Richmond freshman quarterback carves up the Maine defense in CAA win

Published by %s
October 7, 2023

Richmond true freshman quarterback Camden Coleman diced up the Maine defense on Saturday afternoon, tossing six touchdown passes as the Spiders defeated the Black Bears 42-31 at Robins Stadium in Richmond, Virginia in Coastal Athletic Association football action.

Maine (1-5, 1-3 CAA) after a huge day of offense in a 56-28 home win over Stony Brook last Saturday, picked up where they left early in this one. Derek Robertson found Joe Gillette streaking behind the Richmond defense at midfield just over three minutes into the first quarter, as Gillette would take it 73 yards for a touchdown. The Black Bears on their next drive used a pair of flea flickers to help them go up 14-0. The first one was from Robertson to Braeden Heald for a 70 yard gain to the Spiders 24-yard line. The very next play, Robertson turned and threw it out in the flat to wideout Montigo Moss who then passed it to a wide open Tavion Banks for a score. After the hosts got on the board with the first touchdown pass of the game for Coleman of 65 yards to Brooks Heagarty, Maine went down the field again and took a 17-7 advantage on a 23-yard field goal from Cody Williams. Richmond took over from there, starting with a Coleman 56-yard scoring pass to Nick DeGennaro near the end of the period to cut it to 17-14, and then would take the lead for good early in the second on a 13-yard TD pass to Quanye Veney. They continued their scoring outburst when DeGennaro hauled in his second scoring pass of the day of 13 yards to extend the advantage to 28-17. After Maine got a second TD from Gillette of 50 yards from Robertson just 1:33 later, the Spiders ended a strong second quarter as Coleman threw his fifth score of the first 30 minutes to Landon Ellis of 11 yards to make it 35-24 at the break. They put it away just over halfway through the third, and it was DeGennaro again for a two-yarder from Coleman to pretty much seal a win for the hosts. Gillette caught another touchdown late for Maine from backup QB Anthony Harris with the game already decided.

Robertson finished his day 18-25 passing for 315 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in the defeat. The run game again wasn’t a factor, only mustering 11 yards on 18 attempts. Gillette had a huge game with eight receptions for 169 yards and three touchdowns. He has five scores in his last two games. Moss had six catches for 72 yards and also threw the first quarter touchdown to Banks. Heald ended up with two grabs for 77 yards. Tyshawn Stewart had 10 total tackles to lead the defense. Coleman did throw two interceptions in the win for Richmond, but also went 25-36 for 365 yards and six touchdowns in only his second career college start. Savon Smith had 53 rushing yards, and DeGennaro had eight receptions for 113 yards and the three touchdowns. The Spiders who were the preseason conference favorite are now 3-3, 2-1 in CAA play. Maine returns to Orono for homecoming next Saturday at 1 p.m. when they take on Long Island University in non-conference action.

Recap by Chris Lessner/Videos courtesy of Maine Football on Twitter 

 

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