University of Richmond Athletics
No. 7 Spiders Open 20th Season Of Atlantic 10 Football With 12-7 Win Over Northeastern
09/30/2006 | Football
Sept. 30, 2006
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Richmond Spiders took advantage of Northeastern's kicking deficits to defeat the Huskies 12-7 Saturday in an Atlantic 10 game.
Richmond (4-0, 1-0) got out to a 12-0 first-half lead on those mistakes on their way to their eleventh consecutive regular season victory. The Huskies (1-4, 0-2) closed out a five-game season-opening road trip, four games against ranked teams.
On the Huskies' first possession, Justin Forte blocked Jared White's punt and Michael Ireland returned it nine yards for a touchdown. Mat Johnson then tried a 22-yard field goal, which was blocked by Richmond's Andrew Harris. After the Spiders got a 42-yard field goal by Andrew Howard to take a 10-0 lead, a bad hike from Shane Hopkins resulted in Forte chasing White out of bounds for a safety.
In the third quarter, the teams exchanged fumbles and interceptions.
The Spiders began a drive with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter from their own 15. Tim Hightower carried 19 times for 70 yards and caught a 7-yard pass but the drive stalled when Howard missed a 33-yard field goal.
On the Huskies' first play from scrimmage in the period, Alex Broomfield completed a halfback option pass to Tony Lott for an 80-yard touchdown.
Hightower finished with a career-high 149 yards on 37 carries, 115 yards in the second half.
Spider quarterback Eric Ward was 10 of 16 with an interception and 67 yards rushing. Three Northeastern quarterbacks combined for 11 of 25 completions with 2 interceptions and an 80-yard touchdown.
