VMI forced three turnovers and posted a season-high 325 yards of total offense, but #1 Richmond walked away with a hard-fought, 38-28 victory in non-conference action at UR Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Quarterback Kyle Hughes led the Keydet offense, passing for 141 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 133 yards and two more scores. It marked the first time a VMI player had rushed and passed for over 100 yards in nearly two years, since Hughes did so against Robert Morris back on Sept. 29, 2007.
The Spiders (4-0), meanwhile, won their 13th-straight contest, advancing their own school record and extending the longest current win streak in the Football Championship Subdivision. Richmond signal caller Eric Ward passed for a career-best 394 yards and three touchdowns, while Donte Boston (125 yards) and Tre Gray (112 yards) each cleared 100 yards receiving. Justin Forte rushed for a game-high 152 yards for the Spiders in the last meeting at UR Stadium between the long-time rivals.
“I thought we played hard today, and they ended up getting 10 more points than we did, but I think we’re going to see some great effort from our team as we watch the film, and that is certainly something you can build on,” VMI coach Sparky Woods said.
The visiting Keydets (1-3) drew first blood in the teams’ 86th meeting, as Hughes connected with Tim Maypray for a 44-yard hook-up. The score came one play after Keydet linebacker Josh Sneed collected a Ward fumble. The completion allowed Maypray to break the Big South record for career all-purpose yards, as he passed former Keydet Sean Mizzer for the league record.
The Spiders answered on the ensuing drive, pounding out a nine-play, 63-yard drive that included a 29-yard completion from Ward to Boston on 3rd-and-24. Forte tied the contest on the next play, as his nine-yard scamper put the defending National Champs on the scoreboard.
After a Keydet drive stalled just inside of Richmond territory, the Spiders, keyed by a 38-yard run by Forte, needed just seven plays to cover 86 yards to move ahead, 14-7. The score came on a 17-yard strike from Ward to Gray, while the Spiders doubled that margin less than two minutes later, when Ward found Boston for a 53-yard score to push the margin to 21-7.
VMI countered before halftime, using a 51-yard Hughes-Barnson pass play to reach the red zone, before Hughes found Mario Scott for a nine-yard scoring strike that brought the visitors within a touchdown at 21-14.
That was how the score remained at the intermission, as the Spiders failed on a 33-yard field goal attempt by Andrew Howard. At the break, Richmond held a 297-195 advantage in total yards, having passed for all but 50 of those yards, but were limited by two Ward turnovers, including a late interception late by Keydet freshman Michael Johnson.
The Spiders wasted no time moving ahead in the third quarter, using four snaps to go 66 yards for an insurance score. Following a 44-yard completion from Ward to Gray, Tyler Kirchoff found paydirt from five yards out to make it a 14-point contest. A 34-yard field goal by Howard five minutes later gave the Spiders their largest lead of the day at 31-14.
The Keydet offense once again answered. Following a fumbled punt return by Richmond’s Derek Hatcher, VMI embarked on its longest drive of the day, an 11-play march that took over five minutes off the clock. Rushing on 10 of the drive’s 11 plays, VMI cashed on when Hughes plunged in from a yard out. The extra point, however, was blocked, leaving the score at 31-20 with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter.
After the Keydets stopped the Spiders on the ensuing drive, a roughing-the-punter penalty gave Richmond new life. With Ward passing for 65 of the drive’s 83 yards, the Spiders pushed their lead to 38-20 on a 13-yard completion to Kevin Grayson with 9:38 remaining on the clock.
Again, VMI would not go quietly. On the second play of the next drive, Hughes scampered 66 yards for VMI’s longest run of the season. The Williamsburg native then took matters into his own hands once again on the two-point conversion, rushing in to bring the Keydets within 10 points at 38-28 with 8:46 remaining.
The Spiders, however, controlled the ball for over six minutes the rest of the way, as VMI’s only remaining drive stalled out deep in its own territory.
Maypray ended the day with 176 all-purpose yards, ending the contest with 4,655 career all-purpose yards. That moved him past Mizzer’s Big South total of 4,621, while his 12th career receiving touchdown tied him with Ronnie Moore (1972-75) for third on VMI’s career list. In addition, Maypray’s 31st career score tied him with Mizzer for the second-most in VMI history.
For the second straight week, safety Byron Allen led the Keydet defense in tackles. The redshirt sophomore totaled 11 tackles (four solo, seven assists) in the game, while Greg Walker added 10 stops from his cornerback position.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Woods said. “I thought we competed very hard. We were short a few guys who were hurt and the younger guys stepped in and played really hard. I was proud of how our team prepared coming off the week against James Madison and then coming here to play. They did just about everything we asked of them as coaches.”
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