HAMPTON, Va. (WTKR) — For more than 50 minutes, William & Mary and Hampton could barely create any separation from each other.
One 30 second sequence in the fourth quarter became all the momentum the Tribe would need.
With 7:10 left to play and the game tied 10-10, W&M linebacker Quinn Osborne picked off a short pass from Christopher Zellous. Tribe quarterback Tyler Hughes, starting in place of the injured Darius Wilson, found JT Mayo for a 76-yard touchdown on the very next snap to give the visitors a 17-10 lead.
On the Pirates next offensive play, a pass that bounced off the back of a receivers foot landed right in the hands of William & Mary's Kevin Jarrell, who returned it for a 40-yard pick-six.
The spark igniting a 31-10 win for Mike London's group, helping stop a stretch of four losses in the last five games.
"I've been doing this a long time and something like that happens with the turnarounds, and the touchdowns off of that, was unbelievable," London said. "I'm just so proud of my guys."
The two picks in the final 15 minutes was part of a five turnover effort for the William & Mary defense, including four interceptions.
"They had momentum, crowd on their side at home," Osborne said. "I knew we needed some type of spark to bring the team back so we could win this game at the end."
"We just wanted to punch the ball and force some turnovers and give our offense a chance to score some points," Jarrell said. "(Quinn) had a big one, we got our hands on a couple other ones. Just a great team effort."
Hughes would throw for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while rushing for 36 yards and another score.
Zellous amassed 236 total yards for Hampton, 159 yards through the air and 77 on the ground. He hit Romon Copeland on a 45-yard score to give the Pirates a 10-7 lead going into halftime.
William & Mary goes to 6-4 on the season with its rivalry matchup with Richmond closing out the season next Saturday at Zable Stadium. Hampton drops to 5-5 with its regular season finale at Elon coming up on Saturday.
