Football Drops Season-Opener At Virginia

Saturday, September 1

Charlottesville, VA

6 PM

University of Richmond

0-1

Virginia

1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Richmond

Virginia

Photo by: Carlos Morales

09/01/2018 | Football

Box Score Stat Book Photo Gallery

RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond football team opened the 2018 season on the road Saturday evening and suffered a 42-13 defeat to Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia at Scott Stadium. The Spiders held an early 10-7 lead but Virginia scored the next 28 points to secure the victory and avenge the Spiders' victory in the previous meeting in 2016.

Richmond returns home for the first of two-straight, beginning next Saturday evening when it hosts Fordham in the home opener. Game time next week is set for 6 p.m. at Robins Stadium and a post-game fireworks celebration will cap the night's festivities.

"What encourages me is our guys fought," head coach Russ Huesman said. "We made some mistakes tonight and we probably didn't adjust quickly enough to some of the option stuff they were doing. We didn't put our guys in the best position. I didn't think we tackled great across the board and didn't make enough plays on both sides of the ball."

Virginia gained 492 yards in the victory, including 301 on the ground as the Cavaliers had two players eclipse the 100-yard mark in the victory. Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins rushed fir 108 yards and two touchdowns while also throwing for 185 yards on 13-of-24 passing and a pair of touchdowns.

The Spiders opened the scoring halfway through the first quarter with a defensive touchdown. Senior linebacker Dale Matthews Jr. (Bowie, Md.) intercepted Perkins and returned it 72-yards for the first score of the 2018 season and the 7-0 Spider lead. It was the first interception returned for touchdown by Richmond since David Jones went 100 yards in FCS playoffs against William & Mary (12/5/15).

Virginia answered back after getting good field position on the Spiders' short kickoff. Perkins tied the game with a 36-yard run only 20 seconds later. Richmond responded as junior quarterback Kevin Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) hit Tyler Wilkins (Richmond, Va.) for 17 yards before running back Gordon Collins (Stafford, Va.) ran for 17-yards. The Spiders drive would stall out but senior Griffin Trau (Hanover, N.H.) hit a 42-yard field goal for the 10-7 lead.

Virginia retook the lead on a 22-yard run by Perkins before the first quarter closed. The Cavaliers scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 28-10 lead into the locker room. The Spiders had a good chance to score in the second quarter after Johnson connected with Cortrelle Simpson (Indian Head, Md.) on a 54-yard pass to the Virginia 13-yard line. The Cavaliers held and forced a field goal attempt, but Trau's 28-yard attempt was wide.

"Three field goals is not enough and we know that" Huesman said. "We will figure out ways to get our guys into good positions. Virginia had eight starters back from a pretty good defense last year and I think their quarterback is a big-time player. It was a tough day, but I know our guys are ready to work on some things and eager to improve before next game. "

Virginia scored on its first drive of the second half on a Jordan Ellis 21-yard run, his second of the game. Trau would round out the Spiders' scoring with a 38-yard field goal in the third quarter. The Cavaliers added a late touchdown in the fourth quarter to round out the victory.

Johnson finished the game connecting on 11-of-28 for 194 yards. Wilkins was the top receiver with four catches for 75 yards while Collins led the way on the ground with 23 yards as Richmond was held to just 34 yards rushing in the loss. Defensively, Maurice Jackson (Levittown, Pa.) led the way with two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss, finishing the night with 10 total tackles. Daniel Jones (Williamsburg, Va.) also added 10 tackles while senior Justin Rubin (Southampton, Pa.) finished with eight tackles.

-- UR --