EASTON, Pa. - No. 17/24 Richmond scored 31 unanswered points at the end of the first half and into the fourth quarter to claim a 40-31 win over the Leopards on a sunswept Saturday at Fisher Stadium.
Junior Jakyre Henley ran to a career-best performance, running for 152 yards that included touchdowns of 72 and 74 yards.
Lafayette's first scoring march came on its third possession of the game. Three long passes from senior QB Daniel Lipovski to Mason Kuehner (31), Carson Persing (20) and Hunter Ditrano (19) set up the Leopards at the four-yard line. On the next play, Lipovski rushed right, putting the Leopards up 7-0 with 8:21 left in the first quarter.
Richmond used a lengthy drive to tie the game. With 1:04 left in the first, Ashten Snelsire connected with Carson Derey on a 24-yard TD pass to cap a 12-play drive over 7:16 of game action.
Lafayette's next score came much more rapidly when Henley ripped off a 72-yard touchdown to retake the lead, 14-7, just before the end of the first.
Lafayette special teams kept the momentum in the Leopards' favor. The Maroon and White pressured the punter and he booted it into the back of his own player, setting up the Leopards at the Richmond 35. Jack Simonetta added a 21-yard field goal to stretch Lafayette's lead to 17-7 with 6:08 left in the first half.
Another big run, this time a 74-yard scamper from Henley, gave the Leopards a 24-7 advantage with 1:46 left in the second quarter. The 74-yard run is the longest play from scrimmage in 2026.
Richmond made the most of the remaining time in the half, using passes of 32 and 19 yards to set up a 25-yard field goal with 33 seconds left to cut the lead to 24-10.
After the kickoff, the Leopards opted to pass on first down, leading to Lipovski being sacked and fumbling the ball. The Spiders took advantage, scoring on a three-yard run by Snelsire. Lafayette led 24-17 at halftime.
In the second half, the visitors maintained their momentum. Aziz Foster-Powell racked up 46 rushing yards, including the final four of a 75-yard scoring drive that tied the game at 24-24 with 11:04 left in the third. Foster-Powell finished the afternoon with 113 rushing yards.
Richmond broke the tie with 2:42 left in the third quarter. A nine-yard pass from Snelsire to Quanye Veney gave the Spiders their first lead of the game, 31-24. Then, four minutes into the fourth quarter, Richmond extended its lead to 38-24 with a Snelsire three-yard TD pass to Sean Clarke.
On the ensuing possession, Leopard coach John Troxell went to rookie quarterback Eddie Jordan to give the Leopards a spark off the bench. His first attempt was good for 43 yards to Kuehner. That helped set up Malachi Gamble for his first career touchdown, a 10-yard run off left tackle. Lafayette trailed 38-31 with 9:35 left.
The defense came up with a Dhonte Jackson interception that gave the Leopards the ball back at the Richmond 43-yard line. With Jordan still in at QB, he found Kuehner for a 20-yard first down. The Leopards had the ball 4th-and-5 at the eight-yard line. Jordan tucked the ball and ran inside but was stopped short of the line to gain with 3:53 left.Â
The defense forced a 3rd-and-13 on the Richmond 27-yard line with two minutes left. The Snelsire pass was good for six yards and forced a punt.
That punt went 64 yards to the Lafayette three-yard line. Richmond registered a safety to close out the 40-31 win.
Soph. LB Beckham Dee led the way, defensively, registering 12 tackles, including a tackle for loss, while Darrick LeBeouf and Paul Widerman each had eight stops.
Lafayette enters its bye week, next playing at Bucknell on Oct. 17 at 3 p.m.Â
Notes:Â
Henley's 72-yard score was the first 70-yard rush since Nov. 15 against Richmond in 2025 (Kente Edwards).
Christian Bush uncorked a 70-yard punt in the second quarter, the longest of his career and the first 70-yard punt since 2008 (Tom Kondash, 79 yards).
Carson Persing had four grabs for 49 yards to move into fourth place for career receptions (164), surpassing John Weyrauch '04 (162).
Kuehner finished with five catches for 108 yards, his second-straight 100-yard receiving game.
