URI Pulls Away in Second Half for 45-24 Win over Brown in Governor’s Cup

Saturday, September 18

Providence, R.I.

12:30 PM

Brown University

0-1 , 0-0

Rhode Island

3-0 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Rhode Island

Brown

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

URI Pulls Away in Second Half for 45-24 Win over Brown in Governor’s Cup

9/18/2021 7:29:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A strong second half by Rhode Island helped the Rams pull away from Brown for a 45-24 win in the 105th Governor's Cup on Saturday afternoon. The season-opening defeat dropped the Bears to 0-1, while Rhody, who is receiving votes in the latest FCS Coaches' and STATS FCS national polls, moves to 3-0 to start the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

Brown outgained URI 534-435 overall, including 344 yards through the air, all coming from senior QB EJ Perry.
Brown ran 100 offensive plays to URI's 55.
The Bears outrushed the Rams 190-111 with senior tailback Allen Smith leading all players with a game-high 65 yards rushing and one score.
Freshman running back Jordan DeLucia added 41-yard rushing on seven carries in his collegiate debut.
Perry finished with 59 yards rushing on nine carries and also threw one touchdown pass.
Junior wideouts Hayes Sutton (seven catches, 78 receiving yards) and Wes Rockett (eight catches, 75 yards) each scored their first career touchdowns.
Ten Bears receivers had at least one reception, with five totaling at least 29 yards receiving.
Junior linebacker Junior Gafa led the Bears with seven tackles, while junior Malcolm Brunson added six.
Clayton Perrin also added one interception for the Bears.
URI forced four Brown turnovers, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries and turned them into 24 points.
Brown was 4-of-5 on fourth down conversions and 10-of-21 on third down.
URI scored touchdowns on all four of their red zone trips, while Brown came away with points on four of their six red zone chances.
Rhode Island's Caleb Warren led all receivers with 106 yards receiving and one touchdown.
URI running back Justice Antrum totaled 47 yards rushing on 13 carries and one TD. He had entered the game averaging 90.0 yards per game.
Evan Stewart had a game-high 12 tackles for Rhody.
Rhode Island outscored Brown by a 28-10 margin in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Brown forced a three-and-out on URI's first possession and marched right down the field on the ensuing possession to take an early 7-0 lead when Perry found Sutton for a leaping catch over the defender in the back left corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass at the 9:10 mark.

The Rams responded with the tying touchdown exactly two minutes later, needing just five plays to go 75 yards for the tying score, capped by a Justice Antrum 35-yard catch and run down the left sideline. The score was set up by a 41-yard reception by Ivory Frimpong.

URI forced Brown's first turnover of the day with an interception on first play of next drive. Jason Medeiros came away with a big sack for Brown which helped force a 40-yard field goal attempt by the Rams, which put them in front 10-7.

URI went up 17-7 on its next possession, driving 70 yards on just four plays, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Kasim Hill to take a 10-point lead with 1:27 left in the first quarter. Caleb Warren sparked the drive with a 57-yard reception to set up the score.

Brown made it a one-possession game late in the half with a big 15 play, 83-yard drive, highlighted by a trio of third down conversions and a conversion on fourth down. Smith finished off the drive with a three-yard touchdown rush to pull the Bears with 17-14 with 4:04 left.

Rhode Island had a chance to tack on three more points as time expired on the first half, but a 50-yard field goal attempt rang off the crossbar before bouncing straight up in the air and falling short.

URI turned a Brown fumble into seven points to start the second half and take a 24-14 lead. Two possessions later, Rhody took advantage of a short field, using a 35-yard pass and one-yard scoring run from Antrum to finish off a two-play drive and take a 31-14 lead with just under six minutes left in the quarter.

After a long Brown drive ended with a fumble, URI needed just two plays to go 83 yards for another score, highlighted by an 80-yard catch and run by Matt Pires to build the lead to 38-14 with less than one minute left.

Freshman Christopher Maron knocked through a 28-yard field goal for Brown at the 10:03 mark.

Rhode Island scored its final touchdown on a 100-yard pick-six by Jordan Jones with just under four minutes remaining to make it 44-17.

Brown came right back with a score of its own as Zachary Targoff made a one-handed catch on the sideline for 31 yards to set up first-and-goal. Three plays, later, Perry found Rockett for his first career touchdown reception to bring the Bears within 45-24.

QUOTES FROM THE COACH - JAMES PERRY
"It felt great to be out there playing a football game again. Hats off to Rhode Island. They're a terrific team and are well coached."

"We worked hard. I knew we'd work hard and we've practiced very well. I was not anticipating as many breakdowns and errors as we had, and those are things that we'll work hard to fix and correct. This is a terrific group and I have no doubt they'll be ready to work when the time comes."

"We moved the ball very well. Unfortunately, we also put the ball on the ground a couple times, and some things that often go unnoticed were some critical errors in the red zone. While I thought we showed some good moments offensively, anytime they're forcing that amount of turnovers and mistakes, you just can't do that against a team like URI. The kids played hard and there's a lot to correct, but also a lot of build off of."

Brown will open its Ivy League schedule this Friday night with a road trip to Harvard. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPNU, with the radio call on AM 790 WPRV Radio.

Gallery: (9-18-2021) Governor's Cup Football vs. URI