Holy Cross Runs Past Richmond 33-14 as Joseph Williams Rushes for 206 Yards

Richmond came to Worcester ranked No. 19 and No. 21 in the two FCS polls, sitting at 4-1 in the Patriot League, and scored twice in the first quarter. It did not score again. Holy Cross ran for 323 yards, scored the final 26 points and handed the Spiders a loss that scrambles the top of the league standings.

Holy Cross beat Richmond 33-14 at Fitton Field on Saturday, Oct. 31. Joseph Williams carried 19 times for 206 yards and three touchdowns, including a 62-yard burst early in the fourth quarter, and Jake Croce added two short touchdown runs. Holy Cross improved to 4-5 overall and 4-2 in the Patriot League. Richmond dropped to 6-3 and 4-2.

The Crusaders outgained Richmond 415-209 and held the ball for 34:25. The Holy Cross defense kept Richmond off the scoreboard for the final three quarters.

Richmond strikes first, twice

The Spiders opened the game the way a contender should. Their first drive went 66 yards in seven plays and ended with a 3-yard Aziz Foster-Powell touchdown run with 10:53 left in the first quarter.

Holy Cross answered with a long, patient march. The Crusaders went 61 yards in 11 plays over 6:57, and Williams finished it with a 21-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7 with 3:51 left in the quarter.

Then came the play that gave Richmond its last lead. A Ned Gray punt was muffed by Garrett Baldwin at the Holy Cross 18, and Kenyez Mungro recovered for Richmond at the 16. Three plays later, on third-and-5, Ashten Snelsire found Andreas Hill for an 11-yard touchdown. Richmond led 14-7 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

Holy Cross chips away

The second quarter belonged to the Holy Cross ground game. On the Crusaders' touchdown drive, David Lynch kept it alive with a 33-yard completion to Lincoln Fisher on third-and-3, and Williams did most of the rest, ripping off runs of 16, 9 and 5 yards before scoring from 3 yards out with 7:08 left in the half. The extra point missed, and Richmond still led 14-13.

The Holy Cross defense made sure that margin did not grow. With 4:11 left in the half, Juju Tackie intercepted Snelsire at the Holy Cross 26 to end a Richmond drive that had crossed midfield. The teams traded punts from there, and Richmond took its one-point lead into halftime.

The 96-yard drive

The third quarter opened quietly, and for a while field position favored Richmond. After a delay-of-game penalty pushed the Spiders back on fourth down, Gray dropped a 42-yard punt at the Holy Cross 4.

Holy Cross responded with the drive of the day. Williams ran for 6, 6 and then 39 yards to get the Crusaders out of the shadow of their own goal posts. Datrell Jones added a 15-yard run, Lynch hit Luke Petitta for 12 yards and Lucas Weir for 4, and Croce converted a third-and-4 with a 10-yard run to the 2. Croce scored on the next play with 3:13 left in the third quarter. The two-point try failed, but Holy Cross led 19-14 after a 10-play, 96-yard drive that took 5:52.

A miss, then a knockout

Richmond had one more good answer in it. Foster-Powell ran for 6 and 13 yards, a Holy Cross personal foul added 15 more, and Donovan Higgins broke a 16-yard run to the Holy Cross 29. The drive stalled at the 17, and Kyle Bitsko's 35-yard field goal try was no good with 12:44 left.

Holy Cross needed three plays to make Richmond pay. Williams ran for 6, Jones for 12, and then Williams went 62 yards up the left side for a touchdown with 11:04 to play. It was 26-14.

The Holy Cross pass rush took over from there. Snelsire threw three straight incompletions on the next series, two of them under pressure from Carlo Crocetti and Rushaune Vilane, and Richmond punted. Holy Cross then went 66 yards in nine plays, helped by a Richmond personal foul that turned a 4-yard Croce run into a 19-yard gain, and Croce scored from 2 yards out with 5:01 left. On Richmond's next possession, Jack Callaghan was sacked by Cooper Ackerman on fourth-and-6, and Holy Cross ran out the clock.

Williams sets the tone

Williams averaged 10.8 yards per carry, and his three touchdown runs covered 21, 3 and 62 yards. Two of his biggest runs came on the drives that decided the game: the 39-yarder that flipped the field on the 96-yard march in the third quarter and the 62-yard touchdown that came right after Richmond's missed field goal. Jones gave Holy Cross a second steady option between the tackles, and Croce handled the work near the goal line, scoring both of his touchdowns from 2 yards out.

Holy Cross rarely needed to throw. Lynch attempted only 20 passes, and his longest completion, the 33-yarder to Fisher on third down, set up a touchdown. Seven different Crusaders caught a pass, with Ty Curran leading the way with four catches for 23 yards.

Richmond's special teams kept the Spiders in it for a while. Gray punted six times for a 42.0-yard average and put two inside the 20, and Jaiden Fair returned four kickoffs for 91 yards. But after the first quarter, the Richmond offense could not find room. Snelsire's touchdown pass came on the short field created by the muffed punt, and the Spiders' only scoring chance after that, the 35-yard field goal try, came up empty.

By the numbers

Holy Cross ran 43 times for 323 yards, 7.5 per carry. Williams had 206 of those yards on 19 carries, Jones added 79 on 14 and Croce scored twice on six carries for 26 yards. Lynch completed 11 of 20 passes for 92 yards without an interception, and Fisher caught two passes for 41 yards.

Richmond managed 209 total yards, 128 of them on the ground. Foster-Powell ran 12 times for 57 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 22 more. Snelsire completed 9 of 20 passes for 81 yards with a touchdown and an interception and ran 11 times for 46 yards. Hill caught two passes for 38 yards and the score.

Holy Cross converted 7 of 11 third downs and picked up 23 first downs to Richmond's 13, while the Spiders went 4 for 12 on third down and 0 for 1 on fourth. Adam Due led Holy Cross with 14 tackles and half a sack, and Ackerman had six tackles and a sack. Blake Houser made 15 tackles for Richmond.

What it means

Richmond came in with a chance to stay on Lehigh's heels after sacking Colgate eight times in a 13-6 win last week. Instead, the Spiders fell a game behind Lehigh, which sits at 5-1 in league play. Richmond is now part of a crowd at 4-2 that includes Holy Cross, Colgate and Villanova.

Holy Cross has won two straight in convincing fashion after routing Bucknell 34-3 a week ago.

The schedule makes the next two weeks fascinating. Richmond visits Villanova on Saturday, Nov. 7. Holy Cross travels to Georgetown the same day and then hosts Villanova on Nov. 14.

The last word

Richmond got exactly the start it wanted and still lost by 19. Holy Cross never panicked after the muffed punt, leaned on Williams and its offensive line, and let a defense that gave up 14 points in the first quarter pitch a shutout the rest of the way. In a league race this tight, that kind of response could be worth a lot in November.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, ESPN team schedules. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Kenneth C. Zirkel/Wikimedia Commons.