Behind 55 unanswered points, William and Mary football (7-4, 6-2 CAA) recorded its largest victory of the season Saturday, Nov. 15, against Hampton (2-9, 0-7 CAA), defeating the Pirates 55-14. Saturday’s win at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton, Va., marked the Tribe’s seventh of the season, guaranteeing William and Mary another winning campaign — the fifth consecutive under head coach Mike London.
“When you have those accolades like that, then it’s about the coaches and the players that have been here that have poured into that and the long legacy of players that have been here and done great things at William and Mary,” London said.
While the final score indicates complete Tribe domination, and rightfully so, the first 10 minutes of the game could not have gone any worse for London’s team.
After honoring their seniors, the Pirates marched down the field on their opening drive before freshman running back Gracen Goldsmith capped it off with a three-yard touchdown run. A successful extra point by redshirt sophomore kicker Brett Starling made the score 7-0, Pirates. The Tribe’s effort to quickly answer Hampton’s fast start was halted when junior quarterback Tyler Hughes threw only his second interception of the season, setting up the hosts with solid field position, which they took full advantage of. Goldsmith found the end zone for the second time in the first 14 minutes, punching in a one-yard run. The 14 points conceded by the Tribe defense marked only the third time this season that the squad allowed multiple scoring drives in the first quarter.
When the Green and Gold needed a spark, it once again turned to the part of the game that has brought it success this season: special teams.
After redshirt freshman running back Jor’dyn Whitelaw returned the Hampton kickoff all the way to midfield, leading rusher graduate student running back Rashad Raymond — the Tribe’s leading rusher on the season — took the ball 50 yards to the end zone on the Tribe’s first play of the drive. Just four plays later, sophomore linebacker Stephon Hicks blocked his Football Championship Subdivision-leading fourth punt of the season and returned it for a touchdown.
“Stephon is very coachable,” London said. “‘Coach, I’ll play wherever you want me to play. Coach, I’ll do whatever you need me to do.’ You know, [special teams coordinator Darryl] Blackstock has done a good job with our special teams units and gameplanning and the strengths that each player has.”
Suddenly, the once-lively Hampton crowd was silent, and it was William and Mary faithful on the opposite sideline, making all the noise inside Armstrong Stadium.
From that moment on, the Tribe grabbed the game by its throat. While the Pirates had racked up 155 total yards in the first quarter, the Tribe defense held them to just 10 in the second quarter. At the same time, Hughes and the William and Mary offense found their rhythm, meticulously picking apart a Hampton defense that came into the day ranked 85th out of 126 in the FCS for yards allowed per game.
What was once a game up for grabs was no more when halftime hit: 35-14, Tribe.
The second half was more of the same one-way traffic that defined the second quarter. Within the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, the Tribe went past the 50-point mark behind Hughes’s 5th passing touchdown of the afternoon, the first time it had done so all season and only the third time under London.
By the time the clock hit zero in Hampton, the Tribe had recorded its second-largest win under London, with the largest one having come against the same opponents last season by a 49-7 margin.
The only bad news for London and his team Saturday came regarding their quest for a return to the FCS playoffs, having previously advanced to the quarterfinals in 2022. The Tribe’s three competitors in the CAA — Rhode Island, Villanova and Monmouth — all won Saturday, making the path for an at-large bid to the playoffs more difficult. Opta Analyst’s latest projections left out the Tribe while including the three aforementioned teams. To make matters worse, Rhode Island and Monmouth will be playing Hampton and Albany, respectively, which occupy the bottom two spots of the CAA rankings.
Despite this, any potential road for the Tribe remains the same: beating Richmond (6-5, 3-4 Patriot League) in the Capital Cup next Saturday.
“It’s a privilege to represent a rivalry game,” said London, who won an FCS national championship in 2008 as Richmond’s head coach. “We have two premier academic institutions that also can compete for championships.”
The Tribe will return to Zable Stadium for the last time this season Saturday, Nov. 22, to take on the Spiders. While the Tribe has lost seven out of the last 10 showdowns against its rivals, it will be putting that history in the past, knowing what could lie ahead with a win.
