GAME 8
W&L (6-1, 3-0)
vs.
  BRIDGEWATER (4-2, 1-1)
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Lexington, Va. • 1:00 pm

PDF Version of Notes

GAME INFO:
DATE: October 22, 2011
TIME: 1:00 pm
STADIUM: Wilson Field (4,000)
TV/INTERNET: First Team Broadcasting
RADIO: WLUR 91.5
SERIES RECORD: W&L leads 24-17
CURRENT SERIES STREAK: W&L +1
RECORD VS. BC AT HOME: 12-8
RECORD VS. BC ON THE ROAD: 12-9
RECORD VS. BC AT NEUTRAL LOCATION: 0-0
LAST MEETING: 10/23/10 at BC (35-34 W&L)
FIRST MEETING: 10/31/64 at W&L (28-16 W&L)
LAST W&L WIN: 10/23/10 at BC (35-34)
LAST BC WIN: 10/31/09 at W&L (35-34)

BREAKING DOWN THE 2011 SCHEDULE:

THE SERIES:
Washington and Lee and Bridgewater will be meeting for the 42nd time, with the Generals holding a 24-17 advantage in the all-time series that began during the 1964 season.  The Eagles have won nine of the last 11 meetings, but the Generals won last season’s encounter by a score of 35-34 at Jopson Field.  The last two games have been determined by a single point, with Bridgewater taking the last meeting in Lexington by the same score, 35-34, in overtime.

HEAD COACH FRANK MIRIELLO:
Frank Miriello (East Stroudsburg ‘67) is in his 17th season as the head coach at W&L and his 44th year of coaching.  He has led W&L to 11 non-losing campaigns, a pair of ODAC titles and the program’s only two appearances in the NCAA Tournament.  Miriello is the winningest coach in program history with an 88-78-1 (.530) overall record.  He is 7-9 all-time against Bridgewater.

BRIDGEWATER HEAD COACH MICHAEL CLARK:
Bridgewater is led by 16th-year Head Coach Mike Clark (Cincinnati ‘80), who is 114-66-1 (.633) for his career with the Eagles. Under Clark’s direction, BC has participated in 16 postseason games and has won two NCAA South Region Championships and five ODAC titles.

SCOUTING BRIDGEWATER:
Bridgewater is 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the ODAC following a 59-13 win over Guilford on Saturday at home.  The Eagles fell behind 13-7 early, but scored the final 52 points of the game, including a pair of defensive touchdowns, to cruise to the win.  Bridgewater racked up 554 yards of offense led by senior running back Anthony Carter, who totaled 131 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries.  Sophomore quarterback Willie Logan rushed for 72 yards and two scores on just three carries, while senior running back Darrin McKenzie posted 62 yards and a touchdown on just six carries.  Junior quarterback Carlos Gonzalez completed 10-of-19 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while senior wide receiver Chris Curry catching a team-best four balls for 55 yards and a touchdown.  Senior defensive end Dominic Jeter and junior defensive back Tyler Staton led the Eagles’ defense with an interception return for a touchdown each.  For the season, Bridgewater averages 397.8 yards per game with a rushing attack that averages 233.7 yards per game. Carter has posted a team-best 468 yards and three touchdowns on 72 carries, while McKenzie has 398 yards and six scores on 69 rushes.  Gonzalez has completed just 48.6 percent of his passes for 882 yards and seven touchdowns (3 INTs), while senior wide receiver Julius Delbridge has caught a team-high 18 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns.  Senior linebacker Chris Wholey leads the defense with a team-best 47 tackles, while junior linebacker Todd Harris has posted 32 stops.  Jeter has 16 tackles and a team-high 3.0 sacks.

