University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Extend Win Streak To Five With 35-7 Defeat Of Elon
ELON, N.C. – For several weeks now, Head Coach Danny Rocco spoke of his team’s will to win.
That will was on full display in the second half on Saturday afternoon when the University of Richmond football team extended its winning streak to five games with a decisive 35-7 victory over Elon to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in CAA play.
“I’m proud of the way our guys took over the game in the second half and really put away Elon, a team that has showed tremendous fight throughout the season,” Rocco said. “We had a couple really big runs from Deontez Thompson and David Broadus that helped set the tone and get us going offensively.”
Redshirt freshman Deontez Thompson posted his second 100-yard performance in the past three weeks, carrying the ball 14 times for 116 yards and his sixth TD of the season. He also caught two passes for 24 yards and a receiving TD.
“We knew that we had to run the ball well today and our line did another great job of opening up holes for us,” Thompson said.
Senior Brian Brown had yet another 100-yard receiving game, the 17th of his career. He also caught his 19th career TD, which moves him into sole possession of second place on the all-time list. Redshirt junior Kyle Lauletta finished the day 18-of-30 in the air for 223 yards and two TDs.
Defensively, the Spiders held their third opponent of the season under 250 total yards, as well as their fifth opponent of the season under 130 yards passing for the contest. Senior Winston Craig and sophomore Micah Keels had interceptions in the game to put Richmond’s streak of games with an interception at 11 of the past 12 contests.
“Our defense is doing a really good job of continuing to improve as a unit each week. It’s a really talented group who has a lot of experience at different spots and as the year goes on, they continue to get better and better,” Rocco said.
The defense flexed their muscle early and often, stifling the Elon offense without a drive of more than six plays for the entire first half.
Richmond would meticulously moved the ball downfield in the first half, setting up two field goals from Griffin Trau, one from 21 yards and one from 37 to take a 6-0 lead into the break.
The Spiders wasted little time setting the tone in the second half with Thompson getting loose for a 39 yard run on the third play of the third quarter and three plays later punching it in for a 13-0 Richmond advantage.
After the defense forced another 3-and-out from the Phoenix, Lauletta and the offense put together a nine-play, 71-yard drive, capped off by an 11-yard pitch and catch from Lauletta to Thompson to push the lead to 21-0.
On the ensuing Elon drive, Keels came up with the interception and two plays later Lauletta found Brown for a 27-yard TD to extend the cushion to 28-0.
Richmond scored 22 points in just over 12 minutes to open up the third quarter.
Elon would finally get on the board with 13:39 to play, but the Spiders got a rushing TD from senior James Pavik, the first of his career to make it a 35-7 contest.
The Phoenix would try to put together another drive late, but the Spiders would force a turnover on downs and wrap up their fifth straight victory.
Richmond will now head into the bye week before returning to Robins Stadium on Saturday, November 5 for a showdown with rival JMU. Game time on Comcast SportsNet is set for 3:30 p.m.