University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Set Home Winning Streak Record With 31-28 Win Over Towson
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – All training camp long, Head Coach Danny Rocco preached the ability to finish games to his University of Richmond football team.
On Saturday evening, that’s exactly what the Spiders did, pulling out a thrilling 31-28 win over CAA foe Towson to set a new home winning streak record to 10 games and improve to 4-1 on the year.
“I’m really proud of our guys and how they showed the ability to grind out a key victory for us,” Rocco said. “To accomplish something that had never been done before in program history is truly special and is a direct result of our veteran leadership and what they have started to build in this program.”
Both side of the ball made critical plays when critical plays needed to be, including a blocked punt, a fourth down stop, a field goal into rushing formation and a key third down pick up.
Junior QB Kyle Lauletta tossed three TDs while completing 20-of-31 and freshman Xavier Goodall posted his second straight 100-yard rushing performance to lead the offensive attack.
Senior captain Omar Howard led the way defensively for the Spiders with 10 tackles, three of which were for a loss. Juniors Jarriel Jordan and Brendan Coniker combined for 15 tackles on the day.
“I think what is critical with this team is that when we need each other, we’re there to pick each other up,” Lauletta said. “When the offense has struggled to get in rhythm, the defense has picked us up. When the defense has needed us, we’ve been able to put a few drives together. We need to continue to improve on some of the mistakes and miscues, but any time you can get a conference win is a good day.”
After the Richmond defense got a big third down sack from Brandon Waller and Andrew Clyde, the Spiders went on the offensive attack with a huge 27 yard run from Goodall to spark a five-play, 65-yard drive that was capped off with a 21-yard TD from Lauletta to Brian Brown to give the Spiders a 7-0 lead.
The touchdown not only moved Brown into third place all time with 18 career TD receptions, but also moved Lauletta past 5,000 career passing yards, making him just the sixth player in Spider history to reach that accomplishment.
Towson quickly let Richmond knew they were in for a figth with a TD drive of their own, scoring less than three minutes later to even the score at 7-7.
The Tigers kept the pressure on the Spiders, coming up with an interception to set up another TD to give the visitors a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Richmond once again showed its resiliency, responding with a beautiful 14-play, 84-yard drive, capped off with the first receiving TD of Goodall’s career to tie the game at 14-14.
Once again, Towson responded with a TD drive of their own to take a 21-14 lead, but Lauletta and the offense turned around and executed a perfect two-minute drill, highlighted by a 47-yard reception by Garrett Hudson on a key third down.
Hudson then finished the drive off with his second TD reception of the year to send the Spiders into the break tied 21-21.
The Tigers kept the pressure on in the second half, finding the end zone less than two minutes into the second half to retake the lead at 28-21.
Richmond responded with a scoring drive of their own, which led to a 44-yard field goal from Griffin Trau, the second longest of his career to bring the Spiders within four at 28-24.
That’s exactly when the Richmond defense went into action, forcing a three-and-out, followed by a blocked punt to thwart the Tigers’ offensive momentum and allow the Spiders offense to go to work.
With 14:09 to play, Richmond started a nine-play drive with a 12-yard run by Goodall, followed by a big third-down completion to Bevels to set up a huge fourth down conversion at the goal line.
Lauletta and Goodall would get the Spiders to the Towson 2-yardline and out came the field goal unit with just over 10 minutes to play. However, Richmond would audible into a rush formation and set up a two-yard TD run by David Broadus to give the Spiders a 31-28 advantage.
The Richmond defense would continue to stifle the Tigers offense and twice come up with fourth-down stops in the final 10 minutes to seal the victory for the Spiders.
Richmond returns to action next week when they hit the road for yet another match-up against a nationally ranked opponent in #21 Albany. Game time against the Great Danes is set for 3:30 p.m.