THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409110209
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Delaware's football team came to Zable Stadium Saturday burdened with the label of ``Yankee Conference favorite.''
When the Blue Hens departed, both the label and the burden were William and Mary's.
Paced by brilliant performances from quarterback Shawn Knight and tailback Troy Keen, the 18th-ranked Tribe crushed 12th-ranked Delaware, 31-7, before a crowd of 12,136.
The loss was shockingly lopsided for the Blue Hens, who hadn't been beaten so thoroughly since a 46-6 defeat to Lehigh in 1984. It was the most convincing victory in 18 tries by the Tribe over Delaware, picked by Yankee coaches to win the league crown.
``This score will surprise a lot of people. I'm sure teams will be gunning for us now,'' Tribe defensive end Jim Simpkins said. ``It's up to us to play as tough every week as we did today.''
William and Mary (2-0 overall, 2-0 Yankee) was clearly the tougher team Saturday, especially in the second half on a hot, sultry day.
Delaware dominated play much of the first half largely because of 256-pound fullback Daryl Brown, who bulled his way for 101 first half yards. The Blue Hens (0-1, 0-1) outgained the Tribe by 54 yards and had the ball nearly 22 of 30 minutes.
But the Tribe scored 21 points in the first 15:24 of the second half, then milked the clock for 12:13 of the fourth quarter to salt the victory away. The final drive ended on the Delaware 12 when time expired.
The nail in Delaware's coffin came three plays into the second half, when, with the Tribe leading, 24-7, Terry Hammons returned a punt 95 yards for a touchdown.
Hammons misjudged the punt and had it glance off his hands at the 10. He picked it up at the 5, and turned to see a wall of Blue Hens headed his way. He then head-faked his way past the initial surge and ran the rest of the way untouched, in part because of open-field blocks by Stefon Moody and Mark McCain.
Big things never happened for the Delaware offense, which scored 42 points against the Tribe last season. Brown rushed for just 12 yards in the second half. The Blue Hens' passing game (3-of-11 for 27 yards) never got off the ground.
Knight and Keen, meanwhile, ripped the Delaware defense to shreds.
Keen, starting in place of the hobbled Derek Fitzgerald, rushed for a career high 113 yards in the opener against Rhode Island, when he was named Yankee Offensive Player of the Week. Saturday he set another career high with 152 yards on 19 carries, the tenth best rushing performance in school history.
Knight, a senior from Norfolk's Maury High, completed 14 of 20 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns, and his statistics were misleadingly low. Four passes bounced off Tribe receivers, including one intercepted by Delaware. Only one Knight pass was poorly thrown.
``Shawn is so good that we tend to take him for granted,'' Laycock said. ``He was outstanding today.''
Raymond agreed. ``How good is William and Mary?'' Raymond said. ``They will be as good as Knight plays.''
And on Saturday, that was very good indeed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
William and Mary's Troy Keen, left, gets congratulations from Greg
Parker after a third-quarter score.
by CNB