LAST TIME OUT:
(W&L 34, Randolph-Macon 30 • 10/15/11 • Ashland, Va.)
Washington and Lee drove 69 yards in just four plays and junior running back Luke Heinsohn scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:09 remaining to give the Generals a 34-30 win over Randolph-Macon on Saturday afternoon at Day Field. Randolph-Macon drove to the W&L 2-yardline with just over four minutes remaining, but senior linebacker Rob Look sacked R-MC quarterback Zac Naccarato on 3rd-and-goal, forcing a 29-yard field goal by junior placekicker Josh Storm that made it a 30-27 game with 3:55 remaining. Senior quarterback Charlie Westfal hit sophomore tight end Alex Evans for a 62-yard catch and run to the Yellow Jacket 6-yardline on the second play of the ensuing series and Heinsohn capped the drive two plays later for a 34-30 W&L lead. Randolph-Macon then drove to the 50-yardline on the next possession, but junior safety Jake Pelton intercepted Naccarato on a 2nd-and-10 with 1:16 to play and the Generals took a knee three times to run out the clock. Heinsohn gave the Generals a 6-3 lead when he scored on a 77-yard touchdown run with 6:26 left in the first quarter (PAT pass failed), but the Yellow Jackets retaliated with a pair of scores for a 17-6 lead with 6:25 left in the first half.  Westfal hit junior running back Brett Murray on a long pass play that Murray fumbled on the RMC 27-yardline and kicked to the Randolph-Macon 2-yardline where Evans wrestled the ball away to keep the drive alive.  Heinsohn scored one play later and the two-point conversion failed with 2:46 left in the half and the Yellow Jackets carried a 17-12 lead into the break. The Generals struck first in the third quarter as Westfal found junior running back Russell Stewart with a 50-yard scoring pass for a 19-17 lead just 3:12 into the period.  However, Macon wrestled the lead back (20-19) on a 49-yard field goal by Storm at the 6:59 mark, and added to its’ advantage (27-19) with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Naccarato to wide receiver Christian Cook on the last play of the third period. W&L tied it with 9:26 remaining in the game on a 6-yard touchdown run by Murray and a two-point conversion run by Westfal, setting up the final two drives that determined the outcome. The Generals gained 462 yards of total offense (231 passing/231 rushing) led by Westfal, who completed 7-of-12 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown and rushed 17 times for 98 yards.  Heinsohn gained 99 yards and scored three touchdowns on 11 carries, while Murray tallied 36 yards rushing and 86 receiving, to go along with one touchdown.  Evans snared three passes for 99 yards and Stewart had one catch for 50 yards and a score. On defense, Look posted a career-high 17 tackles and one sack, while Pelton notched 12 tackles and the game-preserving interception.

LAST MEETING WITH BRIDGEWATER:
(W&L 35, Bridgewater 34 • 10/23/10 • Bridgewater, Va.)
Washington and Lee rushed for 438 yards and five touchdowns in posting a 35-34 victory over Bridgewater at Jopson Field. The game was tied four times and the lead changed hands six times, including a 35-34 W&L lead on an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Charlie Westfal with 8:31 remaining in the game.  The Eagles proceeded to march 49 yards on 13 plays and attempted a potential game-winning 39-yard field goal by Will Davis with 1:37 remaining, but the ball sailed wide left and the Generals ran out the clock. The teams were tied at 21-21 entering the break and W&L began the second half with the ball.  However, the Generals fumbled on the third play from scrimmage and the Eagles took a 28-21 lead eight plays later on a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Darrin McKenzie.  W&L responded with an 8-play drive that covered 48 yards and was finished off with a 7-yard touchdown run by running back Luke Heinsohn to make it 28-28 with 5:21 left in the third quarter. Bridgewater scored again just 3:15 later on a 12-yard run by McKenzie, but the PAT failed making it a 34-28 game with 2:06 left in the third quarter.  W&L strung together another promising drive at the start of the fourth quarter, but a fumble at the BC 24-yardline ended the scoring threat with 12:17 to play.  The Generals forced an Eagle punt with 11:13 remaining and drove 47 yards in six plays for the game-winning score. Running back Harrison Hudson led the Generals’ ground game with a career-high 204 yards on 18 carries.  Heinsohn rushed 19 times for 99 yards and three touchdowns.  Westfal carried 14 times for 62 yards and a touchdown and completed 3-of-6 passes for 36 yards. Running back Brett Murray notched 59 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.  Defensively, sophomore Jesse Jenkins totaled a team-high 10 tackles. Bridgewater was paced by McKenzie, who totaled 126 yards and three touchdowns on 26 rushes.  Senior quarterback Hagan Driskell completed 9-of-19 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown, while senior wide receiver Tyler Beiler posted three catches for 58 yards and a score and ran once for 46 yards.  Senior linebacker T.J. Montague and senior defensive back Darrin Stephenson paced the BC defense with 11 tackles each.

W&L’S ALL-TIME RECORD:
Washington and Lee has played 1,020 games in the entire history of the program, compiling a 476-505-39 (.485) overall record.  Only five other schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia have played more games than W&L, which played the first intercollegiate football game in the South, an 1873 matchup with neighboring VMI.

HOME SWEET HOME:
Since the turn of the century (2000), Washington and Lee is a combined 38-17 (.691) in games played at Wilson Field.  Over the last two seasons, W&L is 7-1 in games played at home, including a 4-0 record this season.

GOING STREAKING:
Washington and Lee is currently in the midst of a nine-game winning streak against ODAC opponents after going 6-0 in league play last season and winning its first three games of the 2011 campaign.  This is the longest such streak in the Generals’ 36-year history in the conference.  The prior longest streak was a string of six-straight wins across the 1981-82 seasons.

