GAME 10:
W&L (5-4, 4-3) at SHENANDOAH (5-3, 4-3)
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Winchester, 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 10-8 overall record across his first 18 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).
SHENANDOAH HEAD COACH SCOTT YODER:
Shenandoah is led by seventh-year Head Coach Scott Yoder (Hobart '01), who is 36-32 (.529) overall with the Hornets. Yoder came to SU from Hobart, where he was an assistant coach for 12 seasons. He is 2-4 all-time against W&L.
THE SERIES:
W&L and Shenandoah will be meeting for the eighth time, with the Generals holding a 5-2 edge in the all-time series. Both losses suffered by the Blue & White occurred in overtime, including a 27-24 setback in last season's final contest.
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 527-538-39 (.495) overall record.
CHASING HISTORY:
A win against Shenandoah would give W&L a fifth straight winning campaign. 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.
SCOUTING SHENENDOAH:
Shenandoah is coming off a bye and hasn't played since a 49-31 win over Ferrum on November 2. In that contest, the Hornets led just 21-17 midway through the third quarter, but exploded for three touchdowns in a span of 7:35 of game time to assume a 42-17 lead early in the fourth quarter en route to the win. SU amassed 467 yards of total offense behind 393 passing yards from first-year quarterback Chris Sonnenberg, who completed 21-of-27 passes for six touchdowns. First-year running back Samuel Adams totaled 23 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries, while senior wide receiver Casey Stewart caught seven passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Junior wide out Brant Butler tallied three catches for 124 yards and two scores. Senior linebacker Bernie Hayes III led the defense with 10 tackles and an interception. For the year, junior quarterback Ben Agostino has taken most of the snaps and he has completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,562 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions. Sonnenberg has completed 61.8 percent of his tosses for 733 yards and eight touchdowns with four picks. Stewart is the top receiving target, having hauled in 53 passes for 914 yards and eight touchdowns. Wallace has 52 catches for 506 yards and three scores. Senior running back Mario Wisdom is the top ground-gainer with 333 yards and five touchdowns on 73 attempts. Senior linebacker Tyler Williams leads the Hornets' defensive troops with 54 tackles and two interceptions.
LAST TIME OUT:
(W&L 28, SOUTHERN VIRGINIA 7 - 11/9/19 - LEXINGTON, VA)
Washington and Lee jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead and ended a three-game losing streak with a 28-7 victory over Southern Virginia on Saturday afternoon at Wilson Field. Junior running back Josh Breece gave W&L a 7-0 lead with 10:18 left in the first quarter when he finished off a 4-play, 62-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. The opening play of the drive was a 50-yard run by senior quarterback Drew Richardson, allowing for the Breece touchdown three plays later. Breece made more news early in the second quarter when back-to-back runs of 11 and 15 yards helped W&L to another scoring drive and secured his place atop the program records for career rushing yards. He finished with 69 rushing yards on the day, eclipsing the career rushing record held by Luke Heinsohn '13. Breece now has 3,559 yards in just 29 career games played. Richardson finished off the 11-play, 76-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run that gave W&L a 14-0 lead with 10:43 left in the half. Following an SVU punt that pinned W&L on its own 3-yardline, the Generals marched 97 yards on 15 plays, taking a 21-0 lead on a 20-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Alex Wertz with just 39 seconds left before the intermission. Richardson added a second touchdown run, this time from 2 yards out, for a 28-0 lead with 6:20 left in the third quarter. Neither team could penetrate the end zone until the Knights scored on a 4th-and-goal from the 12-yardline with just one second remaining. Quarterback Colten Shumway found wide receiver Matthew Johansson in the back of the end zone to deny the Generals their first shutout in over eight years. Washington and Lee finished with 395 yards of total offense led by Richardson, who rushed 13 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Wertz racked up 86 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, while Breece amassed 69 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Senior linebacker Will Corry led the defense with seven tackles, three for a loss, one sack, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup. Southern Virginia gained 248 yards, 83 of which came on the final drive of the game. Shumway completed 12-of-14 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown, while wide receiver Kevin Adams snared eight passes for 81 yards. Running back Akiva Wedge added 64 yards on 20 carries, while defensive backs Neil Davis and Albert Green IV had a game-high 13 tackes each.
