Spiders Make Light Work of Davidson in First Round of Playoffs

The Wildcats started the game doing what they do best; running often. Richmond was ready, though, and forced a quick punt to give the ball to Reece Udinski and the offense. Udinski led an 8-play drive that was capped by an Aaron Dykes 12-yard scoring run. Before Davidson could even get their feet under them, the Spiders were up 7-0.

Richmond again bottled up the ground attack and the offense tacked on three more with a 35-yard field goal from Andrew Lopez. The quick-moving first quarter came to an end with the Spiders leading 10-0.

Davidson was trying to stick true to their triple-option attack but Richmond had all the answers and kept getting the ball back into Udinski’s hands. With 9:41 to go until halftime, Udkinski connected with Jakob Herres for a 25-yard touchdown strike to put his team up by 17. It was Herres’ 33rd career TD reception.

Much like it had in the first quarter, the clock in the second frame ran fast on Davidson as their offense kept burning out. Udinski would notch his second touchdown of the day when he found Jerry Garcia Jr. for a 30-yard score that came with under three minutes to play in the half.

The Wildcats had no response time and time again and as they headed into the locker room, they trailed 27-0. The only drive they got deep into Richmond territory ended with an ugly interception from QB Jarden Waddell.

The Spiders added to their big lead on their opening drive of the third quarter when Milan Howard pushed his way in from four yards out.

Dylan Sparks and Waddell were trying to do whatever they could to stop the bleeding by this point but again they went nowhere but backwards. Late in the third, Spiders coach Russ Huesman opted to call it a day for Udinski as the game was well in hand. He finished with an outstanding completion percentage of 90.2% on 28-of-31 passing. He had 246 yards and two touchdowns.

Backup quarterback Kyle Wickersham came in but the results were the same. Once more they marched down the field and once more they broke the chalk to make it 41-0 early in the fourth quarter.

When all was said and done, Richmond was on the right side of a shutout win. It was the first time the Spiders have blanked an opponent since the 2017 season. Howard led the rushing attack with 73 yards on 12 touches. As a team Richmond had 482 yards of offense and only allowed Davidson 10 first downs all afternoon.

The Spiders will hit the road next weekend to take on Sacramento State.