WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Towson University football team was unable to overcome an early first quarter deficit and fell at William & Mary 40-14 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Towson (3-4, 2-2 CAA) had more passing yards than William & Mary (5-2, 3-1 CAA) but was unable to overcome the home team's rushing attack.  W&M scored touchdowns on its opening three drives and did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
 
Each Towson and W&M were receiving votes in an FCS poll: Towson in the AFCA Coaches Poll and W&M in the STATS FCS Top-25.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson had 248 yards in the air to W&M's 190, but the Tribe picked up 348 yards on the ground to Towson's 83.  Towson forced two turnovers, but had six itself in the game.
• Jerry Howard Jr. ran the ball 17 times for 71 yards, also picking up 26 yards receiving.  Devin Matthews scored Towson's lone rushing touchdown, getting 29 yards on the ground.
• The passing was near evenly distributed by two Towson quarterbacks: Chris Ferguson started the game, going 9-for-20 for 125 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions while Jeff Miller went 12-for-17 for 123 yards and a pick.  The top receiver for Towson was Caleb Smith, who made six receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown.
• On the defensive end, Christian Dixon tied for a team-high seven tackles, two for loss, and a pass break-up.  The forced turnovers were by Charles Peeples, who had a forced fumble and recovery along with four tackles, and Keyvone Bruton, who had an interception and four tackles.
• For W&M, Donavyn Lester was the top rusher, gaining 99 yards and scoring three times, with quarterback Darius Wilson finishing with 164 passing yards, 48 rushing yards, a passing touchdown and an interception.  Nate Lynn led the defense with five tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles.

Postgame Quote:
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose: "Congratulations to William & Mary, they had a good gameplan and outplayed us.  You can't win a football game giving up that many rushing yards in the first half and having that many turnovers.  I was thoroughly pleased with how we responded after the first quarter, but we couldn't get any rhythm going after being behind."
 
How It Happened:

• William & Mary received first and primarily went to the run on the opening drive.  Following a third down conversion, Bronson Yoder broke through the hole on the right side and went 47 yards for the touchdown, putting the home team up 7-0.
• Towson relied on its primary rusher to begin, starting with a dropoff pass to Jerry Howard Jr. then a couple of rushes for 13 combined yards.  On the 42, Chris Ferguson open Caleb Smith open down the sideline.  Smith raced through the secondary and scored for the 42-yard touchdown, making it 7-7 with 10:46 left in the first quarter.
• W&M scored on the first play of its next drive on a 65-yard reception to Zach Burdick to lead 14-7.
• Towson converted a third down off a burst forward from Devin Matthews, but an interception on the next third down gave the ball back to the Tribe on its on own 44.  W&M again came down the field, scoring on a 21-yard rush to the left to make it 21-7 home team with 5:53 left to play in the first quarter.
• Towson came down the field in a hope to respond on the next drive, barreling forward with runs from Matthews and Ferguson.  Towson got just outside the W&M red zone and went for it on fourth down, being intercepted and returned to Towson territory.  W&M continued to run the ball, and into the 2^nd quarter, got to the red zone with Towson forcing an incompletion on third down.  W&M kicked a field goal and led 24-7 with 13:40 left in the 2^nd.
• Facing 3^rd and 16, a 14-yard pass across the middle to Darian Street then a burst forward from Matthews converted the fourth down to get to its own 40.  W&M held on the next set of downs and forced Towson to punt.
• W&M looked to break out from its own six-yard line, but the Towson defense held its foe to a three-and-out.  D'Ago Hunter returned the ball to the W&M 35 as the Towson offense went back to the run.  Again Towson elected to go for it on fourth down, with Howard converting on the two-yard gain, needing one, in the W&M red zone.  Towson got to the edge of the goal line, then Matthews took the direct snap in for the score.  W&M led 24-14 with 3:42 left in the half.
• The home team again came down the field with several third down conversions.  Towson stopped W&M progress at the two-yard line as W&M elected to kick a field goal.  W&M led 27-14 at the break.
• Into the third quarter, a great catch along the sideline by Street for 16 yards started Towson's drive, followed by power running from Howard for 19 yards combined on four rushes.  A fifth rush by Howard led to a fumble and recovery by W&M at its own 40.  Two long completions to Cole Blackman, followed by a Lester run to the left for 12 yards resulted in a touchdown.  W&M was up 34-14 with 9:11 to go in the third.
• Following a Towson three-and-out, W&M against came down the field primarily with rushes.  On an end-around, Charles Peeples stripped the ball carrier at the Towson 4 to get the ball back for the Tigers, returning 12 yards.  But the next play, a Ferguson interception gave the ball back to W&M at the edge of the Towson red zone.
• Into the fourth quarter as W&M was driving, Christian Dixon batted a ball at the line to Keyvone Bruton for the interception, getting the ball out to the Towson 44.  Jeff Miller took over and got a first down conversion on fourth with a six-yard pass to Street on the sideline, but a strip sack fumble gave the ball back to W&M just before midfield.  W&M scored on touchdown on the following drive, missing the extra point, to lead 40-14, the eventual final score.

Inside the Numbers

• Keyvone Bruton earned his first career interception with the pick in the fourth quarter.
• Christian Dixon has compiled six total tackles for loss in the last two games.
• Devin Matthews has scored at least one rushing touchdown in his last three games and in five of Towson's seven contests this year.
• Caleb Smith has made at least four receptions in each of his last four games.
• Jabari Allen is two passes away from 100 in his collegiate career.

Next Game:

• Towson returns home for its next game, hosting UAlbany on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. at Johnny Unitas® Stadium.  For ticket information, interested parties may contact the Towson Athletics ticket office by visiting www.towsontigers.com, calling 1-855-TU-TIGER or emailing dkogok@towson.edu.

- TowsonTigers.com –