University of Richmond Athletics
Balanced Spiders Drop Delaware 31-17 For Eighth Win
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – All season long, Head Coach Danny Rocco has preached eight wins to his Richmond football team. Rocco’s belief is that eight victories would pretty much guarantee a third straight playoff appearance for the Spiders.
On a crisp Saturday afternoon, the Spiders did just that, using a total team effort to defeat a feisty Delaware squad, 31-17 to move to 8-2 on the season.
“I’m really proud of my football team today. We had a lot of guys that weren’t available for us today and once again our guys showed their toughness with the win today,” Rocco said.
Offensively, redshirt junior Kyle Lauletta tossed for 286 yards on 21-of-35 passing, while throwing three TDs. He now has 24 passing TDs this year, just two away from the all-time single season record held by Michael Strauss.
Senior Brian Brown had six catches for 139 yards and another TD. He became the first player in school history to have three 1,000 yard receiving seasons. No other player has more than one. He also is just the 22nd player in all of FCS history to reach 3,800 career yards receiving.
Redshirt freshman Deontez Thompson was spectacular once again, posting his fourth 100-plus yard performance of the year with 24 carries for 132 yards and a TD. The Spiders have now had a 100-yard rusher in 15 of the past 18 games dating back to last season.
“Our line was tremendous today, opening up holes for Tez and giving our guys time to get open. We knew we all had to step up with a bunch of guys banged up and I’m proud of the way we played as a team today. It was a total team effort,” Lauletta said.
Defensively, senior Omar Howard posted his second straight double-digit tackle performance and third of the season with 10 tackles and also added a forced fumble. Sophomore Andrew Clyde had a season-high eight tackles, including a sack and a tackle for a loss.
The Spiders forced four turnovers on the night, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries, which tied a season-high.
“All year long, we’ve talked about having a next man up mentality and this week in particular because we were so banged up. Everyone has done a really good job of stepping up and tonight was no different,” Clyde said.
Delaware showed their aggressiveness from the opening kick, running a fake field goal to lead to a early touchdown and a 7-0 lead for the Fightin’ Blue Hens. That was the only time they would touch the scoreboard in the first half.
Lauletta and the Spiders would march down the field with a nine-play, 82-yard drive, which ended with a 12-yard TD to Garrett Hudson to tie the score at 7-7 with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Richmond’s defense would come up huge in the second quarter, forcing a fumble and the offense did their job by turning it into a TD with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with a six-yard touchdown run by Thompson to give the Spiders a 14-7 advantage, a lead they would never relinquish.
The Fightin’ Blue Hens were silenced the rest of the half, while the Spiders meticulously drove the field and led to a 23-yard field goal by Griffin Trau as Richmond took a 17-7 lead into the break.
Defense would be the name of the game in the third quarter, with neither team gaining 100 total yards of offense and only three points being put on the scoreboard.
The fourth quarter was a different story.
Richmond started it off with a quick, five-play, 64-yard drive that ended with Hudson’s second TD of the day to give the Spiders a 24-10 lead.
Delaware answered with a TD drive of their own, but Brown showed everyone watching just why he’s one of the greatest to ever put on the Spiders uniform.
On the first play of the next Richmond drive, Brown made an unbelievable catch for a 43-yard completion to put the Spiders in Delaware territory. Two players later, Lauletta found Brown for a game-sealing 36-yard TD to give Richmond a 31-17 lead.
The defense would do the rest, forcing the fourth turnover of the day to stifle the final Delaware drive of the day.
Richmond returns to action next Saturday when they hit the road to long-time rival William & Mary. Game time in Williamsburg is set for 12 p.m.