an 11-yard TD pass from Corley to Brandon Johnson, and moved the College within striking distance at 14-10. Minutes later in the second, Lonergan broke free, again, this time with a 75 yard touchdown run, which was both the team's longest TD run of the season, as well as his career best. Freshman tailback Jonathan Smith (13 carries for 76 yards) also ran for two touchdowns on the afternoon, setting the W&M single-season freshman touchdown record (12), a mark previously set by Derek Fitzgerald (1992-1995) during the 1992 season. Sophomore WR Rich Musinski (4 rec. for 126 yards, 138 total yards) also set a school single season record, besting Mark Compher (1,180 yards in 1990) to claim the single-season receiving yards mark, with 1, 242 yards. As a final note, senior WR Bryce Lee pulled a team and career-best 130 yards on 6 catches.

The as exciting an offensive showcase as the game played out to be, it wasn't decided until Tribe sophomore safety Marques Bobo intercepted a Brett Gordon pass at the Villanova 39 and returned it 21 yards with 25 seconds left in the game, thwarting any last second comeback hopes by the Wildcats.

Coach Laycock said about the game, "[It was] probably a great game to watch. I loved it. It was a shoot-out." Coach Talley remarked, "We did everything we could to win the game, but you can't give a team averaging 28 points [per game] 47 points."

This is William and Mary's first five-game win streak since the 1995 season.