Greene Stadium’s bleachers filled with Howard University fans dressed in white on Saturday. The night’s “white out” theme contrasted with dark clouds hovering over the game. The weather matched the result, as Howard lost to the University of Richmond Spiders 28-21 on Saturday, Sept. 5.
It was an inefficient night for Howard senior quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins, who threw 9/28 (32%) on the night. Richmond turned what looked to be a Howard comeback, with two Bison touchdowns in the third quarter, into a for-sure win.
Sophomore wide receiver Antonio Hunter blamed team lapses in the fourth quarter.
“Mental errors, we had a lot of mishaps as far as dropped balls, momentum killers and a lot of stupid penalties,” said Hunter, a sports management major from Cincinnati, Ohio. “Key things that affected us from getting the win.”
Howard threw an interception three plays into the game, which grew into a Richmond touchdown only three plays later. This slowly turned into a 20-0 lead for Richmond at halftime.
The third was make-or-break for both teams, with Howard scoring two touchdowns. One came off a ball fumbled by senior Richmond quarterback Ashten Snelsire and recovered in the end zone by Howard senior linebacker Gabe Stephens.
The other came from a Scroggins 30-yard pass to Antonio Hunter, bringing the game to 20-14 with Richmond leading.
“In the second half, we emphasized details and executed the original game plan,” Hunter said.
However, Howard let a touchdown from Richmond go in the last two minutes of the third. Senior tight end Sean Clarke caught a 29-yard pass from Snelsire for the touchdown.
Sophomore linebacker Aidan Foster named the defensive error that allowed this touchdown to happen.
“There was a lack of communication there in the second level, between backers and DB’s,” Foster said. “But it really just boiled down to us not reloading after the turnover on special teams.”
Graduate student defensive back Kedrick Green commented on this play as well.
“In the third quarter they ran a good play that made us question our rules in bracket coverage,” said Green, who is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “We hadn’t gotten that play during the week, so we had to adjust on the fly after getting hit with it in the game. The main thing is we got it corrected and [were] able to eliminate that play going forward.”
This touchdown proved to be extremely important, as it was enough to put Richmond over the edge. Even with the touchdown from Howard junior running back Billy Roberson II, it was not enough to take the lead.
Richmond’s effective defense in the first half came back in the last 11:35 of the game, as Howard did not score again.
In Howard’s last offensive play, Scroggins was met with a sack from Richmond, solidifying their loss.
Howard looks to get back into the win column as they travel to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers on Sept. 12.
Copy edited by Daryl R. Thomas Jr.