A 4th quarter victory for the Spiders, scoring two touchdowns and getting critical stops to rally from a double digit deficit to steal win #6. Another ugly game ended up going our way, as this group continues to find ways to win.

Drives

Game thoughts

Yet another one-possession Patriot League game. Make that 6/6 on the season and the eighth one-score game overall. No matter the circumstances these guys found another way to rally and avoid a massive letdown in DC. This resilient bunch continues to fight for the entire 60 minutes.

1st quarter – Unfortunately another game where we failed to take control early on. Our first offensive drive found the redzone but resulted in the field goal. Isaiah Dawson had a lane to the endzone but fumbled, and then we’re one block away from an easy TD on the following play. Poor execution cost us a 7-0 lead.

After the defense conceded a TD, Jaiden Fair had two drops that stalled our second drive. Two good throws from Wickersham that would’ve put us into Georgetown territory that instead resulted in a punt. We compounded things by never getting the punt off. Coach Huesman was animated on the sidelines about the snap but it looked like Gray should’ve caught it. The Hoyas got the ball at our 14 yard line and quickly held a 14-3 lead. At that point both teams had the ball twice and we were down 11 despite not being outplayed. Purely self-inflicted damage and although we were able to overcome it we have to capitalize on early chances and start pulling away from opponents.

Redzone – Three TDs on four trips for the offense, picking an excellent time to have one of our better redzone days. The defense allowed 17 points on three trips – not great but they got the big stop when they needed it, stuffing the Hoyas on a 3rd & 1 to avoid trailing late in the 4th quarter. Fun to watch both the offense and defense execute in late game situations.

Injuries – Quanye Veney returned at WR, his first action since Bucknell. Brutal to see Carbajal go down, not returning to the game but continuing to be a vocal leader on the sidelines. Hard to tell the severity but it sucks to see a guy work so hard to come back only to get hurt again.

Offense

12 drives | 54 snaps – 7 punts, 4 TDs, 1 FG

Andrew King – His role is smaller than I imagined it would be but his impact couldn’t be bigger. Just three touches on the day but #8 made the most of his opportunities. His first reception picked up a key 3rd down in the 4th quarter, and we won’t soon forget his 15-yard TD to give the Spiders the win. On just 19 receptions King has three TDs, the second most on the team alongside Griffin. #8 continues to provide a big boost to our offense when given the chance.

Ja’Vion Griffin – The first 100-yard game for Griffin, a great achievement for J5 in his senior season. That TDs in back to back games for Ja’Vion, a guy that has been under utilized to this point. He remains a steady option on the outside and has brought in plenty of 3rd down/TD receptions this year. Happy to see him haul in two 40+ yard passes and I hope his targets stay high in our last two games.

Quarterbacks – Coach Huesman on the decision to go with #18 in the 3rd quarter:

“When we dropped the one there in the backfield, we just said we need a spark and we made the decision to go with Ashten.“

He’s referencing Wickersham mishandling the flea-flicker, as there were two Spiders and only one G’Town defender within 20 yards of the endzone. Snelsire absolutely provided a spark with both QBs finishing with good numbers:

The big difference here is the yards/attempt – we came out firing the first few drives but really backed off in the 2nd quarter. It looked like Georgetown adjusted to our scheme and we couldn’t counter, as guys weren’t open and Kyle was forced to take a lot of checkdowns. After Snelsire entered we opened things up and stretched the defense, with half of his passing attempts deep downfield.

What resulted was TDs on three of his first four drives. He connected with Griffin, Hill, and King for chunk plays, as despite only five completions we made the most of each one. The game-winner to King was beautiful – excellent anticipation from Ashten, as King wasn’t even by the linebacker yet when he released the ball. A great job of throwing his receiver open and a great job of leading the Richmond comeback.

Defense

12 drives | 70 plays – 6 punts, 3 TDs, 2 turnovers [1 on downs], 1 FG

The defense really buckled down after a slow start, giving up 10 points on Georgetown’s final 10 drives. The 14-3 disadvantage we had in the 1st quarter was flipped in the 4th, thanks to a redzone stop, fumble recovery at the 6 yard line, and a turnover on downs.

Defensive line – Our front was dominant for the second straight week.

After pushing around Fordham’s O-line we did Georgetown even worse, recording six total sacks and 10 TFLs. Our defensive ends won on the edge throughout the day, constantly getting around their tackles and disrupting seemingly every other play. We had some wins that won’t show in individual box scores, forcing multiple intentional groundings and countless negative plays to keep G’Town behind the sticks. The interior played well, with Fitz recording a sack and just missing out on another TFL. #5 was about to bring down Savion Hart before some friendly fire from Geronomi took both Spiders out of the play, leading to a 60-yard TD run. I know we’ve faced two really poor O-lines exiting the bye but our guys look fresh and have taken over games in consecutive weeks.

Coverage – A few plays our corners would like back but not bad overall. Georgetown completed some longer passes on extended plays which are always difficult to cover, plus Jimmy Kibble is a legit WR1. Great route runner and showed off his big catch radius. Still, we tightened things up in the 2nd half, allowing only 71 passing yards and keeping them under 200 for the day. Georgetown completed nine of their first 11 passes but only seven of their final 13. 3rd down conversions coincided, starting the game 3/4 but finishing just 3/12.

Linebackers – Seelmann (10) and Glassmyer (6) were two of the top tacklers despite only having one hand each. Gutsy from both to continue playing and to do so at such a high level. A few people noted Blake Houser not getting a lot of snaps, simply a product of “too many” good linebackers. I do love how Coach Wood uses him on 3rd & longs as the QB spy/contain player.

We take a DT off the field and add Houser, who doesn’t initially rush but keeps contain and doesn’t allow QBs extra time once leaving the pocket. It’s a great wrinkle our defense uses on long passing downs, taking advantage of Houser’s speed and closing ability.

Special Teams

Jayden Alsheskie made another FG and all four PATs – he’s 9 for 11 this season with the only two misses being the blocked kicks against Fordham. Aside from the mishandled snap Gray punted well, with a 42 yard average and a career long 57 yarder. Isaiah Dawson added a 35-yard kickoff return, with Jaiden Fair handling punt return duties. Very unlucky break on our fumbled punt, not getting the kick-catch interference call and losing the ball after it hit Amir Haskett’s hand. That’s a difficult one across the board and thankfully the UR defense responded with a 3 & out.

Next Post

Game 11 – 2025: Lafayette preview – Friday, November 14th