By Ryan McCord
Imagine being called upon to seal the deal, put icing on the cake or queue the fat lady for a second week in a row, truly knowing that failure this time around could indeed form a season-long obstacle that would compare to climbing Everest with high heels on.
Football is highly regarded as the absolute team sport, where a collective effort determines the philosophy of winning and losing. At Hofstra, the notion is no different, but the defensive unit couldn’t help but march onto the field sensing the fate of the contest and perhaps entire season was in its hands.
Failure was not an option here, but playing on the road, with only a two-point lead, in front of a sold-out crowd eagerly anticipating another Pride defensive meltdown in the waning minutes couldn’t have eased a week-long burden that the defensive unit was already shouldering.
William & Mary was held to a dismal 25 percent success rate on third downs and managed to only muster 70 net rushing yards against a Pride defense that proved it can indeed slam the door shut against an opposing offense when it counted, in a 16-14 Atlantic-10 road victory.
Preseason All-American linebacker Gian Villante not only contributed to making life miserable for William & Mary’s offense (two tackles for loss), but made what was perhaps the play of the game on the offensive end.
Villante lined up behind the line of scrimmage for what figured to be a Hofstra punt, took the snap directly and galloped 36 yards, setting up a Rob Zarrilli field goal that gave the Pride a 10-7 lead late in the first half.
The Villante effort was not only the longest run from scrimmage for the Pride all season, but just might have been the most important, because points in this contest proved to be a luxury in any way, shape or form.
As happy as Pride head coach Dave Cohen was to see his defensive star contribute in an alternative fashion, the unorthodox approach to scoring won’t be available every week, and he knows his offense needs to find a way to pull the trigger when the gun is not pointed at the foot.
“The lack of consistency worries me. The effort and competitiveness is there and has improved dramatically, but we do not execute,” said Cohen, who chalked up his first Atlantic-10 conference victory on Saturday. “We are just not a very good football team right now.”
Quarterback Anton Clarkson managed to keep the offense afloat, throwing for 212 yards with a score, and running back Kareem Huggins gained a respectable 78 yards on 16 carries.
Zarrilli proved why he is one of the very best in college football, making three out of his four field goal attempts, none more significant than a 47-yard shot to give the Pride the lead for good with 7:20 to go.
Just minutes after having his successful attempt streak snapped at 13 when the Tribe blocked his third try of the day, Zarrilli was able to prove he is capable of executing the task at hand, even with 12,259 screaming fans attempting to slither inside his head.
“When that kick was blocked in the fourth quarter, I immediately put it out of my head,” the junior kicker said. “Every kick is a new kick, a new chance, and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to win this game if I get another shot.'”
William & Mary head coach Jimmye Laycock did not share the same level of confidence in his kicker that Cohen did, however, as the Tribe decided to gamble on fourth and 10 instead of kicking a 45-yard field goal to potentially win the game with just over a minute left.
Pride redshirt freshman linebacker Luke Bonus broke up the fourth down pass attempt by Tribe quarterback Jake Phillips, and Hofstra pulled out on the winning side of a real white-knuckler.
“I was happy to see us hold our composure, we showed a lot of character out there,” Cohen said.
Zarrilli lived up to his All-American billing against William & Mary.