RICHMOND, Va. - The Towson University football team used an 80-yard touchdown catch by John Dunmore to pull within five late but fell to No. 16/12 Richmond 35-24 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Towson (4-5, 2-3 CAA) got to within five against its fourth top-20 opponent of the season with 9:09 to play, but Richmond (7-2, 5-0 CAA) used a six-minute drive and two field goals in the final 3:04 to seal the game.
 
Key Stats:

• Towson outgained Richmond 381-347 in the game, including 275 passing yards.  Towson got hurt by four turnovers in the contest.
• Sean Brown was 18-for-30 for 275 yards, a touchdown and an interception, finding John Dunmore for six catches, 123 yards and a score.  Devin Matthews rushed 11 times for 78 yards and a touchdown.
• On defense, Xavier Terry led the Tigers with 11 tackles and three pass break-ups.  Rodney Roane Jr. finished with three tackles and 1.5 sacks.
• For Richmond, Camden Coleman was 17-for-26 on passing for 230 yards and two touchdowns.  Zach Palmer-Smith ran 28 times for 97 yards.  Jeremiah Grant tallied up five tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles.

How it Happened

• Towson won the toss and deferred.  Richmond relied on the run early to grind down the field but picked up steam on an 18-yard pass across the middle to Nick Degennaro into Towson territory.  Towson nearly had a pick to force third down, but a 13-yard catch for a touchdown to Landon Ellis made it 6-0 Richmond, 7:46 in the 1^st.
• The first play of offense, a sack fumble gave the ball back to Richmond on the Towson 19.  After getting to the Towson 1, a couple of penalties backed Richmond to the Towson 15, where the Tigers defense held off a QB keeper to the Towson 4.  Richmond converted the 21-yard field goal to lead 9-0, 4:24 in first.
• Towson's offense got back to work on a fast pace as Tyrell Greene Jr. and Devin Matthews had strong rushes to get the Tigers into Richmond territory, then a pass interference sent Towson to the Richmond 31.  A few more rushes and a 13-yard catch by Lukkas Londono set up Towson on the Richmond 1 into the second quarter, where Matthews punched it in to make it 9-7 Richmond seconds into the second.
• After an exchange of drives, Richmond got a 48-yard pass to Jerry Garcia Jr. to put the home team on the Towson 38.  Richmond converted a third down and kept rushing down the field, scoring a touchdown on a 10-yard pass to Ellis for a 16-7 lead, 5:44 in the second.
• Sean Brown threw a couple of rockets to receivers for 10+ yard gains by Londono twice, Sam Reynolds, and John Dunmore to arrive inside the Richmond 10.   Towson was stopped at the five, but Keegan Vaughan knocked through a 22-yard field goal to make it 16-10 Richmond with 1:06 to go in the half.
• Towson's defense forced a three-and-out and a punt, but a fumble on the first offensive play got Richmond on the Towson 14 in the closing seconds.  A 22-yard field goal made it 19-10 Richmond at the break.
• Towson uses some tricks to go down field to begin the third quarter, including a fake punt snap to Dion Crews-Harris for a 21-yard race for a first down, despite losing 15 yards to a face mask.  Brown took over with passes down the sideline to Jaceon Doss and Dunmore to breech Richmond's side of the field.  Faced with fourth and nine on the Richmond 33, Brown threw towards the sideline with a diving Carter Runyon snaring the ball falling out of bounds for 29 yards and a first down.  Green Jr. finished on the next play with a four-yard run to the outside for the touchdown, making it 19-17 Towson with 11:12 left in the third.
• Richmond got backed up on the kickoff with two penalties to its own 4.  The Spiders pushed down field, aided by a pass interference penalty, with a couple of passes and a 25-yard QB run to the left to get into the red zone.  On third and four, Richmond tried a reverse pass, where Crews-Harris tracked down Degennaro for the 12-yard sack.  Sean O'Haire knocked through the 47-yard field goal to push Richmond up 22-17 with 5:50 to go in the third.
• Next drive, Brown threw a quick pass to Runyon for 18 yards, then two plays later, a nine-yard catch by Londono got third and one, but an incompletion and one-yard loss on a run made a turnover on downs for Richmond ball on its own 47.
• After Richmond got into Towson territory, a fourth and two was set up on the Towson 33.  Rodney Roane Jr. and Jurnee Dunbar tracked down the quarterback for a seven-yard sack and a turnover on downs, giving Towson the ball on its own 40.  Facing third and nine, Brown threaded the needle to Christopher Watkins across the middle for 13 yards and a first down into the fourth quarter.  But, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Brown's deep pass was intercepted by Jabril Hayes, who returned the ball 90 yards for a touchdown. Richmond led 29-17.
• Towson went three-and-out and had to deal with a short field off a punt to the Towson 41.  Towson's defense came through, using a Richmond holding penalty and a Roane Jr. sack to force a punt, taking back over on the Towson 10.
• Towson responded in a big way, starting with a 10-yard pass to Dunmore.  Next play, Dunmore got past his one-on-one defender for the catch and midfield and sprinted the rest of the way for the 80-yard touchdown.  Towson trailed 29-24 with 9:09 left.
• Richmond converted a third and eight with a pass across the middle to Jerry Garcia Jr. for 13 yards, then Garcia Jr. added another, breaking tackles for 40 yards to the Towson 36.  Richmond started to rush the football and run the clock.  Towson stopped Richmond on the Towson 20 with about three minutes left.  Richmond converted the 36-yard field goal to lead 32-24.
• Towson attempted a final drive, but three sacks and an incompletion gave the ball back to Richmond.  Towson prevented a touchdown, but the clock ran down to seven seconds with Richmond kicking a field goal.  The Spiders won 35-24.

Inside the Numbers

• Devin Matthews is now tied for sixth all-time in Towson history with 26 career rushing touchdowns.
• John Dunmore's 80-yard touchdown catch is the longest offensive play for Towson this year. Jaceon Doss had a 76-yard catch for a touchdown at Cincinnati on Aug. 31.  Dunmore is the first Towson receiver to go past 100 yards this season, being Towson's first 100-yard receiver since Carter Runyon had 103 yards vs. Rhode Island on Nov. 18, 2023.
• The last time Towson had an interception returned for a touchdown was on Nov. 6, 2021, when Tyler Dressler returned a pick 32 yards for a score for Richmond.

Next Game

• Towson's next two games are at home, beginning with the Tigers hosting Hampton on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m.
• For more information on Towson tickets, contact the Towson Ticket Office at 410-704-4501 or by emailing 4tigertix@towson.edu.

- TowsonTigers.com –