The Shadow
Tyler Dressler had gone to Lane Stadium many times as a fan of the Virginia Tech Hokies while growing up.
This past Saturday, he did so as a member of the Richmond Spiders football team.
“It was a crazy experience, a once in a lifetime opportunity. I had never been on the field, so it was a completely different prospective. I was really happy to have that opportunity”, said Dressler on coming out from the tunnel and onto the football field at Lane Stadium.
While the experience was great for Dressler to be out on the football at Lane Stadium, his team fell 21-10. “We’re disappointed with loss and we have to move forward in some sort and focus on our next opponent”, said Dressler.
On the first possession of the game for the Hokies, the team drove down the field on five play-65 yard drive while needing only one minute and 43 seconds to score the first touchdown of the game, coming on a Braxton Burmeister touchdown pass to Tre Turner. The Hokies led 7-0 after the made extra point.
A couple of drives later, Burmeister was intercepted on his own six yard line.
One play later, Spiders running back Savon Smith rushed in the endzone from 16 yards out. The score was tied after the made extra point.
With the score tied at 7-7, the Spiders felt they had some momentum on their hands. “After we got the interception that our safety Aaron Banks made and our offense scored, it was 7-7. I thought right there we could of started to pull away”, said Dressler on the interception.
The momentum carried back over to the defense as the team held the Hokies next offensive drive to only four plays for 19 yards.
However, the momentum would not last much longer.
With under five minutes left in the first half, the Spiders went three-and-out on offense while also losing two yards and forcing the offense to punt.
The punt would lead to a momentum change in the game as Hokies punt returner Tayvion Robinson returned the punt 60 yards for a touchdown.
“They got the punt return for a touchdown which was pretty detrimental. We have to execute better on special teams. I feel like if they don’t get that touchdown, then we’re right there within striking distance”, said Dressler on the Hokies punt returning touchdown.
The Spiders cut into the deficit to 14-10 after teams first drive on offense in the second half with a Jake Larson 38 yard made field goal.
Unfortunately for the Spiders, on the Hokies next drive, the team marched down the field 78 yards to score their third touchdown of the game. This time coming from running back Jalen Holston.
Despite trailing 21-10 in the fourth quarter, Dressler did his part and kept his team in the game. With just over six minutes left, Dressler grabbed his first sack of the game. It was big play that occurred on third down and forced the Hokies to punt. “The biggest part of that was to show that we can compete with anybody that’s out there on the field. It doesn’t matter if your FBS, Division II, each level has really good players and when you have an opportunity like that, you have to go out there and prove it and I think I did a pretty solid job at doing that. In terms of the accolade (recording the sack), I’m more disappointed in the loss than the individual statistic”, said Dressler on what it felt like recording a sack at Lane Stadium.
The touchdown from Holston in the third quarter was the final blow to the Spiders as the team wound up punting on each of their next three offensive drives including the one Dressler stopped the Hokies offense on.
Dressler finished the game with 12 total tackles (four solo, eight assisted), two tackles for loss, and one sack.
The Spiders were hurt early on in the game with the Hokies after losing starting quarterback, Joe Mancuso on the teams second play of offense to a broken right index finger. Mancuso is slated to be out the next 2-4 weeks. Beau English III came in relief of Mancuso after the injury.
With the loss, the Spiders dropped their second game in a row and fell to 2-2 on the season.
The team now has to regroup for their conference match-up with Elon on Saturday. “We played them twice in the Spring and we beat them both times. However, they had a lot of injuries in the Spring and they had a lot of people opt out. They’re going to be a good football team when we see them this time. Anytime you play a CAA opponent, it is going to be a dog fight and you’re going to have a tough opponent. We just have to prepare like we have been, get a win, and get back on track”, said Dressler on facing Elon this weekend.
On Monday, Dressler was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Hokies on Saturday.
