ORONO – The University of Maine went into Saturday night’s game against Richmond with the top-rated defense in the Atlantic 10.

(That’s the same league in which Saturday’s other A-10 losers scored an average of 32 points.)

The Black Bears emerged with their lofty status very much intact.

UMaine limited the Spiders to 182 total yards, shutting down 24th-ranked Richmond in an impressive 14-3 victory on Morse Field at cool, breezy Alfond Stadium.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s 3-1 Bears held an opponent under 200 yards for the second game in a row while winning their sixth straight game at home for the first time since 1989. UMaine beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 1999 behind a stifling defensive effort led by linebacker Stephen Cooper (14 tackles, three for losses) and free safety Dave Cusano (nine tackles).

“It’s obviously a great win for our guys and our program,” Cosgrove said.

“I told our guys, this will tell us a lot about ourselves if we get this one, and we got it, so that must mean we’re getting better,” he added.

UMaine strung out Richmond’s option attack, containing speedy quarterback Sean Gustus while sending the 0-4 Spiders to their fourth straight loss. Richmond fell 100 yards short of its season rushing average against the Bears, who have not allowed a touchdown for eight-plus quarters.

“We knew individually if we all stayed disciplined and did our responsibilities that collectively we’d be able to stop their offense, or at least contain it,” Cusano said.

While the defense was superb, the offense more than handled its share of the workload. UMaine put the ball in the capable hands of Royston English during a smash-mouth second half of vintage power football.

The persistent senior tailback carried 32 times for 161 yards against the 21st-ranked run defense in the nation while becoming the eighth running back in school history to rush for 2,000 career yards. He now has 2,093.

“Royston was running extremely hard for us and that always gets us fired up up front, said tight end Chad Hayes.

When Royston is excited, out there having fun, that makes us go just a little notch higher. It’s so fun to block for that kid.”

English and the Bears’ offensive line – tackles Matt Hammond and Zack Magliaro, guards Pete Richardson and Brian Williams, center Mike Leconte and Hayes – owned the second half. English ran 24 times for 114 yards after intermission as UMaine controlled the football for nearly 21 of the second half’s 30 minutes.

“It really became an offensive lineman’s fun factory out there,” Cosgrove said, “running the football and Royston being physical, possessing the ball, possessing the clock, keeping our defense fresh and when they went out there, they did a great job.”

The Bears clung to a tenuous 7-3 lead when they took over on their own 39-yard line after a Richmond punt with 7:44 left in the third quarter. With English lugging seven times for 22 yards, and aided by a fourth-down holding penalty against UR, UMaine methodically marched 61 yards on 15 plays, running 6 minutes, 54 seconds off the game clock.

Quarterback Jake Eaton snuck over from a yard out and Chris DeVinney added the PAT kick, giving the Bears a 14-3 edge with 49 seconds left in the quarter.

“Our style of offense is just pound the ‘rock,'” Hayes said. “That’s our mentality, to go out there and move the ball on the ground. We had a lot of success with that tonight.”

The Spiders would run only 10 offensive plays the rest of the way as English and the Bears effectively played keep-away.

Richmond scored on its first possession of the second quarter after UMaine’s DeVinney came up just short on a 39-yard field goal try on the heels of a 5-yard illegal procedure penalty.

The Spiders, sparked by a 31-yard pass from Gustus to Dan McNair, went 57 yards to set up a 38-yard field goal by Doug Kirchner with 7:59 left in the half.

UMaine answered with a seven-play, 76-yard scoring drive that included a key third-down completion from Eaton to Paris Minor. On third-and-1 from midfield, Eaton found Hayes streaking down the right hashmarks for a 50-yard scoring strike that put the hosts in front for good.

Richmond responded by moving into field goal range, but Kirchner missed to the left on a 45-yard attempt in the closing seconds.

Cornerback Devon Goree made seven tackles for UMaine. Adrian Archie was in on 11 stops for UR.

Eaton wasn’t at his sharpest, but completed 11 of 24 throws for 175 yards with a TD and an interception. He also caught a pass from wideout Stefan Gomes (4 catches, 48 yards) good for 43 yards.

BLACK BEARS 14, SPIDERS 3

Richmond (0-4) 0 3 0 0? 3

Maine (3-1) 0 7 7 0?14

R ? Kirchner 38 field goal

M ? Hayes 50 pass from Eaton (DeVinney kick)

M ? Eaton 1 run (DeVinney kick)

Richmond Maine

First downs 11 21

Rushing att.-yards 40-132 49-180

Passing comp.-att. 2-11 12-25

Passing yards 50 218

Total yards 182 398

Punts-avg. 8-36.3 4-28.5

Fumbles-lost 5-0 1-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 3-21 5-35

Rushing

Richmond: Gustus 27-85, Edward 3-23, Fulton 2-15, Roane 2-6, Dantzler 1-2, Diggs 1-1, Purnell 4-(-3), Ouden 1-3; Maine: English 32-161, S. Gomes 3-19, Williams 3-19, Team 2-(-2), Eaton 9-(-17)

Passing

Richmond: Gustus 2-11-0-50; Maine: Eaton 11-24-1-175, S. Gomes 1-1-0-43

Receiving

Richmond: McNair 1-31, Dantzler 1-19; Maine: S. Gomes 4-48, Minor 3-34, Hayes 2-76, Eaton 1-43, Gelsomino 1-17, Williams 1-0

A?2,619