Tribe Football Defeats UNH, 38-28

11/15/03 4:54PM

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Behind a balanced offensive attack and an opportunistic defense, William and Mary won its third-straight game with a 38-28 victory over New Hampshire before a crowd of 4,887 in the home finale at Zable Stadium.

The Tribe was led by several outstanding offensive performances, as W&M gained a season-high 544 yards of total offense, including an impressive balance of 268 yards on the ground and 276 yards in the air.

“I thought we played well when we didn’t beat ourselves,” Tribe head coach Jimmye Laycock.

The game was tied at the half after a couple of costly turnovers by the Tribe. But the half was highlighted by an amazing performance by All-American wide receiver Rich Musinski (West Pittston, PA). In his final home game, Musinski had four catches for 117 yards in the first quarter alone before leaving the game with an injury.

But even without Musinski, Tribe quarterback Lang Campbell (Winchester, VA) and the passing game were not affected. Campbell hit junior John Pitts (Kernersville, NC) from 26 yards out to put W&M up 17-10 early in the second quarter. Pitts made a great play, snagging the ball out of the air for his first career touchdown.

After UNH quarterback Mike Granieri hit wideout David Bailey from 12 yards out to tie the game, the two teams went into the locker rooms with the game tied. But it was the play of a redshirt freshman running back that broke the game open for W&M in the second half.

Seeing his most extensive action of the season, Trevor McLaurin (Wilmington, DE) came through with the first score of his career on a 22-yard run with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. He followed that up just over seven minutes later by catching a short screen pass from Campbell and converting it into an 11-yard score. And finally, after redshirt freshman tailback Delmus Coley (Virginia Beach, VA) broke off a 43-yard run, McLaurin hit paydirt again, this time from two yards out to set the final margin.

Campbell finished 18 of 29 for a career-high 276 yards and three touchdowns, with just one interception. He also ran seven times for 65 yards, giving him a personal-best of 341 yards of total offense.

Coley led the Tribe on the ground with 122 yards on 22 carries, his third-straight game over the 100-yard rushing mark.

Pitts paced the College with five receptions for a career-high 79 yards. All-conference candidate Mike Mesi (Eatontown, NJ) had a solid game with an average of 44.5 yards per punt.

Defensively, W&M was led by senior linebacker Paul Carpenter (Winchester, VA), who had nine tackles, including two tackles for loss.

The Tribe will attempt to even its record at 5-5 on the season with the latest installment in the Oldest Rivalry in the South, taking place at Richmond next weekend.