ON THE OFFENSIVE:
The Washington and Lee offense used a couple of weeks to get started, but the Generals are now firing on all cylinders.  Over the last four weeks, W&L is averaging 540.0 yards and 40.8 points per game.  The Generals tallied a school-record 657 yards against Alma, totaled 535 yards against Guilford, amassed 506 yards against Emory & Henry and posted 462 yards last week against Randolph-Macon.

THE MAGIC NUMBER:
Prior to the 2010 season, you could count the number of 400-yard rushing performances during the league’s history on one hand.  While this number continues to be a lofty goal, the Generals have begun to set it as the magic number.  W&L hit 400 rushing yards six times last season and twice this year.  In those games, the Generals are 8-0, scoring an average of 48.3 points per game with an average margin of victory of 24.8 points per game.  To contrast this point, over the last two seasons, when failing to rush for 400 yards in a game, W&L is just 6-4 with an average of 25.5 points per game and a scoring margin of just 1.9 points per game.

BACK TO THE FUTURE:
Junior running back Luke Heinsohn had a bit of a slow start to the 2011 campaign, gaining just 133 yards and two touchdowns over his first three games.  However, over the last four games, Heinsohn has regained the form that saw him compile a league-best 1,321 rushing yards last season.  Heinsohn has hit the century mark twice in the last four weeks, compiling 123 yards and two touchdowns against Alma, 167 yards and four touchdowns against Gulford, 77 yards against Emory & Henry and 99 yards and three touchdowns against Randolph-Macon.  Heinsohn currently ranks fifth in the ODAC in rushing with 599 yards on just 95 carries (6.3 per rush).  He also leads the conference in scoring with 11 touchdowns and an average of 9.4 points per game.  Heinsohn is already beginning to climb the W&L all-time rushing list (7th) with 1,963 career yards.  

DUAL THREAT:
Senior quarterback Charlie Westfal has proven to be one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in ODAC history.  Currently, Westfal has passed for 4,205 yards and rushed for 2,032 yards for 6,237 yards of total offense.  He is in second place on the school’s total offense list, just 147 yards from overtaking Christian Batcheller ‘00 for first place.  Westfal also ranks sixth all-time at W&L in passing yards and sixth all-time in rushing yards.  The reigning ODAC Offensive Player of the Week, Westfal has had two of the best games of his career over the past two weeks, rushing for a career-high 121 yards and throwing for 214 yards against Emory & Henry and posting 98 yards rushing and a season-best 231 passing yards last week against Randolph-Macon.  Westfal currently leads the ODAC with a 188.7 quarterback efficiency rating.

THEY DON’T THROW IT MUCH BUT...:
You wouldn’t think the Generals’ passing game would instill much fear in its opponents given that W&L attempts just 12.9 passes per game on average.  However, W&L has been efficient with its opportunities.  The Generals complete just over 62 percent (62.2) of their passes for an average of 19.6 yards per completion and one touchdown for every 11.3 attempts.  W&L passed for a season-high 231 yards last week on just seven completions for an average of 33.0 yards per completion.  Prior to Saturday’s effort, the Generals had ranked fourth nationally in passing efficiency (178.50).  They are sure to move up with a current 187.71 rating.

EVERY POINT MATTERS:
Senior placekicker Peter Alston continues to be perfect on his PAT’s this season.  Alston is second on the team in scoring this season with 45 points on five field goals (5-7) and 30 PAT’s (28-28).  He is now 80-for-81 on PAT’s for his career and 9-for-12 on field goal attempts.  Alston is in the midst of a school-record string of 74 consecutive PAT’s made.  The former record was 39.

DON’T LOOK NOW:
Senior linebacker Rob Look has been named the ODAC Defensive Player of the Week after totaling a career-high 17 tackles and posting one sack in a 34-30 win over Randolph-Macon on Saturday.  For the season, Look leads W&L with 62 tackles, 2.0 sacks and one interception.  A Second Team All-ODAC pick as a sophomore, he has notched 221 tackles, 5.0 sacks and two interceptions during his career.

GAINING GROUND FOR WOUNDED WARRIORS:
The Washington and Lee football team is raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org) by seeking donations of one penny for every yard gained during the 2011 season.  Currently, the Generals have gained 3,884 total yards for an expected donation of $38.84 per donation pledge.  If you would like to pledge to the program, simply contact program leaders Gavin Colliton (collitong@wlu.edu) or Garrett LeRose (leroseg@wlu.edu) or visit the Generals Wounded Warriors pledge website at http://WWPProudSupporter.kintera.org/generalsfootball.

 -- GENERALS --