NCAA FIRST ROUND GAME:
W&L (8-2) at NO. 4 MOUNT UNION (10-0)
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Alliance, Ohio • 12:00 pm

WASHINGTON AND LEE HEAD COACH GARRETT LeROSE:
Garrett LeRose (W&L '07) is in his fourth year as the head coach at Washington and Lee and he carries a 19-10 (.655) overall record.  After going 5-4 in 2018 and 6-4 in 2019, LeRose has led the Generals to an 8-2 mark this season.  Prior to becoming head coach, LeRose had served as an assistant coach with W&L ever since finishing his playing career with the Generals in 2006.  He won one ODAC title as a player (2006), had a hand in four more (2010, 2012, 2015, 2017) as an assistant coach and claimed his first title as a head coach this season (2021).

MOUNT UNION HEAD COACH GEOFF DARTT:
Mount Union is led by second year Head Coach Geoff Dartt (Mount Union '08), who has yet to lose a game (14-0) in his first head coaching opportunity.  Prior to taking over in 2020, Dartt was the Purple Raiders' offensive coordinator for seven seasons. 

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 the Generals have compiled a 536-540-39 (.498) overall record. 

HISTORY MADE:
Washington and Lee has registered a winning 2021 campaign, making the sixth straight winning season.  This is tied for the second-longest stretch of winning seasons in program history.  W&L also posted six straight winning campaigns from 1980-85 and from 1919-24.  The current record is 13-straight winning seasons from 1905-17.

THE SERIES:
W&L and Mount Union have met just once before, occurring in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.  The Purple Raiders emerged with a 21-0 victory.

SCOUTING MOUNT UNION:
Mount Union is 10-0 and ranked fourth in the latest D3football.com poll.  The Purple Raiders average 48.9 points per game, while allowing just 9.1 points per outing.  UMU is coming off a 37-7 road win over Marietta last Saturday.  The Purple Raiders forced four turnovers and limited the Pioneers to just 151 yards of total offense, holding a shutout until there were 55 seconds left in the contest.  Junior quarterback Braxton Plunk completed 25-of-37 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns, while senior running back Josh Petruccelli amassed 59 rushing yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.  Senior wide receiver Wayne Ruby snared a team-high nine passes for 73 yards and junior defensive lineman Duke Hill spearheaded the defense with seven tackles, four for a loss (-15) and one sack.  Junior defensive back Josh Jones added two tackles and two interceptions.  For the year, Plunk has completed 73.4 percent of his passes for 3,195 yards and 31 touchdowns with seven interceptions.  Ruby has a team-best 75 catches for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns, while senior wide-out Jaden Manley has 33 catches for 502 yards and seven touchdowns.  Junior running back DeAndre Parker leads the team in rushing with 714 yards and 13 touchdowns on 109 carries and Petruccelli has 623 yards and a team-high 15 touchdowns on 96 totes.  Junior linebacker Mason McMillen leads the team in tackles with 72 stops.

LAST TIME OUT:
(SHENANDOAH 14, W&L 6 - 11/13/21 - WINCHESTER, VA.) 
Washington and Lee saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end with a 14-6 loss at Shenandoah on Saturday afternoon.  The Generals opened an early lead when senior running back Alex Wertz capped a 7-play, 92-yard drive with a 44-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 advantage.  W&L went for two, but was unsuccessful.  The Blue & White forced a 3-and-out on Shenandoah's next series and W&L opened the next offensive possession with a 33-yard run by senior running back Josh Breece.  However, the drive stalled on downs four plays later at the SU 45-yardline.  The Hornets found offensive success for the first time after the defensive stop, driving 55 yards in nine plays to take a 7-6 lead on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Steven Hugney to Austin Ragan at the 10:23 mark of the second quarter.  W&L picked up two first downs on the following series, but fumbled the ball away, setting up the Hornets at the Generals' 40-yardline.  This time the W&L defense would hold, stopping Shenandoah on a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yardline and the teams would head to the half with the Hornets leading 7-6.  Shenandoah received the opening kickoff of the third quarter and proceeded to march 72 yards on 15 plays to assume a 14-6 lead.  Rashadeen Byrd, Jr., completed the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.  W&L drove to the SU 38-yardline on the next offensive possession, but the Generals were once again held on downs.  Neither team proved much of a threat to score after that point, until W&L took over on the Shenandoah 48-yardline with 4:18 left in the game.  The Blue & White drove to the SU 11-yardline with 44 seconds remaining, but sophomore quarterback Stephen Murrin was intercepted in the endzone by Trammell Anthony with 37 seconds remaining and the Hornets ran out the clock for the win.  The Generals out-gained the Hornets, 356-255, but could not overcome two turnovers and going 2-of-5 on fourth down conversions.  Murrin led the way with 138 yards rushing on 21 carries.  He went 3-of-10 passing for 39 yards and one interception.  Breece rushed for 97 yards on 17 carries, while Wertz finished with 82 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.  On defense, senior linebacker Alex Andros posted a team-high 10 tackles.

