Richmond Leader

Flawless first quarter leads Spiders to third straight win

It's tough to play perfect football, but for the first 15 minutes vs Maine Saturday, the No. 17/20 Richmond Spiders football team came awfully close. Richmond outscored Maine 21-0 and outgained the Black Bears 231 yards to 37 in the opening period, setting the stage for a 31-21 road win for the Spiders.

 

"Any time you come to Maine and play, it's always hard," said Spiders head coach Russ Huesman. "We knew they were better than 2-5 and we knew we had our work cut out for us. … We're just really thrilled we came out of this thing with a win." The victory extended UR's win streak to three games and moved Richmond to 6-2 this season, including 4-1 in the CAA.

 

The Spiders first three possessions produced touchdown drives of 70, 81, and 80 yards. For the second straight week, Richmond found the end zone on its opening drive as quarterback Reece Udinski scrambled up the middle for a six-yard score just 2:25 into the game. The TD was set up by a 45-yard reception by Leroy Henley on UR's fourth play from scrimmage.

 

"We emphasized this week that we wanted to start off fast, so that was awesome," said Udinski. "We wanted to receive the ball if we won the coin toss and we did, so we knew we wanted to get a fast start and we did."

 

On their second possession, the Spiders needed just four plays and 1:38 to make the score 14-0. Udinski connected with Jasiah Williams twice and Nick DeGennaro once before finding Jakob Herres wide open in the middle of the field on a short crossing pattern. Herres outran several Black Bears for a 63-yard score, Richmond's longest passing play since the 2019 season.

 

"We haven't been really getting the big plays all year long. We've been dinking and dunking it," said Huesman. "We've been trying to emphasize it and it was nice to see some big plays."

 

The Spiders defense held Maine to a single first down before forcing a punt for a second straight possession, giving Udinski and UR the ball back with 4:59 left in the first quarter.

 

This time, Richmond put together a methodical 10-play drive, culminating in a three-yard TD scramble by Udinski with 26 seconds left in the quarter that made the score 21-0, Spiders.

 

Maine closed the gap to 21-7 on a touchdown pass at the 9:19 mark of the second quarter and held the Spiders scoreless for the rest of the period.

 

Maine's first possession of the second half stalled at midfield, and a brilliant punt by the Black Bears pinned the Spiders on their own three-yard line.

 

Starting the drive in the shadow of their own goal line, Richmond went 97 yards in 11 plays, taking a 28-7 lead on a 21-yard TD pass from Udinski to Leroy Henley with 5:38 left in the period.

 

Maine pulled within one score midway through the fourth quarter, but the Spiders answered with an eight-play, 72-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard field goal by Andrew Lopez to give Richmond a 31-21 lead and some breathing room over the game's final four minutes.

 

Udinski finished 26-33 for 368 yards with two touchdowns and an interception to go along with his two scores on the ground. His favorite target was wideout Jakob Herres, who caught eight passes for 174 yards, matching his season high. Leroy Henley added 119 yards on six catches as multiple Spiders finished with 100 or more receiving yards for the first time since October 6, 2018 vs Delaware.

 

Aaron Dykes led the Spiders with 62 rushing yards on 15 carries, while Dante Black added 61 yards on four rushes, including a back-breaking 41-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter to move Richmond into field goal range with the Spiders leading 28-21.

 

Linebacker Tristan Wheeler totaled a game-high 13 tackles for the Spiders, who recorded four sacks and seven tackles for a loss Saturday. Linebacker Phil O'Connor led UR with a career-best two sacks, while defensive end Jeremiah Grant recorded eight tackles, including two for a loss.

 

Richmond is 4-1 in the CAA for the first time since 2019, tied with William & Mary for second in the conference behind 5-0 New Hampshire. Richmond will host the Wildcats on Homecoming this Saturday, November 5 at 1 PM with first place in the CAA on the line.

Original source can be found here