The University of Richmond football team staged a comeback to score a narrow victory over Howard University with a score of 13-12 on Saturday, Sept. 27.
This is the team's second home game and follows its landslide victory against Virginia Military Institute last week.
This is the third game for the Spiders against Howard, with the Spiders never having lost to the Bison. Their most recent match took place in 2021 with the Spiders dominating, scoring a landslide win of 38-14.
However, this game was different from the other matches both of which were landslide wins for the Spiders, while this game saw the Spiders only score points in the fourth quarter
The first quarter was stagnant with neither team making much progress,both failing to make full drives and being forced to punt the ball. While the Bison got close enough for a field goal about six minutes into the quarter, it hit the top right of the goal post and missed.
The second quarter brought some energy into the game, with the Bison scoring a 52-yard touchdown in the first minute. The Spiders attempted to rebound but were hammered by penalties and Howard’s defense, which was able to score a safety by forcing Richmond to fumble the ball in its endzone.
Howard ended the half by scoring a field goal in the last 30 seconds of the quarter, increasing its overall lead to 12-0.
After halftime, which honored the Richmond men’s lacrosse team for their first NCAA win last May, the Spiders returned to the field, but still failed to gain momentum. The Bison, on the other hand, intercepted the ball in the last minutes of play.
The Spiders came roaring back in the fourth quarter as junior defensive back CJ Fraser intercepted and made a 55-yard run in the first three minutes of the quarter. This play revitalized the team and was followed by sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Dawson scoring Richmond’s first touchdown in a 42-yard run.
Howard tried to rebound, but senior defensive lineman Matei Fitz snagged another interception for Richmond close to the Bison’s end zone. This paved the way for junior running back Aziz Foster-Powell to score Richmond’s second touchdown of the game, however, the Spiders failed to make a two point conversion.
After some back and forth, Howard attempted a last stand in the final minute of the game, but were stopped as senior defensive linemen Camden Byrd and Donovan Hoilette sacked the Bison’s quarterback in the last seconds of the game.
The Spiders narrowly won the game with a score of 13-12.
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“Coach Wood made a great call, he made a cage call which caused the defensive tackles to go to the play screen,” Fitz said in a postgame interview. “I started playing screen, saw the running back and the ball and caught it.”
Despite this, Howard dominated Richmond in yardage, with 257 yards compared to the Spider’s 142.
“We have a resilient bunch,” UR Head Coach Russ Huesman said in a postgame interview. “We didn’t play good, but we got a resilient bunch.”
The Spiders will be on the road again after two weeks home at Robins Stadium to face Bucknell University on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 12 p.m.
Contact sports writer Liam Gunawardena at liam.gunawardena@richmond.edu
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