Less than three minutes remained on the clock, and William and Mary (3-3, 2-1 CAA) was in trouble.
Trailing by four points, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (1-5, 1-2 CAA) had mounted a methodical, clock-chewing drive that consumed over half of the fourth quarter. Slowly but surely, the Aggies marched down the field, making progress with every play until they found themselves deep in Tribe territory. A scramble from redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin White brought NC A&T to the William and Mary nine-yard line, giving the Aggies four downs to punch the ball into the end zone for a potentially decisive touchdown.
As the NC A&T offense continued its advance, calling three consecutive run plays that brought it to the Tribe’s three-yard line, William and Mary needed to make a stand.
Facing fourth and goal, White rolled to his left, expecting to find an open receiver. However, he was met with nothing but a wall of Tribe defenders. The wall chased White out of the pocket and up the sideline, where graduate student linebacker Luke Banbury launched him onto the Zable Stadium track, securing William and Mary’s 38-34 victory over the Aggies Saturday, Oct. 4 in Williamsburg, Va.
“We were saying after that third down amongst ourselves on the field, like, this is it right here,” Banbury, who was named the Coastal Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Week, said. “How bad do you want it?”
According to head coach Mike London, the Tribe was down eight starters thanks to a menagerie of injuries. At one point during the third quarter, ESPN Analytics estimated the Green and Gold’s win probability to be less than 11%. Despite facing a number of setbacks, William and Mary overcame a mountain of adversity and completed a 13-point comeback that thrilled the Family Weekend crowd.
“What a game, but also what a turnaround in terms of the events of what happened in the first half, first quarter,” London said. “[We] came into the locker room at a deficit. But I told these guys afterwards, ‘The grit and the resiliency of this team is pretty special.’ And when you come in and you hold each other accountable, responsible, you find out what you can do to make things right. And that’s what happens.”
As the teams prepared for kickoff on a cool, breezy day at William and Mary — the Tribe’s first home game of 2025 to be unmarred by rain — the Zable Stadium stands began to fill with both programs’ colors. Tribe fans hoped to see their squad knock off a team it beat 45-7 in 2024, while NC A&T supporters cheered on their bunch as it tried to score its first CAA road win in program history.
The first half was all Aggies. William and Mary gained 46 yards in the opening quarter and converted just two first downs. After a first drive that went nowhere, sophomore quarterback Noah Brannock briefly entered the game for junior quarterback Tyler Hughes but promptly tossed an interception. NC A&T accumulated 106 yards, converting a fourth down deep in Tribe territory to set up a touchdown from redshirt senior running back Wesley Graves. William and Mary managed to respond thanks to a botched Aggies punt that gifted sophomore linebacker Clayton Dobler a fumble return touchdown. However, the quarter ended with NC A&T amidst another promising drive.
Graves wasted no time finding the end zone as the second quarter began, with a 1-yard run making the score 14-7 in favor of the visitors. It was then the Tribe made a special teams blunder of its own: a William and Mary punt was wrecked by a low snap that gave the Aggies possession at the Green and Gold’s 18-yard line. The Tribe’s defense held steady, limiting NC A&T to a field goal, but the home team was in desperate need of a spark.
Enter graduate student running back Rashad Raymond. With 4 minutes, 13 seconds left in the half, William and Mary’s leading rusher ripped off his longest run of the season, doubling the Tribe’s total yardage with a 67-yard rumble that brought the Green and Gold to the edge of the red zone. In the following play, junior tight end Sean McElwain found a crease in the middle of the field and strolled into the end zone untouched.
According to Hughes, the specific play that got McElwain open was set up by Raymond, whose run forced the Aggie defense to pay more attention to William and Mary’s ground game.
“If you’re able to run the ball, you’re able to do anything,” Hughes said. “Play action, drop back. If you are able to vertically displace the opposition, you should be able to do anything that you want to do.”
Hughes also said explosiveness in the running game was a point of emphasis for the Tribe in practice after it averaged just 3.2 yards per carry in a loss to Villanova (3-2, 2-1 CAA) last week.
“That’s been the emphasis all week,” Hughes said. “I mean, all year we’ve been really trying to improve on the run game on first and second down, and it was good to see all that work come into fruition this game. We really needed it.”
