THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9409250172
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
William and Mary displayed plenty of offensive firepower in dispatching Virginia Military Institute, 45-7, Saturday at Zable Stadium.
The Tribe also displayed plenty of compassion.
William and Mary led, 21-0, early in the second quarter when Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock put the clamps on his offense.
By then, William and Mary, 4-0 and ranked eighth nationally in Division I-AA, was clearly on its way to a school-record 13th consecutive home victory.
``We could have scored a lot of points and broken a lot of records if we'd kept throwing the ball,'' said Tribe defensive back Darren Sharper, whose 55-yard punt return for a touchdown was negated by a clipping penalty. ``But there was no reason to do that. We had already proven we were the better team. You don't hammer a team when you've got them down.''
As bad as it was for VMI (0-3), it could have been worse. Even with the Tribe's offense in a slowdown, William and Mary threw away 17 points with mistakes. In addition to the foiled punt return, the Tribe missed three short field-goal attempts.
William and Mary quarterback Shawn Knight, a senior from Norfolk, riddled the Keydets on the Tribe's first three series, hitting four of five passes for 143 yards.
His first pass was a 63-yard touchdown toss to Michael Tomlin on the game's second play. His second was a 54-yard pass to Tomlin.
On both, he and Tomlin took advantage of VMI's aggressive defense. The Keydets' defensive backs line up only a few yards off the line of scrimmage and blitz often. Tomlin simply sprinted past VMI's young defensive backs and was open by several yards.
However, Knight threw just four more passes after the first three possessions as Laycock sent his team into a conservative, grind-it-out attack.
Knight, whom William and Mary is touting for All-American honors, acknowledged he could have piled up career-record numbers had the Tribe kept throwing.
``I'm not really interested in career records,'' he said. ``I want to keep winning ballgames. Numbers don't mean anything.''
The numbers went all William and Mary's way Saturday. The Tribe rolled to 518 offensive yards and 23 first downs, and held VMI to 203 yards.
VMI tailback Thomas Haskins, the second-leading rusher in I-AA, finished with 127 yards in 21 attempts, 47 below his average. Most of his yards came in the second half, when the Tribe was substituting.
Knight and tailback Troy Keen both went to the bench after one second-half possession.
Keen hardly broke a sweat, rushing 12 times for 60 yards and three touchdowns.
The Tribe's leading rusher was Alvin Porch, a third-string tailback who ran 14 times for 116 yards.
``He ran well,'' Laycock said. ``He did a nice job.''
Not so for the Keydets, said first-year VMI coach Bill Stewart, who implied that his team played without enthusiasm.
``I've got to do a whole lot better coaching job,'' he said. ``When you can't get a group of young people excited to come into a place like this, in an atmosphere like this against the eighth-ranked team in America, then I've got to start doing a better job.''
Asked if that meant his team had been flat, he said: ``Next question.'' ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA
/Staff
William and Mary's Kendrick Ashton crunches VMI wide receiver Erik
Reynolds. The undefeated Tribe won handily, 45-7.
by CNB