THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411200186
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLIE DENN, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Let the waiting begin.
After squeaking past Richmond, 21-20, Saturday at UR Stadium, William and Mary now must wait until early this afternoon to see if its season will be extended.
The Tribe is 8-3 after the win over Richmond and, in most years, eight wins would get you to the postseason. But this fall, with three teams in the Yankee Conference having won nine games or more, William and Mary might not go.
No league has sent more than three teams to the postseason in the history of the conference.
``We've got eight wins,'' Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock said. ``That's all I know.''
``We're 8-3 and we should go,'' linebacker Jude Waddey said. ``The way I look at it, they should take the best 16 teams regardless of conference. We're one of the best 16 teams.''
The Tribe would have had its faint hopes extinguished completely had it not beaten the 3-8 Spiders. That chore was tougher than expected.
After scoring on its first two possessions to lead 14-0 barely six minutes into the game, it looked like William and Mary was on its way to an easy victory.
But Richmond came right back to score on consecutive possessions. From then on, it was anyone's game to win.
The difference was a botched extra point after the Spiders' third touchdown. Uly Scott scored from 6 yards out with 3:47 to go to bring the Spiders within one point.
On the snap for the point after, center Brook Heggie short-hopped the ball to holder Bobby St. Pierre. St. Pierre picked up the ball and tried to run to his right, looking for a receiver in the end zone.
But Waddey was on St. Pierre almost before he looked upfield. The William and Mary freshman made the tackle without a pass being thrown.
``We had the block play on,'' Waddey said. ``Their wing guy barely blocked me, so I would have blocked the kick had they tried it.
``But I thought there might have been some miscommunication between the kicker and holder. The kicker just stood there, like he wasn't even supposed to kick the ball.''
Waddey took no chances by smothering St. Pierre after he had taken a few steps.
``I couldn't decide whether to wait and try to block the pass if he threw it or just tackle him,'' Waddey said. ``I decided the safest thing was just to bring him down.''
``We never thought about going for two, not with overtime in front of you,'' said Richmond coach Jim Marshall, whose job appeared to be in jeopardy even before Saturday's loss.
Marshall also said he didn't consider an on-side kick on the ensuing kickoff.
``We just decided to kick it deep and take our chances,'' he said.
The Tribe got three first downs and never relinquished possession after the missed Richmond conversion.
The offensive stars for the Tribe included running back Troy Keen, who had 129 yards on 15 carries, and Shawn Knight, who completed 14 of 19 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns in what was probably his final game as a collegian.
``We played pretty well offensively,'' Knight said. ``But some of the normal execution wasn't there. Richmond had a lot to do with that.''
As it turned out, the Tribe's winning score came on a short touchdown pass from Knight to Michael Tomlin 24 seconds before halftime. Brian Shallcross' extra point was the eventual margin of victory in the 104th renewal of the oldest football rivalry in the South. by CNB