Richmond upsets Duke in opener

An early chess match turned into an entertaining second half and No. 16 Richmond held off Duke, 23-21, Saturday night at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.  The victory is the first for interim head coach Wayne Lineburg and is the Spiders’ third-straight at Duke since 2006.

Senior QB Aaron Corp threw for 193 yards and touchdown, while senior WR Tre Gray reeled a career-high 129 yards on a career-best eight catches.  Redshirt freshman WR Stephen Barnette’s first career catch was a six-yard TD grab that opened the scoring in the second quarter.

The Spiders (1-0) were limited to just 95 yards rushing, but junior FB Kendall Gaskins eight-yard TD put Richmond up 17-14 in the third quarter and senior RB Garrett Turner’s one-yard plunge was the eventual game-winner with 10:12 left on the clock.

Richmond’s defense forced two key fumbles and junior S Cooper Taylor – a Georgia Tech transfer – made his Spider in hard-hitting fashion.  Taylor recorded a game-high 14 tackles, had a tackle for loss, forced a fumble and broke up a pass.  Junior LB Darrius McMillan was in on 12 stops and senior S Colin Pehanick set a career-high with nine tackles (six solo). Pehanick also forced a fumble.

Corp’s arm set-up the Spiders’ late go-ahead score and Turner’s one-yard TD run put the visitors up 23-21 with 10 minutes left.  Corp hit Kevin Finney for 26 yards early in drive, and found Gray for hook-ups of 12 and 33 yards to put the Spiders in the Red Zone for the fifth time on the night.

And on fourth-and-goal at the one, Turner punched it for his sixth career score.  Richmond converted on four of its five Red Zone trips and scored all 23 points from inside the 20.

The Spiders, though, had to survive some late-game drama and Duke kicker Will Snyderwine missed a 28-yard field goal wide right with 1:43 left, then came up short on a desperation 59-yard try as time expired.

After a scoreless first quarter, Taylor made his presence felt by laying the lumber on Duke QB Sean Renfree and knocking the ball loose deep in Duke territory.  Brandon Scott pounced on the loose ball at the eight-yard line.  Three plays later, Corp hit Barnette with a perfectly-place ball for the six-yard score.

But Duke (0-1) answered right back on their next possession and Desmond Scott’s 29-yard run knotted the game at 7-7.

Another turnover in the shadow of Richmond’s end zone led to a field goal as Pehanick stripped Brandon Braxton and McMillan recovered the fumble at the Duke 26. Five plays later, freshman Remington Hinshaw’s 29-yard field goal put the Spiders back up 10-7 with 4:18 left in the half.

Duke would run out of time deep in Richmond territory and the game went to halftime 10-7.

The lead changed hands three times in a wild third quarter.

The ground game got rolling for Duke, and the Blue Devils compiled an 11-play, 79- yard drive, capped by a six-yard TD run from Brandon Connette to claim their first lead of 14-10 at the 8:23 mark.

Gaskins’ touchdown run finished up a long drive by the Spiders to put Richmond back in front with five minutes left in third, but the Blue Devils countered again with a lengthy drive and seized a 21-17 advantage in the closing seconds of the third.

Renfree finished 23-of-33 passing for 201 yards, while Juwan Thompson and Scott each surpassed the 80-yard rushing mark.  Duke out-gained Richmond 379-288.

Richmond opens its home schedule Saturday night versus Wagner.  Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. ET and good seats are still available for the first-ever night game at Robins Stadium.  Call 1-877-SPIDER-1 or purchase them online at RichmondSpiders.com.

Postgame Quotes: Richmond Interim Head Coach Wayne Lineburg

Opening statement

“Just a tremendous win for our kids. I think they’ve hung together over some adverse conditions over the last few weeks and we’re all just proud of them and we’re proud of the staff for sticking together and doing things the right way. We’ve got great kids in this program and it showed tonight. They played hard and got after it, and it was a great win for the program.”

On the third quarter

“I think both teams just kind of looked like they found a little bit of rhythm on offense. On our side of the ball I think Aaron [Corp] and Tre [Gray] made some plays out there, and Kendall Gaskins started getting the run game going. Those guys, they kind of looked like they started to run the ball and maybe started to wear us down just a little bit, but our guys hung in there and when it mattered really made some plays at the end that obviously won the game for us.”

On adversity over the last week

“I just think it’s about these kids and how they hang together and how tough they are. I just think it’s a great group of kids that works hard and they believe in each other. It’s more about them than anything else.”

On the defense

“Every time we needed a play those guys kept stepping up and making a play.”

On Tre Gray’s big catches

“I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. He’s as a tough a kid as they come. He made a lot of huge plays and a lot of runs after catches that were crucial in the game.”