University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Drop Heartbreaker to #5 JMU, 47-43
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – Not often in sports do heavyweight battles live up to the billing.
That was not the case on Saturday at Robins Stadium when the #6 Richmond Spiders dropped a heartbreaker to #5 Dukes of JMU, 47-43, in front of yet another sellout crowd.
“We’re obviously disappointed and upset, but I give credit to Coach Houston and his guys for putting together a successful game plan,” Head Coach Danny Rocco said. “We had two goals at the beginning of the year, one was a conference championship and one was a spot in the playoffs. We still have opportunities in front of us to secure the latter and that’s what we’re focused on moving forward.”
Redshirt junior QB Kyle Lauletta had a career day for the spiders, going 28-of-43 for a career-high 436 yards and career-high five TD passes, along with a rushing TD. Lauletta completed a pass to a season-high 10 different players, including the first career TDs for Jay Palmer and Will McCombs.
Senior Brian Brown posted his fifth 100-plus yard performance of the year with 126 and his 20th career TD reception. Redshirt freshman Deontez Thompson posted his third 100-plus yard performance in the past four weeks, carrying the ball 13 times for 128 yards.
“Offensively, I thought we really were able to have a lot of success with a lot of the different looks they tried to throw at us,” Rocco said. “Kyle had a great day statistically, I’m sure even he’d like to have a few passes back, but overall I thought we were able to show our balance with a bunch of different guys catching passes and Deontez having another solid day on the ground for us.”
Richmond came out swinging on its first drive, marching right down the field in five plays with Tyler Wilkins catching a 25-yard TD pass from Lauletta to give the Spiders a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest.
The heavyweight battle began as JMU put together a 65-yard TD drive of its own to make it a 7-7 game less than five minutes into the contest.
JMU would find the endzone at the close of the first quarter to grab a 14-10 lead, but Richmond methodically responded with a 14-play, 77-yard drive that ate up 7:46 of the clock and gave the Spiders a 17-14 advantage.
The back and forth battle continued with both teams finding the endzone in the final 2:07 of the half to send the game into the break at 24-24.
It looked like the Spiders might grab momentum early in the second half, forcing a fumble on the Dukes’ opening drive, but JMU’s defense came through with a stop and turned it around for a 8-yard TD run and a 30-24 lead.
Lauletta found Palmer for his first career TD to cap off a six-play, 80-yard drive that gave the Spiders a 31-30 lead heading into the final quarter.
A field goal gave JMU a 33-30 lead, but Richmond worked its way down the field with a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Lauletta’s TD run to grab a 37-30 advantage.
The Dukes offense would flex its muscle, scoring a go-ahead TD with 1:36 to play and set the Richmond offense up for a two-minute drill opportunity. JMU was able to come up with the stop and the game-sealing TD to secure the victory.
Richmond wrapped the scoring with a 13-yard TD to McCombs as time expired to wrap up the offensive fireworks.
The Spiders return to action looking for that all-important eighth victory of season when they host the Fightin’ Blue Hens of Delaware on Senior Day next Saturday, November 12. Game time on CSN Mid-Atlantic is set for 3:30 p.m.