Steriti's Late 2-Yard TD Run Lifts No. 7 Football past No. 17 Richmond, 29-26

Saturday, September 20

Richmond, VA

4 pm

University of New Hampshire

2-1

University of Richmond

2-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

New Hampshire

Richmond

Steriti's Late 2-Yard TD Run Lifts No. 7 Football past No. 17 Richmond, 29-26

9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – Nico Steriti (Toms River, N.J.) scored on a two-yard run with 19 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to lift the No. 7 University of New Hampshire football team to a 29-26 victory against No. 17 University of Richmond in Saturday afternoon's CAA opener at Robins Stadium.

UNH, with its fourth consecutive win against Richmond in the series (the last three by a combined nine points), improved to 2-1 overall while the Spiders fell to 2-2.

UNH starting quarterback Sean Goldrich (West Haven, Conn.) was 18 of 25 for 212 yards; he also led the team with 12 rushes for 87 yards and matched his career high with three rushing touchdowns. Goldrich's top targets were R.J. Harris (Odenton, Md.; 8-119) and Harold Spears (Perkasie, Pa.; 4-94). Steriti finished with nine carries for 52 yards and had two catches for 10 yards.

Four Wildcats recorded double digits in tackles. Hayden Knudson (Alexandria, Va.) led the way with 12 tackles, including one for a loss, and a forced fumble. Nick Cefalo (Basking Ridge, N.J.) had 11 stops, including UNH's lone sack. Shane McNeely (White Hall, Pa.) also had 11 tackles and Akil Anderson (Morristown, N.J.) rounded out the quartet with 10, two for a loss.

UR quarterback Michael Strauss went 27-for-35 for 344 yards. Brian Brown (12 catches, 139) and Rashad Ponder (7-109) both eclipsed 100 yards receiving. The ground game was led by Seth Fisher with 16 rushes for 60 yards and two TDs.

The team's overall offensive numbers were even with UNH's total offense at 461 yards (247 passing, 214 rushing) on 70 plays, while UR had 469 yards (348 pass, 121 rush) on 72 plays.

Richmond had regained the lead, 26-22, on Seth Fisher's four-yard TD with 6:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Following a touchback, UNH began its game-winning drive on its 25 with backup quarterback Andy Vailas (Bedford, N.H.) at the helm because Goldrich was injured on his one-yard TD that gave the Wildcats a 22-19 lead at 10:59 of the fourth quarter. On first down, Vailas completed his first pass attempt of the day to Harris for six yards. Four plays later, UNH faced 3rd-and-8 on its 37 and Vailas hit Harris on an out pattern to the right side and the wideout turned upfield for a gain of 24 yards to the Richmond 39.

On the next play, Vailas pulled the ball down in the pocket and split a pair of defenders for a nine-yard run. Steriti bulled into the line for a three-yard gain and first down for the 'Cats. On a designed QB run, Vailas gained the corner on the right side to advance the ball to the UR 20. Back-to-back runs by Jimmy Owens set up 1st-and-10 at the UR 16 with 1:41 to play.

Facing 3rd-and-3 at the UR 9, Vailas' pass to Spears in the end zone sailed high with 33 seconds on the clock. Vailas then pulled the ball down and ran up the middle for a seven-yard gain to give New Hampshire 1st-and-goal at the UR 2 with 24 seconds to go. One play later, Steriti plowed into the end zone and the Christian Breda PAT gave UNH a 29-26 lead with 19 seconds remaining.

Richmond QB Michael Strauss threw an incompletion on 1st-and-10 from the UR 27. He then hit a four-yard completion to give the Spiders one last chance with one second on the clock. His pass was completed to Reggie Diggs for five yards, but Diggs' immediate lateral was caught by Cody Muller (Telford, Pa.) and he fell to the ground to end the game.

