University of Richmond Athletics
Flawless First Half Puts Spiders Over UAlbany, 41-28
ALBANY, N.Y. – A flawless first half led the No. 20/22 Richmond football team over the UAlbany Great Danes, 41-28, in CAA action Saturday afternoon at Bob Ford Field. The Spiders picked up their first conference win as they improved to 4-2 on the season and 1-1 in the league.
Richmond outgained the Great Danes, 491-397, in total yards and was 9-of-12 in third down conversions, compared to UAlbany’s 3-of-13. QB Michael Strauss led the Spiders with 277 passing yards off 26-of-36 attempts and three touchdowns, while WR Stephen Barnette led the receiving corps with 109 yards off nine receptions with a 35-yard touchdown for his ninth 100-yard game of his career. RB Seth Fisher ran for 85 yards on 17 attemps and two touchdowns.
Defensively, DB Ayo Ogunniyi led the Spiders with a career-high 11 tackles, including nine solo, and two pass breakups. LB Omar Howard picked up eight tackles and two quarterback hurries, while DB David Herlocker collected seven tackles for a new career high.
After the Great Danes won the coin toss and elected to receive, the Spiders got things going right away as LB Aaron Roane came up with the squad’s second interception in back-to-back games to give Richmond the ball on Albany’s 22-yard line 1:30 into the game.
Strauss went three-for-three before hitting Diggs in the end zone for four yards to put the first points on the board and the Spiders went ahead 7-0 at 11:10 in the first quarter.
The Richmond defense kept UAlbany out of the end zone for first 15 minutes to allow the Spiders to end the first quarter with the 13-0 lead after two field goals from K Peter Yoder, including one for 40 yards, a career high.
Following seven points from the Great Danes to begin the second quarter, Richmond responded with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Strauss to WR Brian Brown to make it a 20-7 ball game with five minutes to go in the first half.
The Spider defense came up with another stop, which led to seven more points for the offense. This time it was a three-and-out with the help of DL Evan Kelly who came up with a three-yard sack on second down that eventually gave Richmond the ball with 4:17 to go.
Diggs put the Spiders in UAlbany territory with a 31-yard catch from Strauss to the 19-yard line, which eventually led to a two-yard touchdown rush for Fisher to give Richmond the 27-7 lead with 1:42 left in the first half.
The Great Danes kicked a 37-yard field goal with 12 seconds left as the two teams went into halftime with Richmond up 27-10.
The Spiders outgained UAlbany, 249-185, in total yards, while throwing for 198 and going 7-of-9 in third down conversions. Strauss threw 20-of-29 for the 198 yards and Diggs led the receivers with 61 yards on five catches with a touchdown.
Richmond kept the momentum going two minutes into the third quarter with an impressive 35-yard touchdown throw from Strauss to Barnette on the fifth play of the drive to bump the Spider lead to 34-10.
Albany recorded back-to-back touchdowns, but Richmond retaliated with Fisher going untouched for 10 yards into the end zone to put the Spiders up 41-22 with six minutes left. The Richmond scoring drive went nine plays for 63 yards and lasted 4:43 under the direction of QB Michael Rocco, who completed the day going 9-of-11 for 69 yards.
With 4:38 to play, UAlbany picked up six points off a 24-yard touchdown pass, but the Spider defense held strong for a two-point conversion that was no good. Richmond secured the 41-28 win.
The Spiders will return to Robins Stadium Saturday, Oct. 18 to welcome Rhode Island at 3:30 p.m. on Homecoming Weekend.