The Shadow
The Richmond Spiders were looking to improve to 3-0 on the season and leave Pennsylvania with a big CAA road win against the Villanova Wildcats.
With just over five minutes left in the game, the Spiders were holding a 14 point lead at 27-13 and were positioned to get that 3-0 start.
Then the game took a complete 180.
Wildcats quarterback Daniel Smith kept the ball himself and rushed from two yards out for a touchdown. The Wildcats made the extra point that followed and cut the Spiders lead in half to seven points.
After the Spiders went a quick three-and-out with not taking much time off the clock (two minutes), the Wildcats were in position with plenty of time to drive down the field and score.
Two plays, 28 seconds later, Smith found Jaaron Hayek opened for a 44 yard touchdown pass. The touchdown was followed by a made extra point to tie the game at 27 all.
With now having blown a 14-point lead in a matter of minutes, the Spiders had a chance to flip the script and get back in front with just over two minutes left.
However, the Spiders went three-and-out after quarterback Joe Mancuso threw three incomplete passes in a row.
The drive lasted all of 21 seconds and gave the Wildcats just under two minutes to take the lead.
After back to back completed passes for a first down for the Wildcats, the team found grabbed itself a fresh set of downs with under a minute to go in the game.
On the next play, Smith dropped back and found Rayjoun Pringle open for a 47 yard touchdown to give the Wildcats the lead with 38 seconds left. The extra point was good and gave the Wildcats a 34-27 lead.
It took the Wildcats just over five minutes to score three touchdowns to take the lead.
Trailing 34-27, the Spiders on a 3rd-and-6 from their own 29 yard line converted a big 23 yard play from Mancuso to Leroy Henley.
Now in Wildcat territory and the clock ticking down, the Spiders called timeout to stop the clock.
After an incomplete pass on first down, Mancuso looked down the field and was intercepted.
Smith took a knee to run the clock out and capped off the come from behind 34-27 victory over the Spiders.
The loss for the Spiders was the teams first of the season which puts them at 2-1.
In the win, the Wildcats remain undefeated at 3-0.
Despite the loss, the Spiders went into halftime trailing the Wildcats 13-0 before scoring four times in third quarter to take a 24-13 lead.
Covington High School alum, Tyler Dressler led the way on defense for the Spiders.
Dressler had a team 11 tackles, one solo and 10 assisted on.
The Spiders wanted to have extra momentum riding into this weekends big trip to Blacksburg to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies, the Spiders will need to regroup and shake off the last five minutes of the Villanova game.
