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The atmosphere in William and Mary’s locker room was a mixture of excitement and unfamiliarity. For the first time since Sept. 16, the Tribe led at halftime. After rallying from a two-touchdown deficit, no less.
But instead of putting it away, W&M let it get away. The offense lost whatever mojo it had found, and Towson came back for a 26-14 win Saturday afternoon at Zable Stadium.
It was the Tribe’s seventh consecutive loss, its longest such streak in one season since 1975 — five years before Jimmye Laycock became head coach.
“Kind of a story of two halves, really,” Laycock said. “Other than the way we started with the mistakes there, we settled down and played pretty well the rest of the first half.
“Then, all of a sudden, in the second half, we fell out of rhythm. It just seemed like it was one thing after another. We really hurt ourselves offensively in the second half and put the defense in a pretty big bind with field position.”
Thanks to a fumble recovery just outside the red zone and a punt return for a touchdown, Towson led 12-0 less than seven minutes into the game. But with execution and balance rarely seen this season, the Tribe’s offense scored touchdowns on two if its next three possessions.
Quarterback Tommy McKee’s 3-yard touchdown run made it 14-12 with 8:39 left in the second quarter. That was the score at halftime, at which point the Tribe had 204 yards on 41 offensive plays.
The last time W&M (2-8, 0-7 Colonial Athletic Association) had led at halftime was eight weeks ago against Bucknell. That’s also the last time it won.
“We felt like we were in control, in the driver’s seat,” McKee said. “If we had kept up what we were doing in the first half, we would have won.”
Towson (4-6, 2-5) had a chance to regain the lead on its first possession of the second half, but Aidan O’Neill’s 42-yard field-goal attempt was wide right. With a chance to create some space, the Tribe went three-and-out on two of its three possessions in the third quarter.
The Tigers took a 19-14 lead on Kobe Young’s 4-yard touchdown run with 13:32 remaining in the game. Two plays later McKee threw high for tight end Andrew Caskin and was intercepted by Jamal Watson, whose 47-yard return set up first-and-goal from the 2-yard line.
Quarterback Ryan Stover scored on the next play, and it was 26-14.
After totaling 205 yards in the first half, the Tribe added 112 in the second. Thirty-seven of that came on the final three plays of the game. W&M also went 1 for 7 on third downs after halftime.
“Their defense amped it up in the second half,” McKee said. “We didn’t match that intensity.”
Defensively, William and Mary’s biggest issue was its offense and special teams. The Tigers’ three touchdown drives covered 21, 38 and 2 yards. A fumble on the game’s fifth play set up the first. Watson’s interception led to the third.
Towson also scored on a 62-yard punt return by Coby Tippett.