The University of Maine only mustered 138 yards of total offense on Saturday afternoon, and #5 William & Mary rushed for 348 yards to take a 28-3 Coastal Athletic Association football victory at Walter Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Virginia in front of 7,365 fans.
Bronson Yoder, who had a big game for unbeaten William & Mary, got the scoring started with a one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. Maine got a big play later in the period, threatening to tie the game after Derek Robertson connected with Tristen Kenan for a 24-yard pass down the the Tribe 17-yard line. The Black Bears worked it to their opponents 7-yard line where they had it first and goal, but after two runs by Kenan and one by Robertson didn’t end up in the endzone they settled for a 20-yard field goal by Cody Williams to cut the deficit to 7-3.
On the first possession of the second half, Robertson made a mistake that would cost his team as he threw his fifth interception of the season deep in his own territory. Ryan Poole came up with it and returned it 17 yards to the Maine 15-yard line. That short drive was capped off by a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Darius Wilson to extend the lead to 11. After the Black Bears had to punt it back after their next drive fizzled out at their own 43, William & Mary would begin to really get some separation as they went 86 yards in just six plays finished off with a Wilson 2-yard TD pass to JT Mayo to make it 21-3. The Tribe scored once more on a direct snap to running back Martin Lucas for a 4-yard score with just 3:02 remaining in the game, improving to 4-0 and 2-0 in the Coastal Athletic Association.
Robertson would finish 10-22 passing for 85 yards in the Maine loss, and for a fourth straight week no touchdown passes while also throwing an interception. The Black Bears fall to 0-4, 0-2 in the CAA. The run game struggled as well with just 53 yards on 25 attempts, led by Kenan who had 30 yards on 12 carries. Kenan and Rohan Jones also had three receptions each. Abdul Stewart led the defense with 10 total tackles, while Kahzir “Buggs” Brown and Darius McKenzie had eight each including one tackle for a loss. Wilson only attempted 13 passes in the win for William & Mary, completing eight of them for 59 yards and a touchdown. He also added in five rushes for 17 yards and a score. Yoder had the biggest output in the game running for 163 yards on 25 attempts and a touchdown. Malachi Imoh also was solid out of the Tribe backfield with 105 yards on 12 attempts. They held the ball for a total of almost 37 minutes compared to just 23 minutes for the guests. Maine returns home next Saturday to take on Stony Brook at Alfond Stadium with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
