WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WTKR) — William & May has had a mostly balanced attack through the first three games of the 2024 season.
In their fourth contest, the Tribe went run heavy and for good reason. W&M held off Furman 34-24 at Zable Stadium behind 384 rushing yards, including two 100+ yard performances from Bronson Yoder and Darius Wilson.
Down 14-0 early in the first quarter, Mike London's group found its footing after a 21-yard touchdown catch by Sean McElwain to cut the defecit down to one score.
From that point forward the Tribe went heavy into the running game, tallying 54 attempts throughout the contest and averaging 7.1 yards per carry. After an Eric Bernstein field goal made it 14-10, Wilson gave William & Mary the lead for good on a 53-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter.
The quarterback would run for 155 yards in the game and throw for a pair of touchdowns, bouncing back from an interception on the first snap of the game.
He would be outdone only slightly by his senior running back Yoder, who ran for 166 yards on 24 carries. He iced the game with a 12-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left in the game. Coming back to Williamsburg off an injury that cut his 2023 season short, Yoder has scored in three of the first four games of 2024 and has put up back-to-back contests with at least 100 rushing yards.
After surrendering two early touchdowns in the first six minutes, the W&M defense allowed just six points the rest of the way and turned the Paladins over three times. London's defense has now forced five takeaways in four games.
William & Mary improves to 3-1 with the victory. Now out of non-conference play, they'll get an early test when Hampton (3-1) comes to Zable Stadium next Saturday in their first Coastal Athletic Association contest.
