William Mary

Delaware quarterback Bill Vergantino was almost perfect and Jim Lazarski rushed for a career high yesterday as the 12th-ranked Blue Hens rolled to a 28-21 upset over third-ranked William & Mary before 13,579 stunned fans at Zable Stadium. Vergantino completed 9 of 11 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns in this Division I-AA contest, while Lazarski pounded out 130 yards on just 13 carries to lead the Blue Hens, who improved to 3-0 with the win. The triumph ended a 19-game home unbeaten streak by the Tribe and marked the first time in nine games that William & Mary (1-1)

Downingtown West quarterback Nolan Kearney, who passed for more than 2,000 yards this season, has made an oral commitment to William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He visited the school over the weekend. "I just loved it," he said. "The coaches are terrific, the campus is beautiful, and academically, it's great. " While helping lead the Whippets to a 10-2 record and the semifinal round of the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA playoffs, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Kearney completed 145 of 238 passes (60.9 percent)

Villanova coach Andy Talley said it's a game he would pay to see. But they'll probably let him in for free Saturday afternoon, and give him one of the best vantage points, when his team hosts William & Mary at 3:30. It's his second-ranked club in Division I-AA, or the Football Championship Subdivision, against No. 5. Both have beaten a I-A, or Football Bowl Subdivision, opponent (Temple and Virginia, respectively). But if you can't get to the Main Line, you can watch on Versus. It's the first time a Colonial Athletic Association game has been telecast nationally.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Jonathan Grimes rushed for three touchdowns, and William and Mary held off a fourth-quarter rally by Villanova in a 31-24 win Saturday at Zable Stadium. Grimes rushed for touchdowns of 8-, 4-, and 6 yards as the Tribe (4-1, 2-1 Colonial Athletic Association) built a 31-10 lead. Dante Cook returned an interception 84 yards for another Tribe touchdown, and Drake Kuhn kicked a 42-yard field goal. Villanova (3-2, 1-1) closed to within a touchdown as Chris Whitney ran for a 4-yard touchdown and passed 47 yards to Norman White for another, but William & Mary recovered an onside kick with 2 minutes, 10 seconds remaining and ran out the clock.

For too long, football fans of The College of William & Mary - what few there were - had to endure snickering jests about how the Indians played more like Mary than Bill. The old joke no doubt was coined in 1893, when William & Mary played its very first football game and lost, 16-0, to the Norfolk YMCA. It was a fitting debut for what historically has been one of the least successful football progams in the nation. But the picturesque and academically prestigious Williamsburg, Va., institution no longer is a source of amusement for teams that regularly used to stomp the Indians.

William & Mary's football team really has a line on South Jersey athletes. Four area players are currently on the football team, and each is a lineman. Alan Garlic, a senior from Salem High who is a starting defensive end, compiled 11 tackles, one sack and two tackles for losses in the first two games. The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Garlic earned second-team all-ECAC honors last year, when he had 78 tackles and six sacks. Joe Marczyk, a senior from Holy Spirit, is a backup defensive tackle for the Tribe.

THE GAME went from smooth to shaky, to scary and, finally with barely 2 minutes left at the DAC, to frightening. Drexel had won 13 straight. The Dragons had been dominant in most of those games, the result usually determined long before the final buzzer. So why exactly was 18-point underdog, five-win William & Mary refusing to yield to the will of the Dragons? What was the Tribe doing taking its first lead in more than 32 minutes with just a few possessions left in what would be a 53-possession game?

Michael Anderson made a 14-foot jumper in the lane with 44 seconds remaining to give Drexel a 60-58 victory over William & Mary in the consolation game of the First Tulsa Classic last night at the Tulsa Convention Center Arena. William & Mary's Scott Trimble (18 points) had a chance to tie the game with 2 seconds to play. But Anderson and freshman Todd Lehmann smothered Trimble, and his 18-footer from the right baseline hit the rim and fell away. The Dragons' John Rankin, who led all scorers with 26 points, pulled down the last of his 12 rebounds on the miss.

Villanova announced its 2013 football schedule on Monday, and the Wildcats will open the season on Aug. 30, at Boston College. It will be the first game against the Eagles since the 1980 season. Villanova's home and Colonial Athletic Conference opener is Sept. 21 against Stony Brook in a rematch of last year's first-round NCAA playoff game won by Stony Brook. 2013 Villanova Football Schedule Aug. 30    at Boston College Sept. 7    at Fordham Sept. 14    Bye Sept.

