Quarterback Joe Mancuso passed for a touchdown and ran for two more on Saturday afternoon to lead the Richmond Spiders to a 24-17 Colonial Athletic Association football win over the #18/20 Maine Black Bears at Alfond Stadium.
Maine (2-4, 0-3 CAA) marched down the field on the opening drive that covered 75 yards in 11 plays. Quarterback Chris Ferguson found Jaquan Blair over the middle for a 21 yard scoring strike to make it 7-0 Bears. Ferguson was seen limping sometime after a play on the first drive and would later leave in the second quarter with a right ankle sprain and didn’t return. The hosts had a chance to extend the lead later in the quarter but kicker Kenny Doak missed a 46 yard field goal wide to the right.
Mancuso tied the game for Richmond (3-3, 2-1) five minutes into the second quarter with the first of his two touchdown runs scoring from four yards out. Doak would restore a lead for Maine with a 25 yard field goal with 4:08 to play in the half, but then would miss one from 37 on the last play before the break wide right and the Black Bears led 10-7 at halftime.
Mancuso again put the Spiders up this time scoring from the one yard away with 6:22 left in the third quarter. Late in the third quarter in a series of big plays Maine backup freshman quarterback Joe Fagnano found Andre Miller down the middle of the field on the post route leading him perfectly and Miller did the rest catching it at midfield and pulling away from the defender for the 87 yard touchdown to make it 17-14 Black Bears. It took Richmond 15 seconds to respond as Mancuso found a wide open Keyston Fuller down the sideline for a 66 yard score to give the Spiders back a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. “Bad coverage, bad communication is what it was. When you don’t communicate that is what can happen out there”, said Maine defensive back Josh Huffman.
Jake Larson extended the lead to seven for the Spiders with a 26 yard field goal with 6:53 left to play in regulation. Maine had a drive going inside the Richmond 30 yard line but Fagnano was sacked for a six yard loss on a 3rd down and 8, and then on a 4th and 14 he completed a 12 yard pass to Miller that was short of the yards to gain and the turnover on downs gave it back to the Spiders with 2:30 left. Richmond though went three and out, and Larson was able to get off only a 29 yard punt to his own 47 that was returned 30 yards by Blair to the Spiders 17 with 1:57 showing on the clock. The Bears worked it in to a 1st and goal at the 6 yard line before Fagnano mishandled the snap and was sacked for a four yard loss. “Ya it was gonna be a run pass option it was a good snap I just mishandled it. I tried to get some yards out of it but it ended being a bad play”, Fagnano said. After a no gain run by Joe Fitzpatrick, the Black Bears called a timeout with 31 seconds left. Fagnanos next play was a throw over the middle to try to hit Blair in the endzone but the ball was intercepted by Daniel Jones at the 1 yard line to seal the Spiders win.
Fagnano went 10-16 passing for 157 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in relief of Ferguson. Ferguson went 5-8 for 33 yards with the one touchdown in his short outing. He was seen on the sideline in a walking boot on his right foot and xrays at halftime were negative, and he is considered day to day. Maine also played with standout receiver and kick returner Earnest Edwards who suffered a broken nose during the week. Fitzpatrick rushed 19 times for 93 yards, while Fagnano added 13 rushes for 55. Emmanuel Reed added 38 yards on eight attempts. Miller caught four passes for 115 yards with the one long touchdown. Blair added six receptions for 56 yards and the lone score from Ferguson in the first quarter. Taji Lowe had 10 tackles to lead the defense. The Black Hole went another game without forcing a turnover, and has only one in six games this season. Coach Nick Charlton said, “We are just very very disappointed. Hats off to Richmond for winning that game, but we are just disappointed that we did not. Felt like there was some important areas there and spots where we needed to play better. We did do some nice things. On the flip side thought Joe (Fagnano) did a good job handling himself stepping up in a big spot with Chris (Ferguson) down. We moved the ball well and also ran it well. They put the ball on the ground three times unfortunately we couldn’t recover any of them. We couldn’t sustain the momentum either, everytime we got the momentum they matched it”.
Mancuso was 14-24 passing for 226 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions. The Spiders committed no turnovers and also had no penalties in the game. Mancuso was also the leading rusher in the win with 28 yards on 11 attempts and the two short touchdown runs. Fuller had three catches for 127 yards and the game winning score. Tyler Dresser had 20 tackles (15 in the first half) to lead the Spiders to their second straight win.
With three conference losses the Black Bears are now unlikely to have a chance at the FCS playoffs this season. Maine will hit the road for their second game of the season against an FBS opponent when they face Liberty next Saturday at 6 p.m. The Flames are Independents and have won four games in a row (4-2 on the season). The game can be seen live on ESPN Plus.
Above Wide receiver Jaquan Blair catches a first quarter touchdown pass and below quarterback Joe Fagnano hands off to Joe Fitzpatrick during fourth quarter action during a CAA football matchup on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at Alfond Stadium in Orono. Richmond beat Maine 24-17. Photos by Anthony DelMonaco
UR 0 7 14 3- 24
ME 7 3 7 0- 17
Total yards- Richmond 295 Maine 398
First downs- Richmond 14 Maine 18
Third downs- Richmond 4-11 Maine 7-17
Time of possession- Richmond 25:44 Maine 34:16
Turnovers- Richmond 0 Maine 1
