ORONO – University of Maine tailback Carl Smith minced no words about the significance of the Black Bears’ 19-15 win over Richmond Saturday.

“This was very critical,” said Smith, after breaking loose for a season-high 83 rushing yards and scoring his school record-tying 31st career touchdown to help deliver Maine’s first football win of the season after four losses. “We needed this to give us some momentum going into Rutgers.”

Ah yes, after finally climbing one mountain to snap a losing streak that extended five games back to last season, Maine now faces another forbidding hill in the Division I-A Scarlet Knights this week in New Brunswick, N.J.

But that’s five days away. The Bears (1-3 YC) spent the weekend savoring the outcome against the Spiders (1-3, 1-2 YC), which sent 9,368 Homecoming fans at Alumni Field home happy.

“I prefer at this point to dwell on the positive,” said UM coach Kirk Ferentz, after sweating out yet another result that was very much in doubt until the final two minutes. “I thought we, for a change, did what we had to do in the fourth quarter. We had some big plays to get the job done and get away with a win.”

Like most mountains successfully climbed, Maine’s first win this year looked far prettier from a distance. Up close, it was rocky.

The positives Ferentz preferred to focus on included: Springing Smith loose for his best game of the season, not only running with the ball, but as a receiver. The senior from Riverhead, N.Y., had 5 catches for 42 yards. He complemented a typical smash-mouth effort by fellow senior tailback Paul Capriotti, who racked up 94 rushing yards and caught 5 balls for 70 more (3 of which were shovel passes he took for 41 yards in critical situations). The Maine defense came up with two first-quarter interceptions, both of which set up touchdowns. Outside linebacker Lorenzo Harris picked off a Greg Lilly pass deflected by Maine linebacker Dan Girard and returned it 23 yards to the UR-1, setting up Smith’s high dive for the TD that tied Lorenzo Bouier’s career mark. Two series later, cornerback Larry Jones picked off Lilly at the UR-49, setting up a four-play drive capped by a 1-yard Capriotti scoring burst.

Then there was the huge 4th-and-inches stop by the Maine defense which halted the Spiders at the Maine-4 with 6:16 to play. Black Bear linebacker Marc Dube made the stop, belting UR fullback Michael Henderson before the latter could jump.

But even with the big plays (Maine QB Emilio Colon hit Frizell Davis on an 18-yard scoring strike) and 429 yards of total offense – the most in Ferentz’s 16-game tenure – the Bears still needed, and received, help from the mistake-prone Spiders.

Richmond’s worst blunder (and Maine’s biggest break), came with 2:59 left in the game and the Bears clinging to a 19-15 lead. Maine had to punt from its own 25-yard-line on 4th-and-4. Jeff Mottolla’s boot was in the air when a penalty flag flew. Spider end Tracey Parker was called for lining up offside, giving Maine a first down and enabling the Bears to run out the clock.

“I never talk about the officiating,” is all UR coach Jim Marshall would say about the call.

Marshall didn’t mind talking about Richmond’s deep passing attack, which on four occasions sprung receivers wide open behind the Maine secondary, only to have QB Lilly either overthrow them or see a catchable ball dropped.

“They were there. We just didn’t make the plays,” said the UR coach, after watching Lilly complete only 9 of 32 throws, one of which was a 43-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Brian Lyle to pull the Spiders within four points with 4:21 to play.

Richmond couldn’t capitalize on Maine’s woeful kicking game, either. Maine’s Mottola continued his placekicking slump, watching two of his PATs and a field goal blocked. The first blocked PAT was returned 71 yards by UR’s Ed Mintah for two points in the first quarter.

Ferentz said backup kicker Matt Tobin would have gotten the call in the fourth quarter. The kicking game is a major concern heading into Rutgers.

“Hopefully we got ourselves back on the right track,” summed up Maine’s Smith. “But we have to play four quarters of ball.”

Black Bears 19, Spiders 15

Richmond 2 7 0 6 -15

Maine 19 0 0 0 -19

M – Smith 1 run (kick blocked)

R – Mintoh 71 return of blocked PAT for safety

M – Davis 18 pass from Colon (Mottola kick)

M – Capriotti 1 run (kick blocked)

R – Johnson 11 run (Ventura kick)

R – Lyle 43 pass from Lilly (kick blocked)

Maine Richmond First downs 22 17 Rushing: att. – yards 52-184 49-155 Passing: att. – comp. 36-19 32-9 Yards passing 245 156 Total yards 429 311 Intercepted by 2 2 Punts – average 9-29.4 9-33.8 Fumbles – lost 3-1 1-0 Penalties – yards 9-82 8-84

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Maine: Capriotti 25-94, Smith 15-83, Squires 1-6, Willey 1-2, Colon 10-(-1); Richmond: Johnson 24-112, Henderson 9-38, Adams 6-18, Lilly 10-(-13)

PASSING – Maine: Colon 19-36-2-245; Richmond: Lilly 9-32-2-156

RECEIVING – Maine: Smith 5-42, Capriotti 5-70, Davis 2-30, Campbell 2-22, Cates 2-43, Squires 1-19, Keegan 1-21, Willey 1-(-2); Richmond: Lyle 3-86, Brown 3-52, Williams 2-21, Adams 1-(-3).