Spring Break
Rams drop football game to College of William and Mary
Chris Smith
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Sports
|
The game appeared to be going in the Rams' direction t after a botched snap by the William and Mary punting unit helped swing the momentum in the Rams favor. However, it didn't last very long as the Tribe found their stride and the Rams offense struggled once again.
"Obviously we ran into a pretty good team today," head coach Joe Trainer said. "They really don't have a unit that can be exposed in terms of offense, defense, and special teams. I was proud of the way our kids competed. We definitely didn't quit. To beat a team like William and Mary right now where we are, we would have had to play a perfect game and we were far from perfect."
The William and Mary defensive unit held the Rams offense to only 149 yards of total offense. The Tribe forced Rhody to play one-dimensional football completely stopping the run holding them to negative 44 yards on the day.
"[William and Mary has] two NFL prospects up front," Trainer said. "They're a quality defense, they're led by their front, they have a lot of seniors in that group, and obviously having two NFL prospects doesn't hurt."
The Rams attacked the Tribe through the air and were successful in the game's opening quarter. URI junior quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne completed 19 of his 34 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns including a five- yard pass to senior wide receiver Shawn Leonard that gave them an opening 7-0 lead.
The Tribe quickly responded with 39 unanswered points, while keeping Paul-Etienne in check, sacking him six times including a safety for a total loss of 38 yards.
"That was a difficult team for a first year quarterback to play against because they do a ton of things in coverage and pressures like any senior dominated defense," Trainer said. "Chris's attitude is great. He needs to continue to work hard and get better, and good things are going to happen for him and certainly our offense."
Be the first to comment on this story