ORONO — At this point of the season, with just three games left, it’s no longer a statistical quirk. It’s a pattern, and it shows the University of Maine football team starts games slowly, on both sides of the ball.
For the seventh time is eight games, Maine’s opponent scored first. This time it was No. 17 Richmond who jumped on the Black Bears for an early 21-point lead, then held on for a 31-21 Colonial Athletic Association win Saturday in front of 4,278 fans at Alfond Stadium.
“Digging ourselves a hole in the beginning is always tough. It’s tough to play from behind like that. We’ve got to start faster,” said Maine Coach Jordan Stevens.
Maine is now 2-6, 2-3 in conference play. Richmond improved to 6-2, 4-1 in the conference. Only against Boston College on Sept. 17 has Maine scored first.
“We made an emphasis this week we wanted to start off fast. Before the game, we wanted to receive the ball if we won the coin toss, and we did,” said Richmond quarterback Reece Udinski, who completed 26 of 33 passes for 368 yards, throwing a pair of touchdown passes and running for two more.
The loss came with a steep price for the Black Bears. Senior tight end Shawn Bowman went down with a right leg injury after catching a pass for 12 yards with 3:15 left in the second quarter. After the game, Stevens said it appeared Bowman suffered a fracture. Bowman entered the game leading Maine in catches (29), receiving yards (356), and receiving touchdowns (four). Early in the second quarter, Bowman caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Joe Fagnano to cut Richmond’s lead to 21-7.
“He’s just been such a steady teammate, person, a guy we can count on in the run and pass game,” Stevens said.
Richmond dominated the first quarter, scoring on each of its three possessions while gaining 231 of its 517 total yards. The Spiders opened the game with a six-play, 70-yard drive, culminating with Udinski’s 6-yard touchdown run barely 2 1/2 minutes into the game.
The Spiders next drive took 1:38, and ended with Jakob Herres’ 63-yard touchdown catch from Udinski. Herres caught the ball near midfield, then outran Black Bears and broke a tackle at the goal line to score. With 2:26 left in the first quarter, Udinski scored again, this time on a 3-yard run, for a 21-0 lead.
Again, big plays bruised the Black Bears. The Spiders first touchdown was set up by a 45-yard pass from Udinski to Leroy Henley (six catches for 119 yards). On the Spiders third scoring drive of the first quarter, Udinski hit Herres (eight catches for 174 yards) for a 35-yard gain. Taking shots downfield was a big part of Richmond’s game plan, Udinski said.
“Those big plays are back breakers to the defense,” he said.
The Black Bears scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Following a Richmond turnover, Maine’s Montigo Moss made an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown reception from Fagnano with 14:55 left in the game to cut the deficit to 28-14. After Benito Speight intercepted Udinski in the end zone, the Black Bears capitalized with Zavier Scott’s 41-yard touchdown run down the left sideline to cut Richmond’s lead to 28-21 with 8:25 to play.
Maine had all the momentum, but it ended when Dante Black ran 41 yards, setting the Spiders up for Andrew Lopez’s 22-yard field goal that pushed the lead back to two scores.
“We haven’t really been getting the big plays all year long. We’ve been dinking and dunking and we’ve been trying to emphasize it. It was nice to see some big plays. If it’s a one score game, we may not stop them. A two score game, a lot of things change,” said Richmond Coach Russ Huesman.
Cody Williams missed a 42-yard field goal try with 2:01 to play, ending Maine’s last scoring chance.
“I think we left some opportunities out there. We’ve just got to play better,” said Fagnano, who completed 22 of 41 passes for 208 yards.
Moss had five catches for 71 yards. Philip O’Connor had 10 tackles and two sacks for the Spiders, who sacked Fagnano four times.
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