The #17 Richmond Spiders used a big first quarter on Saturday afternoon, and never trailed in picking up a 31-21 win over the Maine Black Bears in a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) football game at Alfond Stadium in Orono.
Richmond (6-2, 4-1 in the CAA) scored the first three times they had the ball and took the opening kickoff and jumped on top quickly, going 70 yards in six plays in just 2:28. Quaterback Reece Udinski would score on a six yard run. It took the Spiders just four plays that covered 81 yards on their second possession, with Udinski finding Jakob Herres for a 63 yard touchdown. Udinski finished off the big quarter with a three yard TD run with 26 seconds left and it was 21-0. Maine got on the board for the first time 5:41 into the second on a nine yard touchdown pass from Joe Fagnano to Shawn Bowman, and the Black Bears trailed by 14 at the break.
Richmond pushed their lead back to 21 with 5:38 left in the third quarter when Udinski tossed his second touchdown of the afternoon of 21 yards to Leroy Henley. Maine fought back though. Justin Sambu sacked Udinski deep in his own territory late in the third, and Raffaele Salamone recovered at the Spiders 10 yard line. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Montigo Moss made another highlight reel catch one handed in the back of the endzone for a nine yard TD from Fagnano. Richmond had a sustained drive going after the Moss touchdown, but Udinski was intercepted by Benito Speight in the endzone on a second down and long from the UMaine 20. The Black Bears then went 80 yards in seven plays in just 1:58, finished off by a 41 yard scoring run on a reverse play by Xavier Scott to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 8:25 to go. Andrew Lopez extended the lead to 10 for the guests with a 22 yard field goal with 3:59 left. Maine would get into position for more points, helped by a 23 yard completion from Fagnano to Moss but a 42 yard field goal by Cody Williams hit the right upright and bounced back out with just 2:01 remaining. Richmond was able to pick up one first down to all but kill the clock in picking up their fourth conference victory.
Fagnano finished 22-41 passing for 208 yards with two touchdowns in the second straight loss for Maine. Fagnano was also sacked four times on the day. Elijah Barnwell was the leading rusher with 12 carries for 48 yards. Moss had five receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown to lead the receiving core. Michael Monios (5 rec, 42 yards), Scott (4-35), and Kobay White (4-33) also chipped in. Adrian Otero, Shakur Smalls, Kahzir “Buggs” Brown, and Salamone all had eight tackles each. Udinksi passed for 368 yards (26-33) with two touchdowns and one interception in the win for Richmond. Aaron Dykes had 62 yards rushing while Dante Black added 61. Two Spiders receivers went over 100 yards, as Herres caught eight for 174 yards and a touchdown and Henley had six for 119 and a score. The Black Bears fall to 2-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play. Maine will be in Rhode Island to battle the URI Rams next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
