TOWSON, Md. – Despite 291 yards of total offense from Tyrrell Pigrome, the Towson University football team fell to No. 12/13 William & Mary 44-24 on Homecoming Weekend.
 
Towson (2-5, 0-4 CAA) attempted to rally with three second half touchdowns, outscoring its opponent 21-14 in the final two quarters, but could not overcome the early deficit to W&M (6-1, 3-1 CAA).
 
This is Towson's third-straight defeat against a top-15 opponent.
 
Key Stats:

• William & Mary outgained Towson 481-397 in the game.  Towson had the stronger second half in yardage with 272 to W&M's 165.
• Tyrrell Pigrome went 16-for-28 in the air with 179 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, adding 112 yards on the ground with a score on 22 rushes.  This is his second game of the year with over 100 yards passing and rushing.  His main target in the air was Da'Kendall James, who made five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.
• Mason Woods and Ubayd Steed tied for the Towson lead with five tackles, with Woods adding a tackle for loss.
• William & Mary had 300 yards on the ground, including 94 yards on eight carries, averaging 11.8 a rush.  Darius Wilson was 8-for-15 with 164 yards and two scores at quarterback.  On the defensive end, Tye Freeland had nine tackles, including one for loss, and a forced fumble.

How It Happened:

• W&M went early with the run, using three rushes of 17+ yards on its opening drive to break into the Towson red zone.  Two plays later, a one-yard push by Donavyn Lester gave W&M a 7-0 lead with 10:12 left in the first.
• Tyrrell Pigrome led the way with short passes and scrambles to come down the field, adding a W&M pass interference penalty to get to the W&M 27.  Towson went for a field goal on 4^th-and-6 with Keegan Vaughan converting the 40-yard attempt to make it 7-3 W&M with 6:36 to play in the opening quarter.
• A 43-yard kickoff return set up W&M at midfield, then two plays later, the visitors were on the Towson 16.  Towson held on two plays, but a 12-yard catch by Caylin Newton made the score 14-3 W&M with 4:07 to go in the third.
• Towson went three-and-out on its next drive as W&M got the ball back on its own 10, driving into the second quarter.  More large gains got W&M to the Towson 21.  The Tigers held after forcing two short passes and an incompletion.  W&M ran a fake on a field goal attempt and scored on a 17-yard catch from Andrew Piercy to Ethan Chang.  A fumble on the extra point attempt stopped another point, but W&M led 20-3.
• Towson survived a couple of fumbles on the next drive but had to punt back to W&M.  A 21-yard reception and 25-yard rush got the visitors to the Towson 4, then they scored two plays later on a Lester three-yard rush to go up 27-3.
• Towson looked to respond, spearheaded by a Joachim Bangda 21-yard rush to the W&M 41.  Next play was an interception as W&M took over on its own 32.  Rushes from Bronson Yoder and short passes from Darius Wilson got W&M back into Towson territory.  The defense locked down with Vinnie Shaffer stopping Yoder in the backfield on the Towson 25.  Ethan Chang's 42-yard field goal attempt was good for a 30-3 W&M lead, the eventual halftime score.
• Following a three-and-out for Towson to begin the third quarter, an 83-yard touchdown catch by Lachlan Pitts pushed W&M's lead to 37-3.
• Towson started to find its rhythm on the next drive as Towson employed the hurry-up offense with multiple rushes.  Bangda and Pigrome led the way as the Tigers got to the W&M 5.  Two plays later, Pigrome rolled out to the right side for the touchdown, getting the score to 37-10 W&M.
• Towson forced a W&M three-and-out and again marched down the field, getting across midfield on a roughing the passer penalty.  On third-and-two, a deep pass was complete to Da'Kendall James, but a strip and fumble into the end zone gave the ball back to W&M for a touchback.
• Into the fourth quarter, Towson quickly got the ball back after a three-and-out.  A 24-yard Pigrome rush burst Towson into W&M territory, where he and Bangda kept running and getting Towson into the end zone.  A nine-yard pass to James for a touchdown brought Towson within 20 at 37-17 W&M.
• Towson attempted to onside kick, but W&M recovered.  A 27-yard rush by Malachi Imoh set up a Martin Lucas touchdown to give W&M a 44-17 advantage.
• Towson's final drive was a successful one as the Tigers used 12 plays to go 75 yards. A 25-yard pass to James got Towson to the three-yard line, then another completion to Darian Street completed the drive with a touchdown.  W&M ran out the clock on the next drive and won 44-24.

Inside the Numbers

• Tyrrell Pigrome had 157 passing yards and 124 rushing yards in a win over Morgan State on Sept. 10.
• Keegan Vaughan earned a season-long 40-yard field goal, one yard shy of his career-high.

Next Game:

• Towson will head north for its next CAA contest, playing league newcomer Monmouth on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m.