University of Richmond Athletics
No. 20/22 Richmond Spiders Edged By Maine, 28-21
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The No. 20/22 Richmond football team’s late rally fell short as the Spiders were edged by the Maine Black Bears, 28-21, in both teams’ CAA conference opener Saturday evening at a sold-out Robins Stadium.
With the setback, Richmond falls to 2-3 on the season overall and to 0-1 in the CAA. Maine improves to 4-1 on the year and to 1-0 in league action.
WR Ben Edwards paced the Spider offense on Saturday, totaling 182 total yard. The senior caught a career-high 14 catches for 126 yards, while also rushing for a team-high 56 on eight carries.
In addition to Edwards, WR Stephen Barnette led the Spiders with 132 yards receiving yards to mark the first time since Sept. 26, 2009 that two Richmond receivers collected over 100 yards. QB Michael Strauss led the Spiders as he threw 31-of-45 for a career-high 333 yards, to go with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Despite an early score by Maine on the first possession, the Spiders quickly moved the ball down field from the their 46-yard line with five minutes left in the first quarter. Richmond found the end zone on the seventh play of its drive when Strauss perfectly lobbed a five-yard pass to Hunter Westfall to tie the score at seven.
A Maine 15-play, 74-yard drive to the Richmond one-yard line was halted by a DB Wayne Pettus interception in the end zone to give the Spiders the ball on the 25-yard line five minutes into the second quarter. It was the second-straight game with an interception for the reigning CAA Special Teams Player of the Week to push the Richmond interception streak to 15-consecutive games.
The Spiders took their first lead with four minutes left in the half when PK Brandon Jordi converted a season-long 17-yard drive in to three points on a 19-yard field goal.
The two teams went into the halftime break with the Spiders up 10-7. Strauss paced the offense in the first half, going 11-of-15 for 113 yards and a score, while LB Eric Wright led the Richmond defense with seven tackles in the first 30 minutes.
Richmond started the second half on its 25-yard line thanks to an out-of-bounds Maine kick. The Spiders quickly pushed the ball up field to the Black Bears’ seven-yard line that resulted in the second field goal of the game. Richmond increased its lead to 13-7 with a Jordi 24-yard kick four minutes into the third quarter.
Maine took the 14-13 lead with 5:22 remaining in the third and got the ball right back by a Strauss interception. But the Spiders responded with DB Reggie Barnette collected his fifth career interception in the end zone to prevent the Black Bear score to end the quarter.
Following a Joe Gulli, Jr. 46-yard punt, Maine took the 21-13 lead off a 46-yard run on the sixth play of the drive.
With 6:02 remaining in the game, Strauss found the end zone on a four-yard pass to Stephen Barnette to allow the Spiders to come within two. Richmond tied the score at 21-21 on a successful two-point conversion - its first since Nov. 5, 2011 at Old Dominion – a Strauss pass to Edwards.
Not to be outdone, however, Maine responded quickly and took the one-score lead with a 48-yard pass from Wasilewski to Nigel Jones with 3:51 on the clock. 28-21.
The Spiders mounted a late rally, pushing the ball down the field 64 yards to the Maine five-yard line thanks to a 25-yard pass from Strauss to Stephen Barnette. But the Black Bears ended the ball game with an interception in the end zone with 21 seconds left on the clock, securing the 28-21 victory.
After a week off, the Spiders will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 as they face the James Madison Dukes at 3:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.