ORONO, Maine- The University of Maine held William and Mary to just 199 total yards Saturday, as the Black Bears came away with a 23-6 CAA football win at Alfond Stadium in front of 6,579 fans.
The win was the third straight for Maine (4-3, 3-3 CAA), with all being conference victories.
Maine started slow as quarterback Chris Ferguson was sacked and lost a fumble on the first possession of the game. William and Mary gave it right back to the Bears however, as starting quarterback Shon Mitchell was intercepted by Darrius Hart in the endzone. The Tribe did strike first after Maine was forced to punt, and the kick only netted 25 yards to give W & M the ball at the Maine 29. Kris Hooper converted a 41 yard field goal to make it 3-0 Tribe.
The Black Bears tied it later in the first on a 19 yard field goal from Brandon Briggs. Briggs connected again from 45 yards midway through the second quarter to give Maine their first lead 6-3. Ferguson hit tightend Drew Belcher in the corner of the endzone with 26 seconds left in the half to give the Bears a comfortable 13-3 lead at the break. The Tribe didn’t have any passing yards until there was six minutes remaining in the second quarter and had just 64 yards total at the half.
A late third quarter field goal from Hooper cut the lead to seven at 13-6. On the next Maine possession, Ferguson hit Earnest Edwards on a key 45 yard strike down the right sideline on a third down play. Josh Mack would finish off the drive with a two yard touchdown run just 1:17 into the final quarter to make it 20-6. Briggs hit his third field goal of the day 5:30 later to finish off the scoring and William and Mary (2-6, 0-5).
Ferguson finished 13-22 passing, 192 yards, and a touchdown. Mack finished with 99 yards on 24 carries and a score. Joe Fitzpatrick had 12 carries and 60 yards, while Edwards had three grabs for 66 yards to lead the receiving corps. Freshman Jaron Grayer, who was named to the Walter Payton watch list as top defensive player in FCS earlier in the week, had 12 tackles. Kayon Whitaker had seven tackles, while Sterling Sheffield also had seven tackles and a sack. Maine head coach Joe Harasymiak said, “Just another grind it win type of deal. I think we are winning in different ways which is good. You know coming back from 21-10 against Rhode Island, having to grind it out last week against Albany, then having the lead here today and playing with that and being effective. It’s great, sets up a big game next week. We are excited about going to Portland, hope everyone is excited about us coming. When we get a win we are gonna enjoy it, now we just need to get one at home again”.
Maine heads south to Portland next Saturday at Fitpatrick Stadium to host Delware in a huge CAA clash. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
