Sports

Running in the rain

By Erinne Magee

Posted on Oct. 06, 2003, at 12:00 a.m.

Holly Barber

HIGH GEAR - UMaine tailback Marcus WIlliams runs with the ball as a Richmond Spider tries to keep pace in Saturday's Homecoming game. Maine won 20-10.

On Saturday afternoon, the University of Maine football team took the field for the first time in two weeks, hoping that the extra preparation from the cancellation with William and Mary would pay off.

It did.

The Black Bears put on a show for the 6,839 fans that gathered for homecoming weekend, as the team posted a 20-10 win over the University of Richmond Spiders.

With 119 yards and one touchdown, tailback Marcus Williams said the win was encouraging because although the team played well, they didn’t play to the best of their ability.

Perhaps Maine’s biggest play of the game was capped off with a Williams touchdown. Midway through the third quarter, Richmond’s quarterback Bryson Spinner tried to convert a fourth-and-one play at the goal line. It looked as though Spinner rolled in to the end zone with an apparent touchdown, but as he was doing so, he lost the ball. Although Richmond recovered it, it wasn’t enough for the first down and Maine took possession.

“I don’t know because I didn’t see it, but our radio people said it was a touchdown,” said Richmond coach Jim Reid. “The ground can’t cause a fumble.”

This fumble was the start of an 11- play, 98-yard drive for the Bears. During the drive, freshman quarterback Ron Whitcomb connected twice with Kendrick Ballantyne for 43 yards. Williams ended the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run. Mike Mellow kicked the extra point, making the score 20-10.

“All I know is the officials pointed the finger the other way,” said Cosgrove. “Our offense went out on the field and went 98 yards.”

But Spinner saw it differently.

“I lost the ball but nobody hit it,” said Spinner. “I just hit the ground.”

Regardless, Spinner showed a solid effort, throwing for 217 yards and a touchdown. He also showed his versatility with a team high 57 yards rushing.

“You can see the potential they have in the pass game,” said Cosgrove. “They are going to be dangerous and knock somebody off. I’m just glad it wasn’t us.”

Richmond’s only end zone score came toward the end of the first half when Spinner hit Jake Schools for a 22-yard touchdown that ended an eight-play, 80-yard drive.

Also in the first half, the first score of the game was a 7-yard pass from Whitcomb to Christian Pereira. Pereira finished the game with five receptions for 85 yards.

“There wasn’t anything we were going to do too far down the field until the second quarter,” said Whitcomb, who had 316 all-purpose yards and one touchdown. “We were breaking up the run [with Williams] so it didn’t look like we were too much run-oriented.”

Defensively for the Bears, Fredy Lazo paced the team with eight tackles, seven being solo stops. Also key to Maine’s defense was Clinton Brown who recorded six tackles and one interception.

This win improves Maine’s record to 4-2, 3-1 in conference. This win also makes it the third in a row against Richmond, something neither team has done in their series together.

Next week, Maine has a bye before traveling to Brookline, Mass. to play Northeastern on Oct. 18.

The Bears will be home again on Oct. 25 when the team hosts a conference match-up against James Madison University.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2003, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.