University of New Hampshire Athletics
Brian Espanet made a one-handed catch in the end zone at the end of the first half. (Andrew Yourell photo)
10/31/2021 1:26:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
Espanet's Grab a Highlight in Loss; On to UAlbany for 'Cats
DURHAM, N.H. – Down to the closing seconds of the first half and looking for a spark and to take advantage of a Richmond mistake, University of New Hampshire quarterback Bret Edwards took the snap from center, looked around, and chucked the ball towards the right side of the end zone in a wet Wildcat Stadium.
Receiver Brian Espanet, all 6-foot-3 of him, went high and stuck his right hand up and plucked the ball out of the air and came down with it for his sixth touchdown of the season, a 24-yarder.
UNH had its spark and when freshman quarterback Brody McAndrew ran the ball in from seven yards out early in the second half, the Wildcats had the lead at 21-17.
It was a lead they would not be able to hold, however.
Richmond scored the last 18 points of the game and sent UNH to its fifth straight loss, 35-21.
The Wildcats are 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association with three games remaining in the season.
They play at UAlbany next Saturday, Nov. 6 and are at Rhode Island on Nov. 13 and then close out the year with their Border Battle game against Maine in Wildcat Stadium on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. for the Brice-Cowell Musket on Senior Day.
Fans can purchase tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).
'The Catch' will rank as one of the season's highlights.
"That's one of the best catches I've seen here at UNH in a long, long time," said head coach Sean McDonnell. "It was David Ball-ish. He went up with one hand and brought it down. Heckuva catch."
Nice company.
Ball is the UNH wide receiver who teamed with quarterback Ricky Santos – now the team's associate head coach – and specialized in highlight-film catches while the pair rewrote the school's record books.
During his senior year, Ball passed Jerry Rice's mark of 53 career touchdown catches at the FCS level and finished with 58 (a record that lasted a decade before Cooper Kupp caught 73 at Eastern Washington before moving on to the NFL).
Santos and Ball are both in the Wildcat Hall of Fame and had their numbers retired by the football program. They, along with Corey Graham and a large supporting cast helped start UNH's string of 14 straight FCS playoff appearances that stretched from 2004 to 2017.
The Edwards to Espanet touchdown cut Richmond's lead to 17-14 and did spark the Wildcats.
It was set up by pressure from the Wildcats on a punt and a high snap that went through the hands of Richmond's punter, giving the UNH the ball on the Richmond 24-yard line.
The Wildcats took advantage of another Richmond miscue on special teams – a fumble by the punt returner – to score again early in the third quarter and take the lead at 21-17.
Freshman quarterback Brody McAndrew scored that one on a 7-yard run. McAndrew was in on several packages.
Edwards was banged up during UNH's loss at Elon last week and didn't practice Tuesday.
"We've had some stuff in the game plan for Brody, some quarterback run stuff," McDonnell said. "We did a lot of that on Tuesday and it looked pretty good. We thought it would be a little bit of a spark and it was at times out there. That was a nice little touchdown run."
Richmond rallied from there and broke a couple of long Joe Mancuso to Aaron Dykes pass plays – of 58 and 28 yards - in the fourth quarter for the win.
UNH redshirt freshman running back Isaac Seide was another bright spot.
He got an opportunity with sophomore Dylan Laube out with a high ankle sprain and led the team with nine carries for 75 yards, including a 53-yard run that got UNH to the Richmond 3-yard line midway through the second period. He scored UNH's first touchdown on the next play.
McDonnell said the team hopes to have Laube back for the season-ending game against Maine.
Next up is UAlbany, a team that had high hopes going into the season and dropped to 0-8 overall and 0-6 in the CAA with a 38-24 loss to Towson on Saturday.
"Another team that's struggled in this league," McDonnell said. "Like Richmond was, like we are. They've been in a lot of games. They've lost by a touchdown or less against really good competition."
Before Saturday, UAlbany lost consecutive games to Maine, 19-16; No. 5 Villanova, 17-10; William & Mary, 31-24; and No. 9 Delaware, 20-15.
The Wildcats have work to do as they head into the stretch run of the season.
"I definitely felt we played hard today," Seide said. "We stuck together. It's minor mistakes we need to improve on. In this game, a simple mistake can make a huge effect on the overall performance of the game. There are minor mistakes that just need to be cleaned up some and we can execute the way I know we can as an offense."
HOME AGAIN
- After games at UAlbany and Rhode Island the next two Saturdays, the Wildcats return home to close out the season against Maine on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
- It's a Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, for the Brice-Cowell Musket.
- Tickets for home games are available by calling the UNH Box Office at 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
- UNH's home games may be viewed on NBCSports Boston and at www.FloFootball.com.
NEXT UP
- UAlbany is 0-8 overall and 0-6 in the CAA.
- Quarterback Jeff Undercuffler completed 28 of his 41 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-24 loss to Towson on Saturday.
- The Great Danes had 444 total yards of offense in the game.
- They turned the ball over three times on an Undercuffler interception and two fumbles.
- Karl Mofor has rushed for five touchdowns this season.
- Undercuffler has six touchdown passes and six interceptions.
- UAlbany is averaging 16.6 points scored a game this season, which is 12th and last in the league.
- The Wildcats are one spot ahead at 19 points per game.
- UAlbany beat UNH, 24-20, in Durham on March 5.
- It was the only spring game for the Wildcats before COVID-19 shut down their season.
- The Great Danes went 1-3 in the spring.
- They were 9-4 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs in 2019.
- UAlbany stopped UNH, 24-17, in Albany that season.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we came out and played hard. We just gave up too many big plays on defense. The offense put up some points. On defense we have to limit the big plays."
Freshman defensive end Josiah Silver
"Credit goes to them. They stayed the course for all four quarters. They executed what they do better than we did in the latter part of the game."
Head coach Sean McDonnell
"I thought we had some tremendous effort early and caused some turnovers, created some turnovers. We did some things on special teams that gave us an opportunity."
Sean McDonnell
UNH BY THE NUMBERS
- Sophomores Tim Bouchard, on the opening kickoff, and Joe Eichman, on a punt, recovered fumbles for the Wildcats.
- Sophomore linebacker Bryce Shaw had his first career interception.
- UNH collected the three turnovers and lost one fumble.
- The Wildcats are tied with Villanova for second in the CAA in turnover margin at plus 4.
- UAlbany is at minus four.
- UNH is third in turnovers gained with 10 interceptions and seven fumble recoveries for 17.
- Villanova has gained 19 and William & Mary 18.
- Silver led the Wildcats with nine tackles, 2.5 of them for loss.
- Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury had six tackles.
- The Wildcats did not have a quarterback sack on Saturday.
- Silver leads the team with 6.5 sacks and is third in the CAA behind UAlbany's Jared Verse, who has 7.5.
- Espanet leads the team with six touchdowns catches and has 11 for his career.
- Redshirt freshman Aidan Cadogan averaged 41 yards on his six punts.
- His 41.4 yard per kick average on 34 punts this year is second in the league.
- Laube leads the CAA in all-purpose yardage at 142.1 yards per game.
- Edwards completed 12 of his 26 passes for 136 yards and a score.
- For the season, he has completed 138 of his 224 passes for 11 touchdowns with four interceptions.
- Redshirt freshman linebacker Ryan Toscano leads UNH with 53 tackles.
- Stansbury is next with 51 and Silver has 48.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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