University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
No. 3 Massachusetts
Richmond Stuns Massachusetts
12/28/2000 | Football
Sept. 16, 2000
RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond Spiders racked up 333 yards of total offense, including an air attack of 173 yards, as they upended the third ranked UMass Minutemen, 31-24 Saturday afternoon at UR Stadium.
The Spiders capitalized on their first drive as Richmond quarterback Sean Gustus ran in from 25 yards out to cap off an 80 yard, nine play drive. A Richmond field goal would put the home team up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second stanza, the Minutemen answered. UMass quarterback Richard Lucero hit wideout Adrian Zullo twice, on strikes of 16 and 43 yards respectively, to give the visitors the 14-10 advantage at halftime. UMass tailback Marcel Shipp opened the scoring in the second half, finding the endzone from 14 yards to give the Minutemen a 21-10 lead.
The Spiders were down just four, 21-17, when Gustus went to the air, a 69 yard strike to Ryan Tolhurst at the 11:47 mark in the fourth quarter gave Richmond the lead, 24-21. UMass responded with a 21 yard field goal to tie the game at 24-24. The Spiders' would not disappoint the 10,200 on hand. Quarterback Gustus delivered the perfect pass to a wide open Tolhurst with 2:27 remaining, a 57 yard strike for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Spiders' defense would do the rest, two of their six sacks came on the Minutemen's final possession as Richmond topples UMass, 31-24. The Spiders had 173 yards passing- all of it in the second half. Richmond gained 168 yards on the ground on 49 carries. Richmond improves to 2-1, 1-0 (Atlantic 10).
