University of Richmond Athletics
No. 18 Richmond Battles But Goes Down To Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Richmond football team (0-1) opened its season on Saturday afternoon in College Park opposite the University of Maryland (1-0) and challenged the home-standing squad early on with quality execution but it was Maryland that came away with the victory, 50-21.
Richmond QB Kyle Lauletta played well in his starting debut throwing for 220 yards on 18-30 attempts and contributed a rushing touchdown in the second quarter. His favorite target was Brian Brown who caught four balls for 68 yards. The leader on the ground for the Spiders was Jacobi Green who made the start and picked up 23 yards on seven attempts with a touchdown while also catching four balls out of the backfield for 40 yards. Seth Fisher contributed 20 yards of his own on the ground with a TD.
LB Omar Howard led the Spiders defensive effort on Saturday afternoon by collecting 10 tackles. David Jones contributed nine tackles and had an interception while David Herlocker had seven tackles. Brandon Waller and Winston Craig each had six tackles.
The Spiders won the first coin toss of the season and deferred to the second half. Maryland kick-returner William Likely took the opening kick-off back 42 yards to the Maryland 46 before Trevor Jones made the tackle. The Terrapins drove all the way to the Richmond 16 but the Spider defense shut the door from that point forward, surviving the drive with just a three-point deficit.
The subsequent Richmond drive went three-and-out. Maryland QB Perry Hills, who went 0-3 passing on the opening Terps’ drive, went deep on first down but David Jones was there to intercept the pass and turn the ball back over the Lauletta and the Richmond offense.
After just one Spider first down Maryland took over again from the Richmond 39 yard line thanks to another nice return from Likely. It took the Maryland offense five plays to score the game’s first touchdown with the drive culminating in a 23-yard screen pass from Hills to Levern Jacobs.
The Spiders began their next drive on offense at their own 25 and gained three yards from scrimmage before Lauletta found Green in the flat on third down for a 15-yard gain. The next play went for 12 yards to Brown and the Spiders moved into Maryland territory for the first time.
After two rush plays that went nowhere the Spiders found themselves in another third and long situation. Lauletta rolled right and decided to run gaining what appeared to be a first down but after review it was ruled to be a gain of just nine. Coach Rocco and crew opted to go for it and it was Lauletta finding Green on a screen to the right for a 24-yard gain.
From the Maryland 12 yard line, Lauletta completed a toss to Porter Abell on the short left side for an eight-yard gain. Green then took a hand-off and rushed up the middle for what was initially ruled as a touchdown but after review, the ball was placed back at the one. Green completed the scoring drive on the very next play with a rushing score and Peter Yoder converted the point-after to cut the deficit to 10-7.
Maryland added another field goal to start the second quarter, taking a 13-7 lead, on a drive that took nine plays and covered 47 yards. Tafon Mainsah made a leaping pass break-up on third down that would have given Maryland its second touchdown of the day.
Richmond carried over its offensive momentum into the next drive. After a pair of gains that totaled 15 yards Lauletta let loose a bomb down the middle that found the open arms of Brown who wrestled to the eight-yard line for a gain of 52. A facemask penalty put the ball on the four and it was Lauletta this time that tucked the ball away and rushed into the end zone to tie the game. Yoder converted another point-after to give Richmond its first lead of the afternoon.
The Spider defense continued to keep the Terps out of the end zone but not off the scoreboard as another field goal from UM kicker Brad Craddock found its way between the uprights with 4:10 to play in the half.
Maryland kept Richmond from advancing on its next drive and took over on offense from the Spider 25 with 1:54 to go. The Terps worked quickly and scored a touchdown in just 54 seconds, topped off by a 37-yard pass from Hills to Malcolm Culmer. This one headed to the locker room with Maryland on top 22-14.
The passing game favored the Spiders who out-passed Maryland in the first half, 116-111 led by Brian Brown who caught three balls for 63 yards. Jacobi Green led all Spider rushers with 23 yards and a touchdown.
Richmond took the kick-off to start the second half but its drive was halted after three plays and a punt. Maryland added a rushing touchdown four plays later to push the lead to 29-14. The remainder of the third quarter was relatively uneventful for both sides and the game moved to the fourth with Maryland in possession of the football.
The Terps went on to add a trio of touchdowns in the fourth to secure the victory but not without some resistance from the Spiders who put together an 80-yard drive late in the final quarter, capped off by a 16-yard rushing TD from Preseason All-American, RB Seth Fisher.
The Spiders will be back in action next weekend at Hampton before making their debut at Robins Stadium on Sept. 19 opposite VMI at 6 p.m. Kick-off from Hampton is scheduled for Noon and fans can find all the ways to watch, listen and follow in Spider Football Gameday Central.