PRIDE FALL TO #1 RICHMOND

9/19/2009 11:15:00 PM

Richmond, VA - The defending FCS champion Spiders turned four first half Hofstra turnovers into 24 points as top-ranked Richmond defeated Hofstra, 47-0, in a CAA Football contest at UR Stadium Saturday evening. The Spiders improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the CAA while the Pride fell to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

Richmond quarterback Eric Ward completed 12 of 16 passes for 165 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Spiders, who recorded their third straight victory over the Pride to take a 4-3 lead in the series. Senior running back Justin Forte led the Spiders' ground attack with 72 yards on 12 carries while junior receiver Kevin Grayson caught four passes for 45 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Donte Boston had two catches for 65 yards and one touchdown. Richmond accumulated 378 yards, including 213 rushing, on the day.

Hofstra, which had 199 yards of offense including just 13 on the ground, was led by senior quarterback Cory Christopher, who completed 17 of 26 passes for 172 yards but was sacked four times and was credited with three of the Pride's four fumbles. Junior receiver Aaron Weaver caught four passes for 73 yards while red-shirt freshman quarterback Joe Sidaras and sophomore running back Kwabena Asante each had five carries for 15 yards on the ground.

After the Pride held Richmond to three-and-out of the opening possession, Christopher fumbled on his own 34 with UR end Nicholas Battle recovering. The Pride defense held the Spiders, including four plays inside the 10, with Richmond settling for a 27-yard field goal by Andrew Howard.

After exchanging punts, with the Hofstra defense, once again, holding the Spiders to three-and-out, the Pride offense put the ball on the ground again as Christopher was hit by Battle, fumbled, with junior linebacker Eric McBride picking up the ball and rambling 36 yards to the Hofstra five-yard line. Three plays later freshman running back Kendall Gaskins pushed his way into the end zone from two yards out for the score 39 seconds into the second quarter. Howard's extra-point gave the Spiders a 10-0 lead.

On the Pride's next possession, Richmond held Hofstra on its own 25-yard line forcing the Pride to punt. But on the fourth-and-12 punt, punter Shane Casciano passed to cornerback Leslie Jackman for a gain of 14. But the senior was hit by Derek Hatcher, fumbled and Richmond lineman Pierre Turner recovered at the Hofstra 39. Three plays later, on a third-and 20 play, Spider quarterback Eric Ward found Donte Boston down the sideline for a 49-yard touchdown. Howard's point-after boosted the Spider lead to 17-0 with 12:15 to play in the first half.

Hofstra executed its best drive of the first half on its next possession, driving from its own 20-yard line to the Richmond 16 in 11 plays when, on a third-down play, Christopher was sacked by Jordan Shoop, fumbled with Battle recovering on the 23 yard line. Ward went to work again, hitting Boston for 16 yards and Kevin Grayson for 13 before Forte posted rushing gains of seven, nine and nine yards to move the ball to the Hofstra 23. Two plays later, Ward hit Max Prokell for a 23-yard touchdown. Howard's point-after moved the Spider lead to 24-0 with 4:28 to play in the half.

The Spiders held the Pride to three-and-out on its next possession and took over after the punt on the Hofstra 48. Ward engineered a seven-play drive capped by a 17-yard scoring pass to Grayson. Howard's extra-point made it 31-0 with 50 seconds to play in the first half to close out the first half scoring.

Richmond boosted its lead, to 38-0 on its first possession of the second half moving 64 yards on 9-plays with Ward completing a two-yard pass to Ben Keating. The Spiders added nine more points in the fourth quarter on a safety after the snap to punter Shane Casciano sailed over his head and out of the end zone midway through and an 8-yard run by Tyler Kirchoff with two minutes to play.

Hofstra's defensive charge was led by sophomore Chris Edmond with nine tackles while linebackers Basim Hudeen and Luke Bonus tallied eight and seven stops, respectively. Shoop, Justin Rogers and Adam Abromowitz each made six stops for the Spiders.

The Pride will face FBS opponents Western Michigan University next Saturday, September 26 at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Game time for Hofstra's third straight road game is 7 p.m.

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