VILLANOVA'S football team, which will have most everyone back from an 8-4 team that made the FCS playoffs and is expected to be ranked in the top 10 to start the season, will open on Friday night, Aug. 30, at Boston College. The Eagles have a new coach in Steve Addazio, who of course beat the Wildcats in the last two Mayor's Cup season openers while he was at Temple. It will be the first meeting between the teams since 1980, the last season Villanova played at the Division I-A level before dropping the sport for 4 years.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Frantz Massenat scored 19 points to lead Drexel to a 59-48 victory over William and Mary Saturday in a Colonial Athletic Association game. The Dragons (6-11, 2-3 CAA), who snapped a three-game losing streak, held the Tribe, the top shooting team in the league, to just 33 percent from the field. William and Mary was held without a field goal for a stretch of 7:40 during the second half - the Tribe had just eight field goals after intermission - as Drexel extended its lead to as many as 16 points in the second half.

At halftime, with his team trailing William and Mary by 17 points, Penn coach Al Bagnoli knew the Quakers had a choice to make. "We went into halftime and we had to decide how our kids were going to play," Bagnoli said. "We were either going to lose, 48-7, or we were going to fight and compete. Fortunately, I think they responded really well, and we kept fighting for the whole game. " They fought, but it wasn't enough in a 34-28 William and Mary win at Franklin Field. Quarterback Billy Ragone, who threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns, got the Quakers within six points with 3 minutes, 23 seconds to play.

Saturday at 3:30 p.m., Franklin Field. Records: William and Mary, 1-4; Penn 1-2. Radio: WFIL (560 AM) Coaches: William and Mary, Jimmye Laycock, (214-155-2); Penn, Al Bagnoli, (21st season, 137-64, 223-83 overall). Series: William and Mary leads, 4-1. Three things to watch Penn had eight turnovers in its opening 28-21 loss to Lafayette but didn't turn it over in the next two games. Of William and Mary's 11 offensive drives that resulted in touchdowns, five have come off turnovers.

The Penn football team has had a difficult early-season schedule, and it continues Saturday when the Quakers face their third scholarship school in the first four games. Penn (1-2) will welcome William and Mary (1-4) to Franklin Field at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for a nonleague matchup. Ivy League schools don't give scholarships or participate in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Penn's only nonscholarship opponent was Dartmouth, which the Quakers defeated, 28-21, last week.

SOUTH FLORIDA AT TEMPLE Saturday, noon, Lincoln Financial Field. TV: WPVI (6ABC). Radio: WPHT (1210-AM). Records: USF 2-3, 0-1 Big East; Temple 1-2, 0-0. History: First meeting. About South Florida: The Bulls were picked to finish second in the Big East . . . They've lost nine of their last 10 conference games . . . BJ Daniels, who has 9,548 career yards, is averaging 257 through the air and 54 with his legs. He's thrown for nine TDs and seven interceptions, and ran for three scores . . . Maikon Bonani has made 12 consecutive field goals (5-for-5 this season)

Players of the Weekend *  National: Who else? Geno Smith threw for 656 yards and eight touchdowns in West Virginia's Big 12 debut, a 70-63 home win over Baylor. *  Local: James McFadden kicked a 33-yard field goal in overtime to give unbeaten Widener, ranked 18th in Division III, a 40-37 win at Lebanon Valley. One week after beating Wilkes, 90-0, the Pride had to rally from a 16-point deficit in the final 6 minutes of regulation.   Around Town Villanova 35, Maine 14 Andy Talley said he wanted to find out something about his team, which was playing for the first time outside Philadelphia.

Old Dominion's Taylor Heinicke set a Division I record by passing for 730 yards, and Jared Brown kicked a game-winning, 25-yard field goal as the Monarchs rallied to beat New Hampshire, 64-61, in a wild Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams in Norfolk, Va., Saturday. Heinicke was 55 for 79, coming two completions short of the Football Championship Subdivision record. David Klingler of Houston had set the previous Division I record of 716 yards passing against Arizona State on Dec. 2, 1990.