Tribe Football Falls to Western Michigan

Musinski moves closer to Jerry Rice's NCAA records

09/06/03 10:41PM

KALAMAZOO, MI - William and Mary took an early lead, but could not hold on despite a strong showing from numerous players, as the Western Michigan Broncos defeated the Tribe, 56-24, in W&M’s season opener at Waldo Stadium.

“There were spots when we looked pretty good out there,” Tribe head coach Jimmye Laycock said. “But there were some not-so-good spots, too.”

Thanks to the precision passing of junior quarterback Lang Campbell (Winchester, VA), the Tribe got on the board first. Moving the squad down the field in a fashion reminiscent of some of the great quarterbacks of the College’s past, Campbell showed good poise and accuracy in a 10 play, 66-yard drive that culminated in a 30-yard pass to tailback Steven Hargrove (Alexandria, VA) down the left sideline. Making a few key receptions on the drive was senior wideout Rich Musinski (West Pittston, PA), who finished the day with 101 yards on eight receptions to give him 17 100-yard receiving games in his career, just six short of tying Jerry Rice’s NCAA Division I-AA record.

After the Broncos scored on a long touchdown pass by quarterback Chad Munson to wideout Greg Jennings, it was Campbell again leading the Tribe down the field, this time for a seven play, 65-yard drive that also finished up with a pass to Hargrove, from eight yards out to give the Tribe a 14-7 advantage. W&M held the lead at the end of the opening quarterback before the Broncos opened the floodgates with 28 unanswered points in the second quarter.

“I wish we could’ve defended better out there, but offensively, I thought we did pretty well,” Laycock said. “Lang moved the ball around well and saw the coverage extremely well.”

Down 35-14 at the half, the Tribe scored first in the second half, as Campbell hit senior fullback Nick Rogers (Garrettsville, OH) from one-yard out to bring W&M within two scores at 35-21. That play wrapped up a 13 play, 91-yard drive engineered by Campbell in his first game as W&M’s starting signal caller. However, Munson responded by throwing his fifth and sixth touchdown passes of the game, and the Tribe wrapped up its scoring in the fourth quarter with a 33-yard field goal by sophomore Greg Kuehn (Potomac Falls, VA).

Despite losing by 32 points, the Tribe was able to move the ball efficiently against the Broncos, as W&M garnered 349 yards of offense. The Tribe outgained the Broncos on the ground, 158-149, led by Hargrove’s 58 yards on 10 carries. Junior tailback Jon Smith (Cincinnati, OH) contributed 51 yards on 11 carries. The Tribe’s effort in the ground game was especially impressive considering the offensive line, which features just one senior and only two players who’d seen significant action in the past.

“They did pretty well against that competition,” Laycock said of the offensive line.

Campbell finished the game 18 of 31 passing for 181 yards and three scores, with one interception, in his first career start. Munson, meanwhile, was 24 of 35 for 450 yards and six scores, as WMU put up 638 yards of total offense, the most given up by the Tribe since Lehigh managed 654 yards in 1991.

Musinski’s 101 yards led all Tribe receivers, and he now has 169 career receptions, just 21 short of tying Dave Conklin’s school-record. Musinski is 563 yards short of the Atlantic 10’s all-time receiving yardage record.

Defensively, the Tribe forced three turnovers, including a 68-yard interception return by linebacker Chris Outlaw (Wrightsville, GA). Senior cornerback Billy Parker (Mechanicsville, VA) had a 27-yard return of a fumble, and junior Dominique Thompson (Durham, NC) also had a fumble recovery for the Tribe.

Leading the way on the Tribe defense was sophomore linebacker Travis McLaurin (Wilmington, DE), who nearly equaled his 2002 total of 14 tackles with 10 stops in the game, including two tackles for loss. W&M was credited with six sacks in the game.

W&M (0-1, 0-0) will travel to Lexington, VA to battle VMI next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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