DURHAM – The wet weather called for old-school football – physical and grinding. But that’s the kind of football William & Mary had used to win 11 of its last 13 meetings with the University of New Hampshire … until Saturday.
“We’ve had a tough time against (William & Mary) over the years, especially running the football against them, and we knew we had to be able to run the ball,” UNH Coach Sean McDonnell said. “Conditions didn’t give us a great opportunity to do anything else, but, and the big but about it, our guys buckled it up up front … and they did a really good job of creating holes.”
Those holes opened by Concord’s Andrew Lauderdale and the rest of the New Hampshire offensive line led to 252 rushing yards for the Wildcats (3-2). And those rushing yards led to a 21-12 win over the No. 19/17 Tribe (2-3) in front of a record crowd of 21,943 on Homecoming at Wildcat Stadium.
“Love to run the ball, and we can definitely run the ball against anybody with the offensive line we’ve got and the way the running backs, all of us, are running,” said Dalton Crossan, who finished with 98 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.
That running game mixed with a physical, play-making defense as the ’Cats used an old-school formula to win their second straight game and move to 2-0 in the CAA. New Hampshire limited William & Mary to just 235 total yards (UNH had 370), and held Tribe quarterback Steve Cluely to 8-for-20 passing for 61 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown.
More importantly, the Wildcat defense rose up when it mattered most. UNH turned the ball over on each of its first three possessions – two fumbles and interception – but the Tribe could only turn that into six points. Sure, a missed 32-yard field goal from William & Mary’s second-string kicker, Kris Hooper, helped there, but the Wildcats got a sack from Rick Holt and interception from Casey DeAndrade to keep the damage to a minimum.
“Lately in practice, (McDonnell) has been doing a lot of sudden changes (turnover situations), and he’s really been doing that since Day 1,” New Hampshire senior captain and linebacker Ryan Farrell said. “You have to be ready at any point in the game and we kind of just buckle up and say, ‘let’s go, it’s our time to make a play.’ ”
The New Hampshire offense made its first big play late in the second quarter as quarterback Trevor Knight scrambled for a 28-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-9. UNH tight end Justin Malone-Woods made two great downfield blocks to help spring Knight, who finished with 16 carries for 95 yards.
The run and extra point from Morgan Ellman gave the Wildcats a 7-6 lead that they would take into halftime. It was the slightest of edges, but given the way the game started, even that one-point edge felt pretty good for the ’Cats.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys playing and the more experience we’re getting, the calmer we’re able to stay,” said Knight, just a sophomore himself in his first year as a starter. “If that was the second game of the season, we probably wouldn’t have been the same way, but the younger guys are coming a long way.”
The UNH offense played like a well-oiled, veteran machine in the second half. UNH had the ball for 10:22 of the third, allowing William & Mary just one possession. The Wildcats first drive of the third ended in a punt, but the second drive lasted 14 plays, spanned into the fourth quarter, chewed up 7:08 and 80 yards and ended when Crossan pushed in from the 1 to make it 14-6 with 13:40 left on the clock.
“We just had to grind ’em down and grind ’em down,” Crossan said.
The Tribe was on the field for only one play after that touchdown. Tight end Andrew Caskin was wide open down the middle, but Cluely underthrew him and Farrell picked it off at the William & Mary 23.
“To be honest, I thought they were going to run a draw,” Farrell said. “I saw him drop back and he just kind of threw it right to me, I was just fortunate enough that I was in the right place.”
Five plays later, Anthony Pante wound up all by himself in the end zone and Knight (13-for-23, 118 yards, touchdown, interception) hit him for a 12-yard touchdown to make it 21-6 with 10:29 left in the fourth.
“They must have had a blown coverage,” Knight said. “I dropped back and couldn’t really see him, so I started rolling out and I saw no one was within 10 yards of him, so just throw it up to him and just had to keep it in bounds.”
William & Mary answered with a 68-yard touchdown drive, but the UNH defense stopped the two-point conversion try to keep it a two-score game at 21-12.
There was still 6:31 left on the clock at that point, but the Wildcats killed those final minutes with a 14-play possession that was nothing but running plays. The drive got a big lift from a roughing-the-kicker penalty that helped turn a potential three-and-out into a game-icing march.
UNH has now won eight straight Homecoming games. The last loss came in 2008 against … William & Mary.
D’Andre Drummond-Myrie led UNH with seven tackles while DeVaughn Chollette and Michael Balsamo each had five. Prince Smith, Jr., Jared Kuehl and Holt each had a sack.
Neil O’Connor and Malik Love each had four catches to lead New Hampshire receivers.
UNH travels to Elon next week. The Phoenix (2-3) beat William & Mary, 27-10, last week but lost at home to Villanova on Saturday, 42-7.
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or at tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20.)