The Bulldogs stormed back on Saturday to beat Richmond 28-27 in a dramatic finish for the ages.
Yale’s offense stalled in the first half behind a banged up offensive line that could not open holes for Dudek and Lamar and could not contain Richmond’s talented defensive linemen on passing downs. Outside of a nifty 25 yard run by Dudek, the running game was non-existent totaling just 67 yards on the day. Rawlings was once again rushing passes into poor spots and was fortunate that Richmond dropped three potential interceptions. Yale began showing life in the third quarter after a quick four play, 64 yard drive that resulted in a long touchdown reception by Jaylan Sandifer. The Bulldogs’ defense tightened just enough to give Rawlings and company a fighting chance at a comeback. With under five minutes remaining, Rawlings led a 72 yard drive culminating in a 15 yard touchdown by JP Shohfi. Down by six points with just 1:23 remaining on the clock, Shohfi stunned the Richmond crowd by recovering the onside kick. Rawlings marched the Bulldogs down the field once again and delivered possibly the best pass of his career to Reed Klubnik to tie the contest. Tuckerman’s extra point put Yale ahead for the first time in the contest and left only nine seconds for the Spiders to operate.
Richmond seemed to mimic Dartmouth’s successful offensive gameplan with a running game built around jet sweeps and quarterback draws that could open up the field for deadly passing strikes. With Rodney Thomas out of the lineup, the secondary struggled to tackle allowing the worst rushing attack in the CAA to move the chains. Coverage was certainly an improvement from the Dartmouth contest, but without a strong pass rush in the first half, the Spiders were able to find open receivers time and time again. This was a tale of two halves for both the offense and the defense. Deep into the third quarter, defensive linemen began applying pressure and getting off blocks. Linebackers were filling gaps and making crucial tackles, while defensive backs were locking down wideouts. We will all remember the heroics of Rawlings, Shohfi and Klubnik, but the defense had as large of a part in the win as the offense.
This was a signature victory for Reno that gives the Bulldogs a much needed boost of confidence going into the Ivy stretch.
6 replies on “Richmond Notes”
From the You Tube video: our guys made the plays – Shohfi, Klubnick, Rawlings, Sandifer, Tuckerman. Congratulations to them all!
Good coverage, as always. Glad to see those seniors who were largely the cause of beating Harvard as freshmen coming up with another win!
God knows what is behind them.
So tony told the players who were about to play richmond i hope were behind in the game so we can see how we respond. Ok we won the game. Did he tell them the same story with Dartmouth we all no how that worked out. It was a good win but what team will show up sat,Penn will come with a chip on there shoulder and ready to kick ass. Yale better get there offense line in shape again they where sloppy. How can they have no run game 67 yards thats terrible. Time for a line change its now or never.These guys that are playing now cannot run block for what ever reason.Could it be coaching yes and it could be the line is just that bad If penn stops us threw the air and we have to run the ball we could be in trouble. Like i said tony better be ready for penn.Yale D played ok should be able to handle there offense. Have to shut down there WR. Good luck Yale.
YALE FOOTBALL COMMIT:
RYAN LINDLEY , WR , 5 ” 10 ” , 165 LBS. , WESTLAKE H.S. , AUSTIN ,TX.
Just what Yale needs – another undersized player. Hope he is good!
Lindley has put up good receiving numbers at one of the top programs in Texas HS football. Klubnik cane out of that program. So did Drew Brees, who was so undersized that UT passed on him and he wound up at Purdue. Nick Foles and Sam Elhinger, the current Longhorns QB, played at Westlake. Even if Lindley doesn’t materialize, it is a positive for Yale to keep a foot in at Westlake.