Spiders Battle but Fall to Elon, 36-33

Saturday, September 23

Robins Stadium

6:00 PM

University of Richmond

2-2 , 0-1

Elon

3-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

ELON

Richmond

09/23/2017 | Football

Box Score

By: Matt Moretti III (@Moretts13)

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond football team (2-2, 0-1 CAA) battled back-and-forth with Elon (3-1, 1-0 CAA) under the Robins Stadium lights on Saturday night but ultimately came up short despite more historic numbers on offense, 36-33.

QB Kyle Lauletta moved into second on the all-time passing yardage and passing touchdown lists with 497 yards and three touchdowns to his name. Both Cortrelle Simpson (10 for 192 yards) and Dejon Brissett (8 for 169 yards) went north of 100 yards receiving for the second time this season while Tyler Wilkins contributed 72 yards through the air and 32 on the ground.

On the defensive side, Micah Keels and Daniel Jones surrounded the action with 12 tackles apiece. Freshman Samari Springs added 11 tackles while Justin Rubin contributed 10. Seven different Spiders contributed tackles for loss and the team forced a pair of fumbles. Andrew Clyde picked up the only sack of the night.

The game began slowly for the Spiders who punted at the end of their first drive. Elon came storming out of the gates however, leaning on running back Malcolm Summers who carried the Phoenix all the way down to Richmond one-yard line. Dale Matthews had other ideas as he forced a fumble, recovered by Micah Keels to turn things back over to the offense.

Another punt followed for the Spiders after one first down and Elon capitalized with the first touchdown of the game to take an early, 6-0, lead with just under four minutes to play in the first quarter.

Lauletta answered with a passing score to Brissett to take the lead before the quarter came to a close but the Phoenix were up to the task of matching shot-for-shot with the Spiders.

Elon found the end zone on its next possession then forced back-to-back turnovers that resulted in consecutive field goals to jump out to a 19-7 lead right around the two-minute mark in the second quarter.

The final Richmond drive of the half began at the 1:57 mark. Lauletta rushed twice to collect 12 yards then hit Caleb Drake on the sideline for a 19-yard gain out to the Elon 47. After a pair of incomplete passes the Exton, Pa. native launched a 47-yard bomb to Brissett who hauled it in for the score to cut into the Elon lead before the break.

The visitors punted to start the second half and the Spiders tossed in a field goal to make a three-point game early on in the third quarter. Summers then fumbled on the Richmond seven and the Spiders needed just one play, the longest in program history, to take the lead. Lauletta stepped into a 93-yard pass that found Simpson on the run who galloped approximately 50 yards after the catch to find the end zone.

However, Elon answered with a long scoring drive to move ahead 26-23. The Spiders responded with a field goal then forced a punt that resulted in a 32-yard touchdown run for Tyler Wilkins who ended up with over 100 total yards for the game.

That was it for scoring for the Spiders though as Elon managed to collect 10, unanswered points down the stretch to close out the 36-33 final.

Richmond will be back on the field in two weeks when Albany comes to town for a 3 p.m. kickoff.