LAST MEETING WITH SHENANDOAH:
(SHENANDOAH 27, W&L 24 - 11/10/18 - LEXINGTON, VA)
Shenandoah overcame a 21-6 fourth-quarter deficit to post a 27-24 overtime victory over Washington and Lee in the 2018 season finale at Wilson Field. The Generals grabbed a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on the strength of touchdown runs by running backs Alex Wertz and Josh Breece. W&L forced a turnover late in the first quarter, setting up a short field for the opening score. Senior defensive end Alex Cantrell hit Shenandoah senior quarterback Hayden Bauserman just as he was releasing the ball, sending the ball fluttering into the air where defensive back Christopher Elliott plucked it for an interception and returned it to the 19-yardline. Four plays later, Wertz scored from 2 yards out for a 7-0 lead with 14:29 left in the second quarter. The Generals stopped the Hornets on downs on the following possession and drove 41 yards on 11 plays for a 1-yard Breece touchdown run that made it 14-0 with 7:24 left in the half. The Hornets got on the board with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Bauserman to wide receiver Ethan Bigbee at the 4:48 mark of the second quarter. The PAT failed making it 14-6. However, the Generals got another score before the end of the half, driving 52 yards in just 1:30 to assume a 21-6 lead with 34 seconds left on a 3-yard touchdown run by senior running back Collin Sherman. W&L gained just 22 yards of offense in the third quarter of play, but maintained the 15-point lead entering the fourth quarter thanks to solid play by the defense. Shenandoah broke through to make it an 8-point game (21-13) with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter when Bauserman hooked up with senior wide receiver Jalen Hudson for a 17-yard touchdown. Shenandoah mounted a final drive from its own 35-yardline with 1:23 remaining. The Hornets needed just three plays to find paydirt, with Bauserman finding wide receiver Casey Stewart for a 49-yard touchdown strike that made it 24-22 with 1:02 remaining. The PAT pass from Bauserman to wide receiver Jake Wallace was good, tying the score at 24-24. The Generals took over on their own 32-yardline with 1:01 left and drove to the Shenandoah 28-yardline, but senior placekicker Kevin McHugh's 45-yard field goal as time expired fell just short, sending the game into overtime. W&L had the ball first in the extra session, driving to the Hornet 5-yardline before settling for a 22-yard field goal by Jarrett Wright. The Hornets then scored on a 6-yard run by running back Rashadeen Byrd just three plays into their possession to assume the victory. The Generals finished with 307 yards of total offense led by Breece, who carried 27 times for 150 yards and one touchdown. Sherman tallied 58 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, while Wertz had seven carries for 18 yards and a touchdown. Senior safety Thomas Freeland notched a team-high 11 tackles. Shenandoah finished with 424 yards of offense behind Bauserman, who completed 40-of-59 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions. Byrd carried 12 times for 81 yards and one touchdown, while Wallace caught 13 passes for 102 yards. Hudson added eight catches for 77 yards and one score. Linebacker Tyler Williams registered a game-high 17 tackles.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS:
Since the begining of the 2010 season, W&L has produced a 65-37 (.637) overall record and a 45-21 (.682) 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 (102 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 27-34 with an average of 24.1 points per game and a scoring margin of -1.39 points per game.
NUMERO UNO:
Junior running back Josh Breece became Washington and Lee's all-time leading rusher in last week's outing against Southern Virginia. Breece tallied 69 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries against the Knights, elevating his career rushing total to 3,559 yards. That eclipsed the former record of 3,517 yards held by Luke Heinsohn '13 since the 2012 campaign. Breece reached the mark in just 29 games and with only 539 carries, averaging 6.5 yards per rush. Breece also scored his 34th career rushing touchdown in last week's game. He currently ranks third all-time in that category. Breece leads W&L in rushing this season with 615 yards and seven touchdowns on 97 carries.
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 31 catches for a career-high 821 yards and a team-best eight 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 has recorded 100 or more yards receiving in five of the last seven games and his eight receiving touchdowns are tied for the third-most in a season in program history. Owen's 26.48 average per catch currently ranks No. 1 in Division III.
BIG PLAYS:
The W&L offense has been producing big plays all season. In fact, the Generals have produced 24 plays of 30 or more yards across its last seven games, many of which resulted in long touchdowns. Listed below are all of W&L's scoring plays this season from beyond 30 yards:
Guilford - Josh Breece 46-yard touchdown run
Guilford - Montgomery Owen 39-yard touchdown reception
Guilford - Montgomery Owen 71-yard touchdown reception
Guilford - R.J. Milligan 65-yard touchdown run
Hampden-Sydney - Coby Kirkland 80-yard touchdown reception
Ferrum - Coby Kirkland 76-yard touchdown run
Ferrum - Montgomery Owen 32-yard touchdown reception
Emory & Henry - Montgomery Owen 75-yard touchdown reception
Emory & Henry - Coby Kirkland 67-yard touchdown run
Bridgewater - Jack Pollard 56-yard touchdown run
Bridgewater - Montgomery Owen 38-yard touchdown reception
Randolph-Macon - Montgomery Owen 66-yard touchdown reception
Randolph-Macon - Montgomery Owen 75-yard touchdown reception
Randolph-Macon - Josh Breece 75-yard touchdown run
Randolph-Macon - Josh Breece 75-yard touchdown run
TALKING DEFENSE:
Washington and Lee ranks second in the ODAC this season with 27 sacks (3.0 per game). That total is tied for the seventh-best in program history and is the most by a Generals team since the 2004 squad set a record with 43 sacks. Currently, eight players have more than one sack led by junior defensive lineman Andrew Frailer, who has tallied five sacks. Senior defensive lineman Conner Corbett has four sacks, while senior linebacker Will Corry claims 3.5 sacks.
-- https://www.generalssports.com --
