GAME 8:
W&L (4-3, 3-2) at RANDOLPH-MACON (6-1, 5-0)
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Ashland, Va. • 1:00 pm
WASHINGTON AND LEE HEAD COACH GARRETT LeROSE:
Garrett LeRose (W&L '07) is in his second season as the W&L head coach. He carries a 9-7 overall record across his first 16 games. LeRose had served as an assistant coach with W&L ever since finishing his playing career with the Generals in 2006. He has had a hand in five ODAC titles as a player (2006) and coach (2010, 2012, 2015, 2017).
RANDOLPH-MACON HEAD COACH PEDRO ARRUZA:
Randolph-Macon is led by 16th-year Head Coach Pedro Arruza (Wheaton, Ill. '95), who is 96-65 (.596) overall and 5-10 all-time against the Generals. Arruza has guided R-MC to three ODAC titles, including last season.
THE SERIES:
W&L and Randolph-Macon will be meeting for the 68th time, with the series tied 32-32-3 since it began in 1903. W&L has won six of the last nine meetings, but dropped a 23-7 decision last season in Lexington.
ALL-TIME RECORD:
W&L has a storied tradition that began with the first officially recognized game in the South, an 1873 matchup with neighboring VMI. The first official season was 1890 and over their 127 seasons, the Generals have compiled a 526-537-39 (.495) overall record.
SCOUTING RANDOLPH-MACON:
The Yellow Jackets are coming off a bye week and are sporting a 6-1 overall record and a 5-0 mark in league play. Randolph-Macon last hit the field on October 19, claiming a 47-27 victory over Southern Virginia in Buena Vista. Macon forced six SVU turnovers and jumped out to a 34-7 halftime lead in cruising to a sixth straight victory, after dropping a 17-12 decision to Johns Hopkins in the opener. In the SVU win, junior running back Shaheed Adeyola and senior running back Tre Frederick combined for 179 yards and two scores to lead the way. Adeyola amassed 91 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, while Frederick had 88 yards and a score on just nine carries. First-year quarterback Presley Egbers completed 11-of-22 passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns, while first-year wide receiver David Wallis snared five passes for 92 yards and one touchdown. On defense, senior linebacker Calvin Whitehead tallied seven tackles and returned an interception 53 yards for a touchdown early in the contest. For the year, Frederick leads the offensive attack, rushing 134 times for 682 yards and two touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Jordan Foster has 27 carries for 238 yards and four touchdowns, while Egbers has rushed 23 times for 110 yards and one score. Egbers has also completed 55-of-88 passes for 605 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions. Senior Burke Estes began the season as the starting signal-caller and has completed 37-of-70 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns with five interceptions. Foster also leads the team in receiving with 23 catches for 227 yards and four touchdowns. Whitehead has a team-leading 42 tackles.
LAST TIME OUT:
(BRIDGEWATER 31, W&L 14 - 10/26/19 - LEXINGTON, VA)
The 25th-ranked Bridgewater football team limited Washington and Lee to a season-low 198 yards of total offense, including just 64 yards in the second half, in posting a 31-14 victory over the Generals at Wilson Field. The Eagles controlled the ball for 22:55 of the first half clock, limiting W&L to just 16 first half plays. Despite the lopsided totals across the opening 30 minutes, W&L held a 7-6 lead entering the second quarter after holding BC to a pair of field goals and scoring on a 56-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Jack Pollard. However, Bridgewater continued to play methodical football, adding a third field goal at 14:13 of the second quarter and a 10-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Jay Scroggins to senior tight end Conner Kleffman for a 16-7 lead at the 6:04 mark. W&L made it a 16-14 game at the 4:20 mark of the second quarter when Pollard hooked up with junior wide receiver Montgomery Owen for a 38-yard touchdown pass. But, Bridgewater responded with a 7-play, 66-yard touchdown drive to take a 23-14 lead with 1:23 remaining. Scroggins found sophomore wide-out Devonte Smith with a 17-yard touchdown pass for the nine-point lead at the break. Neither team could gain much ground offensively during the third period, but BC extended its lead to 25-14 after senior defensive back Matt Dang blocked a W&L punt that trickled through the back of the end zone for a safety. The Eagles continued to stymie the Generals' league-leading offense in the fourth quarter, forcing a fumble on the W&L 6-yardline that was later converted into 3-yard touchdown run by junior running back Demetreus Jalepes with 10:48 remaining for the final score. Pollard led W&L by rushing 12 times for 91 yards and a touchdown, and passing for 45 yards and another touchdown. Junior running back Josh Breece tallied 34 yards on eight carries, while Owen caught two passes for 45 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore safety Dean Johnson totaled seven tackles and one interception to lead the defense. Bridgewater totaled 352 yards of offense paced by Scroggins, who completed 28-of-39 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns. Jalepes rushed 14 times for 30 yards and one score, while Smith caught five passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Senior linebacker Re'Shaun Myers had a team-high seven tackles and a forced fumble to lead the BC defense.
