MOON TOWNSHIP – After a tough loss on the road versus YSU, RMU looked to bounce back with a strong homecoming performance. Robert Morris (2-2) hosted UVA Lynchburg (0-4) for their first-ever meeting against the Dragons, cruising to victory with a final score of 46-0.
It was the program’s most points scored since 2005 and largest margin of victory since 2000.
The Colonials came out hot scoring on their first possession of the game and doing so within 12 seconds when Anthony Chiccitt threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Noah Robinson, continuing their hot connection over these last three weeks.
Starting off the game like that can give the team momentum throughout the rest of the game and put them on the right path. Head coach Bernard Clark, Jr. spoke about how the first play set the tone after the game.
“There’s no doubt about it, I mean it set the momentum because that’s what we plan on doing,” Coach Clark said. “The great thing about it is that we executed what we wanted to execute, that play came open for us and Noah took it to the house and Chiccitt put it on the money. When you can get that momentum going early it always works well.”
Going into this game, the hot connection between Anthony Chiccitt and Noah Robinson would stay hot. It was there again today as Robinson caught six balls for 139 yards and a receiving touchdown. This is his third week in a row with 100 or more yards.
Through the air, RMU also stayed hot with Chiccitt going 11-for-16 for 251 and throwing for four touchdowns. Chiccitt did not play in the second half as they rested him for Zin’tayvious Smith.
Even though Robinson had most of the yards, a team can’t rely on just one guy to finish the job. Anthony Chiccitt did a good job today at spreading the ball around, throwing a touchdown to four different receivers. After the game, Coach Clark spoke about getting other receivers involved and if they were getting open today or schemed into the offense.
“I think it was both, it was just a situation today where guys just popped open because of what we were calling like in the past it was Noah getting open now we got more guys getting open. We just have to make sure we keep that progress going,” Coach Clark said.
The run game for the Colonials has been the story for this team to start the season as they have been unable to get it going on the ground. Coming into this matchup they had to get some momentum going to see if they can get more consistent going forward.
RMU had four players over 30 yards in rushing with Kimon O’Sullivan carrying most of the load, getting 13 attempts and going to 50 yards. Delvecchio Powell II also produced in the run game, going for 50 and averaging 8.3 per attempt. In all of their 48 attempts, the Colonials rushed for 212 with an average of 4.4 per attempt, slowly getting this run game going.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Colonials held Lynchburg to a total of 57 offensive yards, which is a big pride spot for this defense: making sure that the opponents cannot get any sort of momentum going and always forcing turnovers or 3 and outs.
Coach Clark talked about his team’s defensive performance today.
“They performed well. We only gave up 57 total yards and held them to zero points, regardless of who your opponent is you got to make sure you are building momentum each week that you are training for the next opponent. That’s what we did, we trained well, and still have got to keep the flow going.”
Robert Morris will close out its non-conference portion of the schedule with another home game next week when they take on Howard at noon on Sept. 30.