LAST MEETING WITH MOUNT UNION (ALSO LAST NCAA GAME FOR W&L):
(MOUNT UNION 21, W&L 0 - 11/18/17 - ALLIANCE, OHIO) 
Washington and Lee limited Mount Union to just 10 first downs in dropping a 21-0 decision to the Purple Raiders in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at Mount Union Stadium.  Mount Union grabbed a 14-0 lead in the first quarter after scoring touchdowns on short field situations.  The Purple Raiders notched their first touchdown at the 6:56 mark of the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback D'Angelo Fulford.  UMU took over on the W&L 45-yardline following a Generals' fumble and scored nine plays later.  The second score occurred with 33 seconds left in the first quarter after taking over on the W&L 46-yardline, following a 26-yard punt into a stiff wind.  Fulford found wide receiver Braeden Friss with a 10-yard touchdown pass six plays later for the 14-0 advantage.  Playing on a soggy field due to rain, W&L simply could not find traction, as the best possession of the first half ended on downs at the Mount Union 42-yardline with 9:33 left in the second quarter.  The Washington and Lee defense repeatedly turned away the Purple Raiders in the third quarter and the offense began to find footing, driving to the Mount Union 22-yardline on one series and to the UMU 34-yardline on another.  However, W&L was stopped on downs on each occasion.  On the first play of the fourth quarter, Fulford hooked up with wide receiver Jared Ruth for a 60-yard touchdown pass and a 21-0 lead with 14:49 remaining.  The Purple Raiders had managed just 20 yards passing through the first three quarters of play and finished with a season-low total of 80 for the game.  The Generals drove into Mount Union territory one more time on offense, but once again failed on downs with 5:01 remaining in the game.  W&L produced 18 first downs and 269 yards of total offense, holding the ball for 37:19 of the game's 60 minutes.  Running back Josh Breece led the offense with 169 yards on 32 carries.  Quarterback Drew Richardson completed 3-of-5 passes for 49 yards and rushed 13 times for 35 yards.  On defense, the Generals were paced by linebacker Will Corry, who notched nine tackles and a fumble recovery.  Mount Union was led by running back Josh Petruccelli, who rushed for 118 yards on 19 carries.  Fulford completed 4-of-9 passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.  He also rushed seven times for 20 yards and another score.  Ruth snared two passes for 68 yards and a touchdown as well.  On defense, linebacker Danny Robinson amassed a game-high 14 tackles and a half sack.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS:
Since the beginning of the 2010 season, W&L has produced a 74-39 (.655) overall record and a 52-22 (.703) mark in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.  The Generals have also claimed five ODAC titles during that stretch, the most of any team in the conference. 

THE MAGIC NUMBER:
The magic number for success for W&L is 400.  The Blue & White has managed 400 rushing yards in a game 43 times since 2010 (112 games).  In those games, the Generals are 40-3, scoring an average of 45.1 points per game with a scoring margin of +21.9 points per game.  To contrast this point, when W&L fails to rush for 400 yards during the same span, it is just 34-36 with an average of 24.4 points per game and a scoring margin of -0.6 points per game.  Remarkably, W&L is 6-2 this season when it fails to reach the 400 mark.

STREAK SNAPPED:
W&L saw an eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss to Shenandoah.  The eight-game winning streak was tied for the fifth-longest winning streak in program history.  The record is 15 straight across the 1960-61-62 seasons.  Recently, the 2014 and 2015 teams combined to win 11 in a row.

BREECE vs. MOUNT UNION:
Senior running back Josh Breece rushed for 169 yards on 32 carries when the Generals last met the Purple Raiders in 2017.  This is still the single highest amount gained by a running back against the Mount Union defense since Tommy Michals of John Carroll ran for 182 yards against UMU on November 15, 2014.

INTERESTING FACT:
The W&L-UMU game features two of the top three active career rushing leaders in Division III.  Senior Josh Petruccelli of Mount Union claims a DIII-best 4,865 yards in 56 games and Breece is third with 4,520 yards in 40 games.  Larry Rivers of Lakeland took over second place (4,558 yds) after totaling 233 yards last Saturday.  He has played 44 career contests.   

RE-WRITING THE RECORDS:
Breece already holds the W&L career rushing record and his 46 touchdowns are just two away from tying Luke Heinsohn '13 for the most career touchdowns in program history.  His 810 yards and 11 touchdowns lead the team this season.

SACK ATTACK:
Washington and Lee leads the ODAC with 29 total sacks in just 10 games (2.9 per game).  This is tied for the fourth-best season total in program history.  The 2004 squad holds the record with 43 total sacks.  W&L posted three more sacks last week against Shenandoah and the Generals have 17 players with at least one sack led by junior defensive end Robert Poindexter's 5.5 sacks.  Other sack leaders include junior defensive end Robert Harvey with 5.0 sacks and sophomore defensive tackle Nathan Unger with 4.0 sacks.

CHAMPIONSHIP TALK:
W&L has now won eight football championships in the 46 seasons that the ODAC has recognized a champion.  That's the fourth-most of any program.  However, since 2010, this is W&L's fifth championship, most of any program in the ODAC.  Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon have three each during that span, while Bridgewater has the remaining title.

W&L IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:
W&L is competing in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time and is still seeking its first NCAA win.  Below is a look at the Generals' history in the NCAA football championship.

Date	Opponent	Result
Nov. 18, 2006	at Wilkes	L, 0-42
Nov. 20, 2010	at Thomas More	L, 14-42
Nov. 17, 2012	at Hobart	L, 20-38
Nov. 21, 2015	at Thomas More	L, 21-51
Nov. 18, 2017	at Mount Union	L, 0-21

 

 

 

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