LAST MEETING WITH RANDOLPH-MACON:
(R-MC 23, W&L 7 - 9/29/18 - LEXINGTON, VA)
Randolph-Macon controlled the ball for 23:08 of the final 30 minutes to produce a 23-7 victory over Washington and Lee at Wilson Field. W&L gained 156 of its 183 yards in an evenly-matched first half that saw the Yellow Jackets carry a 14-7 lead into the halftime break. Randolph-Macon assumed a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter, a 12-yard touchdown run by senior wide receiver Eric Hoy at the 14:54 mark on a 3rd-and-6 play. The Generals knotted the game at 7-7 less than seven minutes later when running back Josh Breece scampered 33 yards for a touchdown. However, R-MC responded with a 9-play, 65-yard drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Burke Estes to running back Jordan Foster for a 14-7 lead with 2:58 left in the half. Neither team dented the scoreboard again until 12:09 remained in the game when placekicker Chris Vidal finished off a 12-play, 57-yard drive with a 43-yard field goal that gave R-MC a 17-7 lead. The Generals' offense could not gain traction following the halftime break and the Yellow Jackets continued to salt away the clock with long drives, including a 13-play drive that ate 7:07 from the clock and ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Estes to running back Tre Frederick with just 3:22 remaining in the contest. W&L was intercepted on the first play of the next series and the Yellow Jackets ran out the clock for their second straight win on Wilson Field. W&L finished with just 27 yards of total offense in the second half after possessing the ball for only 6:52 after the intermission. Breece led the way with 125 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries. Quarterback Drew Richardson completed 1-of-2 passes for 39 yards and rushed four times for 12 yards. Wide receiver Montgomery Owen caught the lone pass for 39 yards. On defense, senior safety Thomas Freeland finished with 12 tackles. Linebacker Will Corry added nine tackles and one sack. All told, Randolph-Macon held the ball on offense for nearly 40 minutes (39:14), gaining 341 yards of total offense. Frederick led the Yellow Jackets with 159 yards on 29 carries. He also caught four passes for 30 yards and one touchdown. Estes completed 13-of-17 passes for 96 yards and rushed seven times for 41 yards. Linebacker Tyler DeBerry finished with a team-best eight tackles and a half sack.
CHASING HISTORY:
A winning season in 2019 would make five straight for the Generals. That would be the fourth-longest stretch of consecutive winning seasons in program history and the longest such streak since posting six straight winning campaigns from 1980-85. W&L also had six straight from 1919-24 and a record 13-straight from 1905-17.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS:
Since the begining of the 2010 season, W&L has produced a 64-36 (.640) overall record and a 45-20 (.692) mark in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Generals have also claimed four ODAC titles during that stretch.
THE MAGIC NUMBER:
The magic number for success for W&L is 400. The Blue & White has managed 400 rushing yards in a game 41 times since 2010 (97 games). In those games, the Generals are 38-3, scoring an average of 44.5 points per game with a scoring margin of +20.4 points per game. To contrast this point, when W&L fails to rush for 400 yards during the same span, it is just 26-33 with an average of 23.8 points per game and a scoring margin of -1.8 points per game.
NUMERO UNO:
Junior running back Josh Breece claims 351 rushing yards and four touchdowns this season on a team-high 74 carries. Breece currently ranks third on W&L's career rushing list with 3,295 yards, and he can move past Marshall Hollerith '17 for second-place with 151 more yards. Breece also has 31 career rushing touchdowns which rank fourth all-time. He can move past Marc Watson '01 for third-place with two more touchdown runs.
THE FULL MONTY:
Junior wide receiver Montgomery Owen is having the best season of his Washington and Lee career. Owen currently has a career-high 25 catches for a career-high 644 yards and six touchdowns. That is already the most season receiving yards by a W&L player since Jack Martin '08 tallied 893 yards during the 2007 season. Owen had a school-record tying string of four straight 100-yard games snapped in last week's loss to Bridgewater. He had previously posted 129 yards and two touchdowns against Guilford, 134 yards against Hampden-Sydney, 152 yards and two touchdowns against Ferrum and 143 yards and one touchdown against Emory & Henry. Owen finished with two catches for 45 yards and one touchdown last week.
BIG PLAYS:
The W&L offense produced 17 plays of 30 or more yards across its last five games. Sophomore running back Coby Kirkland scored on an 80-yard touchdown reception against Hampden-Sydney and then on a 76-yard touchdown run the next week against Ferrum. The catch was the longest passing play for W&L since Nick Lombardo '14 found Brett Murray '13 with an 84-yard touchdown against Catholic in 2012. The run was the longest for W&L since junior running back Josh Breece scampered 95 yards for a touchdown against Shenandoah in 2017. Two weeks ago, junior wide receiver Montgomery Owen scored on a 75-yard touchdown reception and Kirkland scored on a 67-yard touchdown run. Last week, sophomore quarterback Jack Pollard scored on a 56-yard touchdown run and Pollard also hooked up with Owen for a 38-yard passing touchdown.
TALKING OFFENSE:
Despite being largely shut down by Bridgewater last week, the W&L offense still leads the league and ranks 28th in Division III in total offense with an average of 450.4 yards per game. The Generals also rank fifth in Division III in rushing offense with an average of 310.9 yards per contest. As for passing, W&L ranks eighth nationally in passing yards per completion, averaging 18.09 yards per completion. Individually, Owen ranks third among Division III players in yards per reception, averaging 25.76 yards per catch.
TALKING DEFENSE:
On defense, the Generals allow an ODAC-low 70.0 rushing yards per game, a total which also ranks 15th nationally. W&L also claims 22 sacks, a total which ranks second in the ODAC, just one sack shy of Bridgewater's 23. W&L has held five of its last six opponents to 87 rushing yards or less -- the lone exception was surrendering 172 yards to E&H two weeks ago.
STREAKING:
Washington and Lee has forced 17 turnovers on the season, including recording at least one interception in six straight games. That's the longest streak of games with an interception since picking off a pass in seven straight to end the 2017 campaign.
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