UMaine improves, but Tribe prevails William & Mary features strong passing game, wears down Bears in final minutes

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ORONO – Tailback Jhamal Fluellen rushed for a career-best 197 yards, quarterback Adam Farkes passed for 125 yards and two touchdowns, and place-kicker Bobby Donnelly booted two field goals.

It still added up to defeat for the University of Maine football team in Saturday’s homecoming game against William & Mary at Alfond Stadium.

Jake Phillips passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns, engineering two lengthy scoring drives during a dominating second-half offensive performance that carried William & Mary to a 21-20 Colonial Athletic Association football victory over UMaine.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s Bears (1-5 overall, 0-4 CAA) suffered their fifth consecutive loss after coming up short on two fourth-down conversions and failing to stop the late-game run strategy of the pass-oriented Tribe.

“It’s a tough loss for us,” Cosgrove said. “We’re always talking about this being a fourth-quarter league and having a chance to win in the fourth quarter. We thought we were giving ourselves a chance to do that and we did not get that done today.”

Having squandered a 14-point first-half advantage, UMaine had a chance to equalize trailing 21-17 late. A muffed snap by William & Mary punter David Miller gave the hosts the ball at the W&M 24-yard line with 5:45 remaining.

On fourth-and-4, Cosgrove elected to kick a field goal. Donnelly’s 34-yarder got the Bears within a point with 4:46 left.

“I’m thinking we’re going to stop them,” Cosgrove said of the decision. “We didn’t make two fourth-and-1’s [earlier] so I don’t know if we’re going to make a fourth-and-5.”

UMaine was unable to stop the Tribe (4-2, 2-2 CAA), whose offensive line made ample holes for tailback Joe Viola. He carried eight times for 37 yards as W&M ran out the clock.

“It’s tough when that happens, but the only way I know is to keep pushing,” said a resolute Farkes. “We’re not giving up anything.”

The Bears led 14-7 early in the third when they put together an impressive 82-yard drive behind the slippery running of Fluellen (30 carries). On fourth-and-1 from the 11, Fluellen was stopped short on a run up the middle.

It was the second time in the game UMaine failed to convert a fourth-and-1 play.

“If you don’t make it and fourth-and-1, you probably don’t deserve to win the game,” Cosgrove said. “We had some nice drives going and twice we went for it. To me that’s not a big decision, going for it on fourth-and-1. Twice we didn’t get it.”

William & Mary dominated from that point on with an effective run-pass blend that paved the way for two momentum-building scoring drives.

The first covered 89 yards in 13 plays. The Tribe converted four third downs, including a 33-yard TD pass from Phillips that was tipped by a UMaine defender and into the hands of Cameron Dohse (7 catches, 123 yards) inside the 5-yard line.

The visitors forced the Bears into a three-and-out and went back to work. The Tribe blended the run and pass with Phillips completing four throws, each for 10-plus yards.

Viola’s 3-yard run closed out the 19-play, 90-yard march that put the Tribe in front 21-14 with 11:13 to play.

W&M had the ball for 17 minutes, 42 seconds in the second half, amassing 237 yards on 46 plays. UMaine managed only 118 net yards on 25 plays.

“‘I think we were worn down a little bit on defense,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve got a lot of folks out [with injuries] and there’s nobody that’s really been able to do that type of thing to us physically.”

UMaine jumped in front on its second possession when Farkes (11-for-19 passing) found Landis Williams open on a post pattern for a 20-yard scoring hookup at the 8:08 mark.

UMaine made it 14-0 late in the second quarter with a quick 65-play march. This time, Farkes hit Williams along the left sideline for a 31-yard TD pass with 2:51 left in the half.

The Tribe answered with a 65-yard scoring drive of its own. Phillips’ 31-yard TD throw to a wide-open Dohse made it 14-7 with 1:02 to play.

The UMaine defense held its own despite being without starting linebacker Andrew Downey (ankle) and cornerbacks Lamir Whetstone (knee) and Lionel Nixon Jr. (knee). Linebacker John Wormuth paced the Bears with 14 tackles, while Brandon McLaughlin and Mark Masterson posted 11 each and Jovan Belcher 10.

John Rutter’s nine tackles led the way for W&M.

TRIBE 21, BLACK BEARS 20

William & Mary (4-2) 0 7 7 7 – 21

Maine (1-5) 7 7 0 6 – 20

UM – Williams 20 pass from Farkes (Donnelly kick)

UM – Williams 31 pass from Farkes (Donnelly kick)

WM – Dohse 31 pass from Phillips (Pate kick)

WM – Dohse 33 pass from Phillips (Pate kick)

WM – Viola 3 run (Pate kick)

UM – Donnelly 32 field goal

UM – Donnelly 34 field goal

A-7,122

WM UM

First downs 22 19

Rushes-yards 42-136 40-249

Passing 243 125

Comp-Att-Int 24-38-0 11-19-0

Return Yards 10 11

Punts-Avg. 5-36.8 4-35.8

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 6-52 6-60

Time of Possession 33:09 26:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – W&M: Viola 10-44, Schonder 8-34, Marriner 15-33, Phillips 8-25, Team 1-0. Maine: Fluellen 30-197, Farkes 8-35, Cotrone 2-17.

PASSING – W&M: Phillips 23-37-0-255, D.Miller 1-1-0-(minus 12). Maine: Farkes 11-19-0-125.

RECEIVING – W&M: Dohse 7-123, Mack 5-53, Archer 4-29, Atchison 3-2, Varno 2-20, Marriner 2-1, Nicholas 1-15. Maine: Williams 4-69, Pierre 3-23, Cotrone 2-13, Fersner 1-15, Fluellen 1-5.