University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
6-5 , 4-4
William & Mary (Capital Cup)
2-9 , 0-8
Spiders Bring Cup Back To Richmond With 27-20 Win Over Tribe
11/18/2017 | Football
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The Capital Cup is on its way back to RVA.
In yet another thriller between the two programs, the University of Richmond won for the sixth time in the past seven meetings with a 27-20 victory over the Tribe of William & Mary in the 128th meeting of "The Oldest Rivalry In the South."
"I'm really proud of our guys. One thing never changed all year long and that's the fact that our group plays really, really hard," Head Coach Russ Huesman said. "They never leave anything out on the field and they did that all year."
Capital Cup MVP Xavier Goodall was the star, running for a career-high 180 yards, the highest total by a Spider this season. It was the most in a single game by a Spider since Jacobi Green in 2015 in the 125th meeting between these two same programs, a span of 27 games.
Senior Brandon Waller led a stellar defensive effort with seven tackles, 1.5 sacks and three tackles for a loss. It was the third time in the last four games that Richmond held the opponent to under 300 total yards.
Senior Kyle Lauletta ended his incredible career by setting the single-season record for total offense, finishing the season with 3,827 yards, including 3,737 through the air, the second-highest single-season total in program history. Lauletta finished the year with 31 total touchdowns.
It was a defensive battle in the first half with neither team getting anything going until Goodall capped off a seven-play, 71 yard drive with his second TD of the season on an 18-yard scamper to give the Spiders a 7-0 advantage.
W&M added a field goal to make it a 7-3 game at the half, but less than four minutes into the second-half Lauletta found Simpson for a pitch and catch of 74 yards to give the Spiders a 13-3 lead.
In typical Capital Cup fashion, the teams would trade scores and eventually end up tied with less than 12 minutes to play.
That's when the Spiders put together their longest drive of the year with 14 plays for 75 yards, capped off with a one-yard run from Lauletta with 3:59 to play.
The defense took over from there, securing the game with a sack from Waller and Andrew Clyde.
Richmond finishes the year with a 6-5 mark, the 11th time in the past 13 years that the Spiders had a winning ledger.
Team Stats
WM 0, RICHMOND 7
RICHMOND - Xavier Goodall 18 yd run (Griffin Trau kick), 7 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:47
WM 3, RICHMOND 7
WM - Kris Hooper 39 yd field goal 8 plays, 43 yards, TOP 3:31
WM 3, RICHMOND 13
RICHMOND - C. Simpson 74 yd pass from Kyle Lauletta (Griffin Trau kickfailed) 1 plays, 74 yards, TOP 0:12
WM 10, RICHMOND 13
WM - Tommy McKee 1 yd run (Kris Hooper kick), 13 plays, 67 yards, TOP 5:46
WM 10, RICHMOND 20
RICHMOND - Xavier Goodall 5 yd run (Griffin Trau kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:57
WM 17, RICHMOND 20
WM - Tommy McKee 6 yd run (Kris Hooper kick), 5 plays, 35 yards, TOP 2:00
WM 20, RICHMOND 20
WM - Kris Hooper 31 yd field goal 6 plays, 30 yards, TOP 2:18
WM 20, RICHMOND 27
RICHMOND - Kyle Lauletta 1 yd run (Griffin Trau kick), 14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 7:13