On the game's first possession, Richmond drove 66 yards on 13 plays in 4:49 to take a 3-0 lead on Peter Yoder's 22-yard field goal. UNH made a strong defensive stand to quell the drive as Casey DeAndrade (East Bridgewater, Mass.) broke up a jump-ball pass to the back-left corner on 2^nd-and-goal and Daniel Rowe (Orange, N.J.) broke up an attempted slant pass on third down.

UNH was forced to punt on its first two possessions, then the Spiders extended the lead to 10-0 on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 5:53 off the clock. Strauss completed passes of 31 and 23 yards to fuel the drive, which was capped by Fisher's one-yard leap over the line at 11:57 of the second quarter.

Goldrich then engineered a 13-play, 75-yard drive in which he completed all five pass attempts for 43 yards and carried the ball twice for nine yards, including the one-yard TD plunge on the right side of the line. Christian Breda (Needham, Mass.) kicked the ensuing PAT to lift the 'Cats within 10-7 at 6:39.

The Spiders needed just five plays to advance the ball 61 yards to the UNH 20, but on the next play Knudson forced Ponder to fumble at the UNH 8 and Cefalo covered the ball on the UNH 1 to thwart the scoring threat.

New Hampshire then marched 99 yards on 13 plays to take its first lead of the game, 14-10, with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Four plays later, a Goldrich-to-Spears 29-yard completion and Richmond personal foul advanced the ball to the UR 42. Three plays later, that tandem combined for a 20-yard pass play to set up 1^st-and-10 at the 16 with just under two minutes on the clock.

UNH called timeout facing 4^th-and-1 at the UR 7 with 23 seconds left in the first half. Jimmy Owens (West Deptford, N.J.; 12 carries, 47 yards) gained four yards to extend the possession and Goldrich spiked the ball to stop the clock with 15 to play. He then took the snap and easily won the race to the right pylon for the four-yard score.

On the opening possession of the third quarter, Richmond's defense stopped UNH for a two-yard loss on 4^th-and-1 at the UR 35. The Spiders faced 3^rd-and-goal at the 2, but Anderson and Cefalo dropped Fisher for a three-yard loss. Yoder's 22-yard field goal pulled UR within 14-13 at 8:12 of the third quarter.

The home team continued momentum by forcing New Hampshire to a three-and-out, and then regained the lead, 19-14, when backup QB Michael Rocco took the snap in shotgun formation and scored on a two-yard run at 1:52. The Spiders went for two, but the snap was low and Strauss was forced into an errant throw that went into the ground.

Back-to-back completions of 17 and 24 yards from Goldrich to Harris put the Wildcats in field goal range, but Breda's 37-yard attempt sailed wide right to keep the margin at five points at 13:49 of the fourth quarter.

UNH's defense then recorded its only three-and-out series on McNeely's near interception on third down that forced Richmond to punt.

On 1^st-and-10 from the UNH 34, Goldrich found Spears alone on the left sideline for a 27-yard gain to the UR 39. One play later, Steriti busted a 32-yard run up the middle to give the 'Cats 1^st-and-goal at the 1. Goldrich's one-yard dive on the right side and Vailas' run around the right side on the ensuing PAT gave UNH a 22-19 lead at 10:59.

The Spiders responded with a 9-play, 73-yard drive capped by Fisher's four-yard TD run to give them a 26-22 lead at 6:31.

Spears eclipsed 1,000 career receiving yards on his 29-yard catch in the second quarter and he now has 1,064.

Harris, with his third 100-yard receiving game of the season and 14^th of his career, ascended to No. 2 on UNH's career receiving yards leaderboard. He surpassed David Gamble (1990-93; 3,072) and now has 3,154.

Goldrich entered the program's Top 10 list in career passing yards and climbed past Chris Bresnahan (1995-96; 4,085), Kevin Decker (2008-11; 4,151) and Jeff Allen (1974-77; 4,184) to No. 8 with a total of 4,203.

New Hampshire returns to action Sept. 27 at home for State of New Hampshire Day against intrastate rival Dartmouth College. Kickoff at Cowell Stadium is 6 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling (603) 862-4000, extension 5.