University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Defense Sets The Tone In Home Opener
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond (2-1) defense set the tone early and dominated throughout Saturday’s home opener at Robins Stadium, forcing five turnovers and scoring 14 points en route to a 42-10 victory over VMI (1-2).
Richmond DB David Jones had a career day. The RS Junior made seven tackles, snagged a pair of interceptions and forced a fumble. His teammates LB Madison Day and DB Ayo Ogunniyi each had an interception of their own, both of which were returned for touchdowns. Day, a former Spider men’s lacrosse player, led the team with 12 tackles in his Robins Stadium debut while three other Spiders collected seven tackles, including DeAnthony Muse who marked a career-high with that total. Richmond would score 35 points off of turnovers produced by the defense.
The offense complimented the outstanding defensive effort, collecting 466 yards four scoring four touchdowns. QB Kyle Lauletta threw for 209 yards on 15-22 passing with a career-high three touchdown passes. He spread the ball out to 11 different receivers with Reggie Diggs making the most catches (3) and Porter Abell leading the way in yards gained (50); Abell, freshman WR Dejon Brissett and FB James Pavik all caught touchdowns. On the ground the two-headed monster of Seth Fisher and Jacobi Jones combined for 200 yards with Fisher picking up his third score of the season.
"VMI played extremely hard and we went into the locker room fortunate to have an extended lead," head coach Danny Rocco said. "I felt like we were certainly in a dog fight at halftime and I addressed that and I thought our guys responded in a very positive way. Offensivley, in the second half we got our run game going. I thought we had great balance in the second half ... Defensively we had a really big night."
The Spiders’ first drive stalled after just one first down and a D.J. Helkowski punt put the Keydets at their own 20 to start their first drive of the game. QB Al Cobb dropped back to pass on 1st down and Ogunniyi stepped in front of the would-be receiver, intercepted the pass and strolled untouched into the end zone for a touchdown. Richmond PK Peter Yoder added the extra point to make it an early 7-0 lead for the Spiders.
VMI would follow up the Richmond touchdown with a 15-play drive that covered 66 yards and resulted in a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. Richmond settled for another short drive and the Keydets set-forth on another long drive that would bring the first quarter to a close.
The VMI drive made it all the way to the Richmond seven before a fumble forced by Jones turned the ball over to Richmond. DB Jarriel Jordan came up with the recovery and offense took over from there. Fisher busted off runs of nine, seven and 15-yards during the drive while Lauletta completed a 24-yard pass to Green then capped off the 93-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Pavik. The extra point was good and the Spiders moved ahead 14-3. Pavik’s scoring catch was the first of his career.
The defense forced a VMI three-and-out and the offense drove inside the red zone once again before turning the ball over by way of the fumble. VMI rushed once then on second down Cobb dropped back to pass and this time is was Day intercepting the pass and running it in for six to push the Spiders ahead 21-3.
VMI closed the half with a touchdown drive to make it 21-10 heading into the locker room. Lauletta completed nine passes in the first half to nine different Richmond receivers for 93 yards. Green gained 60 yards on the ground to lead the Spiders in the backfield.
With the second half underway, Cobb continued to struggle through the air for VMI, throwing his third interception of the game, this time to Jones who made his team-leading second pick of the season. After a short return it took the Richmond offense just three plays to put another touchdown on the board. Lauletta found Abell for a 53-yard score, his longest TD pass of the season. To that point in the game all 28 Richmond points had been scored off of turnovers.
The defense continued to stand up, stopping VMI on four-straight plays to take over on downs with 11:08 to go in the third quarter. The offense picked up where it left off and continued to roll down the field. WR Reggie Diggs made his longest catch of the evening, 15-yards, to bring the drive to the VMI 30. After a two-yard rush Lauletta, on the next play, found Brissett in the end zone for his first-career score.
Four plays later, the Spiders had their fourth interception of the ball game and Jones had his second, matching a career-high. It was the fifth turnover of the game forced by the Richmond defense.
On the subsequent drive the Spiders worked the ball all the way down to the three-yard line before the quarter came to a close with lead at 35-10. Fisher punched the ball into the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter for his third TD of the season, pushing Richmond ahead 42-10 after the extra point.
The run game would wind the rest of the clock down in this one as the Spiders rolled to the victory in front of a sold-out Robins Stadium. Richmond will be off next week and return home on Oct. 3 to open CAA play opposite Maine (0-2).
GAME PHOTOS
GAME NOTES
- Ayo Ogunniyi’s 23 yard interception return for TD was the first time a Spider defensive back had returned an interception for a touchdown since David Jones vs Rhode Island on 10/18/14. Jones' return was for 34 yds.
- Madison Day’s 25 yard int return for TD was the former lacrosse player’s first career interception. He also posted a career-high 12 tackles.
- David Jones recorded two picks, equaling his career high in a game set at Rhode Island on 10/18/14.
- Tonight was the 4th time in school history the Spiders have returned two nterceptions for touchdowns in a game. The previous times were:
-9/13/08 vs Towson
-9/28/96 at Boston Univ.
-9/30/78 vs Cincinnati
- The last time the Spiders had four interceptions in a game was 11/10/12 at Delaware in a 23-17 win.
- DeAnthony Muse and Trevor Jones each set a career high in tackles with seven.
- James Pavik picked up his first career touchdown on three yard pass reception with 8:59 left in 2nd quarter.
- Redshirt sophomore Garrett Hudson hauled in his first career reception for 25 yds.
- Lauletta’s 53-yard TD pass is his career long, surpassing his previous high of 52 at Maryland earlier this season. Porter Abell’s 53 yard touchdown reception surpassed his previous career long of 16 yards set at Hampton.
- Lauletta’s three touchdown passes a career-high set previously last week at Hampton.
- Dejon Brissett’s 13-yard TD catch in the 3rd quarter was his first career reception and his first touchdown in a Spider uniform.
- 11 different receivers caught passes tonight from Kyle Lauletta. That is the most since 11 receivers recorded catches vs. Hampton on Sept. 13, 2014. Earlier in that same season, 12 different players hauled in passes vs. Morehead State Aug. 30.