Although NC A&T scored another touchdown to secure a 24-14 advantage at the halftime break, William and Mary had demonstrated proof of concept on offense, as well as an ability to generate explosive plays. The Green and Gold expanded on that foundation during the first drive of the second half. Redshirt freshman receiver Armon Wright, who doubles as a member of the Tribe track team, received a pass from Hughes and sped down the sideline, leaving Aggie defenders in the dust as he raced to a 75-yard touchdown.
However, the Tribe continued to commit self-inflicted errors that handicapped its chances of reclaiming the lead. A short punt gave NC A&T pristine field position, which the Aggies leveraged into seven points. Less than a minute later, William and Mary went back to Wright, who fumbled at the Tribe’s 25-yard line. For the second time in 20 minutes, the Green and Gold’s defense effectively controlled the damage done by a turnover, holding NC A&T to a field goal, but the hosts found themselves down 34-21 with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
It was then that William and Mary began doing everything right. The offense kept generating explosive plays: Hughes sprinted for a 66-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 34-28. The defense forced the Aggies to do damage control of their own, with junior defensive back Bryce Barnes dislodging an NC A&T fumble that led to a Tribe field goal. The run game continued to establish the long ball. McElwain again took a pass up the middle, tearing off a 40-yard gain that set up a Raymond touchdown.
With 11 minutes, 15 seconds left in the game, William and Mary had roared into a 38-34 advantage it would not relinquish. The visitors failed to score a single point in the fourth quarter, a fact Banbury attributed to the Tribe defense’s heightened attention to detail.
“I think it was just that we were making mistakes on our own half,” Banbury said. “You know, it’s not offensive execution, it’s defensive misexecution and making mistakes. So, it was really just us making mistakes, and during halftime, when we were talking to the coaches, we kinda got our heads on straight and figured out what we were making mistakes in. Just simple things. Once we figured that out, it’s pretty simple from there to just shut them out.”
The Aggies’ final drive was long and arduous, lasting over eight minutes and putting the Tribe’s back against the wall. However, Hughes said his trust in William and Mary’s defense never wavered.
“I didn’t lose faith in those boys,” Hughes said. “Man, they work really hard, and what was endured through the whole entire game — I mean, it sucked, but it’s all about the next play. That drive, they were down and [NC A&T was] driving, but they didn’t waver. I love those guys. Very great unit, and I’m not surprised that they got a stop. At all.”
Entering the afternoon, William and Mary was among the 20 worst teams in the country at stopping fourth down conversions, but the Tribe walled up when it mattered most. On the day, NC A&T moved the sticks on just one of its three fourth-down attempts. In discussing William and Mary’s fourth-down performance, Banbury again mentioned improved communication.
“I think it was just sort of playing as one defense,” Banbury said. “Communicating and kind of knowing your responsibility of doing that, to come 100% physical with violence. Sometimes, there was miscommunication earlier in the season, and we worked on that in practice, communicating, getting aligned to funky formations and just making sure you know what your job is and executing that job when it comes down to the line, like fourth and short.”
Banbury finished the game with a career-high 17 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. He now ranks second in the Football Championship Subdivision with 75 total tackles.
On the other side of the ball, Hughes completed seven of 14 passes for 157 yards while rushing for 88 yards and a touchdown. Raymond turned in his best performance of the season, accumulating 124 rushing yards and a touchdown. Wright’s single reception went for 75 yards and a touchdown, while McElwain hauled in three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. As a unit, William and Mary outgained NC A&T 405 to 382 despite running over 30 fewer plays than its opponent.
The Tribe improved on several aspects of its performance from the Villanova game — most notably, it performed well on early downs after struggling mightily on first and second downs against the Wildcats.
“We approached first and second down differently all week,” Hughes said. ”Immediately after playing [Villanova] last week, after the tough loss, all we could talk about was first and second downs. Those are the things that, when you’re behind the sticks, it’s harder to move the football. And there weren’t a lot of things that Villanova was doing to stop us from advancing the ball. It was just execution, just buying into that. [Offensive coordinator Winston] October said if we’re able to improve on these things, the sky’s the limit for us.”
William and Mary faces an upcoming bye week, after which it hopes its assortment of injured starters will be rested and recovered. The Tribe returns to Zable Stadium Saturday, Oct. 18, when it will take on conference leader Elon (4-2, 2-0 CAA) in a crucial matchup during homecoming weekend.
