The Shadow
It wasn’t easy for the Richmond Spiders this past Saturday (then again, football never is), as the Spiders football team snapped its five game losing streak, thanks to an 18-point fourth quarter.
The Spiders had an early 10-0 lead in the second quarter before eventually going into the halftime with a three point lead at 17-14. It was the first time the Spiders had a lead going into the second half since their second game of the season when they lead Lehigh 28-3. The Spiders went on to win that game 31-3.
In the third quarter, the offense was held in check to no points, while the Wildcats took their first lead of the game thanks to an early seven yard rushing touchdown from Brody McAndrew.
It was the sixth game in a row the Spiders went into the fourth quarter trailing.
“The defense has been in this situation before and it’s always let’s strap up and let’s go. I don’t think there was any doubt throughout the entire game that we weren’t going to win”, said Coving High School alum and current Spiders linebacker, Tyler Dressler on it there was any doubts about the game slipping away from them as the team entered the fourth quarter trailing by double digits.
Trailing by four points, the Spiders put together their best scoring quarter since the start of their losing streak at Villanova, with an 18 point unanswered quarter, thanks in large part to the defense slowing down the Wildcats and two touchdown passes from quarterback Joe Mancuso to Aaron Dykes.
The losing streak was over.
“We were thrilled because there’s been situations in the past where we weren’t able to get it done. The first thing I think back to is against Villanova where we were up two possessions with five minutes left. All we needed to do was get a first down or get a stop on defense and we weren’t able to do that. I was just happy we had another opportunity to step up and get it done”, said Dressler on the defense stepping up in the fourth quarter and holding the Wildcats to no points.
Dressler had quite the impact on defense as he put together a game and season high 15 tackles in the win. Dressler’s performance matched his second most tackles in a game during his career with the Spiders football program, he also had 15 tackles against Yale on October 19, 2019. His career high is 20, that came the week prior in 2019 against Maine.
“Just kind of playing with a chip on your shoulder. I’m pretty upset the playoff run is out of the picture for the most part unless a miracle happens. I’m just going out there and enjoying my last few times playing college football because looking back it seems it happened in a blink of an eye (playing college football). The days can seem pretty long, but the years can go by pretty quick. I’m just going out there, playing with a chip on the shoulder and enjoy playing with my teammates for the last few times I can enjoy doing it”, said Dressler on his performance against New Hampshire.
There was a slight chance that Dressler’s performance against the Wildcats almost didn’t happen. The week prior, Dressler sat out against Stony Brook due to suffering a concussion in the JMU game. Last week talking with Dressler, he was 99% sure he would suit up and play against New Hampshire, but it wasn’t a lock and depended on how practice went during the week leading up the game.
“It was right before the game (knowing he would play). Throughout the week I was monitoring my head to see how I felt. I was trying to stay out of contact as much as possible. I was trying to not be overly physical (during practice) just to make sure I took care of my body. Right before the game, I felt good to go. I don’t know if I was just locked in or I really wanted to play, but the whole mindset throughout the week was I was going to play”, said Dressler.
The team got a big lift in the offensive game from starting quarterback Joe Mancuso who returned last week for the first time in five weeks after breaking his throwing index finger. Mancuso had a rough game in his return the week prior against Stony Brook when he went 21-for-43 with 196 passing yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Against the Wildcats, a much different story as Mancuso seemed like he back in pre-injury form throwing for 291 yards (19-for-26), and four total touchdowns, three passing and one rushing.
“It’s really difficult to take a few weeks off an jump back in the game into things. The Stony Brook game, I think he was trying to get his feet wet and getting everything back under him. I think he was trying do whatever he could to be in the game against Stony Brook. It was just a blessing having him back out there (this past Saturday) and playing like himself”, Dressler on Mancuso.
This Saturday, the Spiders return home to take on the Towson Tigers.
“They have a lot of transfers. Their running back is from Georgia Tech (Jerry Howard Jr.). Their very physical, up front they are very athletic and are 6 foot 5 all the way up to 6 foot 7 all across the board. This is going to be a physical football game. We have the best seven in the country and this our opportunity to go out there and prove it”, said Dressler on facing Towson this weekend.
