University of Richmond Athletics
No. 7 Spiders Open 20th Season Of Atlantic 10 Football With 12-7 Win Over Northeastern
Sept. 30, 2006
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By Ivan Alber
RichmondSpiders.com
RICHMOND, VA. --
The seventh-ranked Richmond Spider football squad, after rolling through its first three games with ease, was tested in a wild and windy game against Northeastern, Saturday, Sept. 30 at UR Stadium winning 12-7 to stay undefeated at 4-0."I'm proud of our guys because they found a way to win," Spider head coach Dave Clawson said. "It certainly wasn't our best effort and it wasn't our cleanest effort but I'm going to take the glass half full approach on this one."
The special teams play of the Spiders proved to be the difference as Richmond used its speed to come up with a punt block and a field goal block in the opening nine minutes.
On Northeastern's opening drive, an eight-yard run and an incomplete pass set up an early 3rd-and-2. Richmond's defensive line brought pressure on third down as Northeastern's starting quarterback Anthony Orio was brought to the ground on a shared sack by junior Sherman Logan and senior Lance Gray, forcing the Huskies to punt.
On 4th-and-9, redshirt freshman Justin Forte found a hole in the line and blocked Northeastern's attempted punt. Richmond freshman Michael Ireland picked up the loose ball and ran it nine yards into the endzone, putting the Spiders up 7-0 after the extra point.
The Huskies managed to march down the field on their next drive but their offense stalled out five yards from the goal line. Again, Richmond's special teams came up big. This time junior Andrew Harris used his quickness to swat Northeastern's kick, which then bounced out of the endzone for a touchback.
With the momentum shifting in favor of the Spiders, the Richmond offense and starting quarterback Eric Ward came out firing on their first drive. Ward, a redshirt freshman, completed four of his five passes during the team's opening drive but the Spiders couldn't convert on 3rd-and-4 at Northeastern's 24-yard line. Richmond's freshman kicker, Andrew Howard, succeeded on his 42-yard attempt though, pushing the score to 10-0.
The visiting Huskies failed to get a first down on their next drive and Northeastern's center, most likely fearing another block from Richmond's special teams, threw a bad snap on fourth down over the punter's head and into the endzone. The punter recovered the ball but it was too late as Forte tracked him down and forced the punter out for safety, stretching the Spider lead to 12.
Both teams forced turnovers early on in the second half as two young quarterbacks were challenged by two experience defenses. Ward threw his first career interception to Northeastern's senior cornerback Louvans Charlot, who returned it to Richmond's 31-yard line. Just three players later, a Sperrazza pass was intercepted by Gray, who brought the ball back 38 yards before turning it over himself on a fumble recovered by the Huskies. Later in the third quarter, Sperrazza threw another interception, this one grabbed by Richmond redhsirt freshman cornerback David Horton.
With the offense still heading into the wind, the Spiders decided to establish the running game once again. Richmond's starting tailback, junior Tim Hightower, ended up with 37 carries for 149 yards, most of which came on a single drive which stretched from 5:29 left in the 3rd quarter to 6:41 remaining in the 4th. Despite the driving ending in a 33-yard attempted field goal which Howard missed wide right, the Spiders had taken almost 14 minutes off the clock while still leading 12-0.
On Northeastern's next play the Huskies decided to try a different arm behind center with a little trickery. Sperrazza tossed it off to Alex Broomfield, a sophomore tailback waiting behind the line of scrimmage, who threw a deep pass to receiver Tony Lott. With the Richmond defense biting on the halfback toss, Lott found open space and sprinted into the endzone. After a successful extra point, Richmond's lead was cut to five with the score 12-7.
The game ended 12-7 though as the Spiders held tough on defense. Excluding the 80-yard touchdown catch off the halfback pass, Richmond held Northeastern to 143 yards of total offense, including just 25 on the ground. Gray and senior Adam Goloboski combined at the linebacker positions for 15 tackles.
The Spiders travel to play New Hampshire, ranked No. 1 nationally, on Oct. 7 at 12 p.m.
"Whether it's the No. 1 team in the nation or the No. 20 team in the nation, we go into each game with the same mindset," Hightower said. "It's a playoff game, it's a championship game, it's a one-game season. We're excited for the opportunity. They're a great team and we're a great team. We have to prepare, watch a lot of film and then go out there and play Richmond football."