After a win against Stony Brook in their home opener, Rhode Island continued their winning ways with a 34-17 road victory against Maine on Friday night, their first in Orono since 1998.
Maine wasted no time defending their home turf to open up the game. The Black Bears unloaded a 12-play, 68 yard drive, capped off by a two-yard touchdown run from first-year Tisten Kenan, putting Maine up over Rhode Island 7-0 with eight minutes left in the first quarter.
Rhode Island was able to make their way into Maine territory as well, but were unable to enter the redzone with under five minutes to go in the first quarter. However, the Rams did put points on the board in the form of a 47-yard field goal from first-year Ty Groff, the seventh longest in program history, cutting the lead to 7-3 for Maine.
Three drives later, Rhode Island struck again, this time for seven points instead of three. A 41-yard punt return from redshirt-Junior Gabe Sloat placed the Rams across midfield to the Maine 35 yard line, and it took three plays for seventh-year Kasim Hill to fire a 35 yard pass to fourth-year Darius Savedge for a touchdown, as Rhode Island took their first lead of the day, 10-7.
Maine subsequently went three-and-out, but recovered the ball quickly when third-year Deon Silas fumbled the ball for the Rams on the first play. The Black Bears then handed it off to Kenan for his second touchdown of the afternoon, a 15 yard dash that set Maine back in front, 14-10.
Rhode Island then utilized another quick draw, reaching the Maine endzone in just three plays. A 37 yard dagger of a pass from Hill found fifth-year Kahtero Summers for Hill’s second passing touchdown of the day, and Rhode Island quickly took the lead back at 17-14.
However, Rhode Island’s defense swarmed the Black Bears on the next drive and forced another three-and-out, allowing the Rams to tack on another touchdown. This time around it was fifth-year Ja’Den McKenzie with a 17-yard trot to the colored turf, moving the score to 24-14 Rhode Island.
Maine was able to knock a ball through the uprights before time expired in the first half, but the lead still stood for the men in white and Keaney Blue, with the Rams holding a 24-17 lead after the first half.
The third quarter saw little action, with six drives only amounting to three points for URI. Groff was responsible for the lone points in the quarter, knocking his second field goal of the afternoon through the uprights with 6:21 remaining in the quarter to make it 27-17.
The fourth quarter was host to only three very long possessions. Rhode Island hammered the final nail in the coffin on the first drive – a ten yard rushing touchdown from Sloat served as the final blow. The Rams defeated the Black Bears by a final score of 34-17.
Following the game, Head Coach Jim Fleming commented on his team’s victory, stating that the effort was not one dimensional.
“It was a really good team victory,” Fleming said. “We knew we needed to play like that to come up here and do something that hasn’t been done since 1998.”
Throughout the game, Hill threw for 234 yards to eight different receivers, with two touchdown passes, both caught by Summers. After the game, Summers detailed how the coaching staff allowed for the offensive success.
“Our coaches got us prepared for this game… everything we expected them to do, they did,” said Summers. “They sat back there in quarters, and mixed up a little bit of man. We were just able to read our keys and dial it up…execute.”
Finally, given that the Rams had been blanked for 25 years in Orono, Hill described what the win meant for the team.
“There’s a lot of guys and a lot of seniors… that I’ve been around in this program for a while, outside of [me and Kahtero],” Hill said. “I think just throughout the course of the week, the leaders of the team put an emphasis on, not only do we want to go 1-0 again in the CAA this week, but we haven’t won here in 25 years, and that was important to us as a group to go out and try to execute and try to get that dub this week.”
Rhode Island is back in action this Saturday, when they continue their road trip down to Villanova, one of the toughest conference opponents they will face all year. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. on FloSports from Villanova Stadium.