Rhode Island and Brown football battle for Governor's Cup; which team took it home
PROVIDENCE — One of the best Governor’s Cup games in the last decade required one final, critical play.
Syeed Gibbs provided it and sealed some history for the University of Rhode Island in the process. The Rams have now hoisted the trophy in five straight meetings, their first such streak since the early 1990s.
Gibbs snagged his second interception on Saturday at Brown Stadium, denying the hosts who were within touching distance of the red zone. URI left the East Side with a 34-30 victory over Brown, a game it finally led for good entering the fourth quarter.
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“You lose that football game, you’ll remember that one for the rest of your life,” URI coach Jim Fleming said. “And it would affect us going forward in a big-time way as well.”
The Rams enjoyed a similar run of success against the Bears from 1989-93. The latest came thanks to some opportunistic offense, some tight red zone defense and a first kickoff return for a score in 30 games. That unconventional combination of key plays was enough to prevent Brown from winning in the series for the first time since 2017.
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“I made sure to let them know I was proud of them,” Brown coach James Perry said. “I think they were proud of themselves. That was a really good effort.”
The Rams' Ty Groff came up short on a 50-yard field goal with 58 seconds left and the Bears took over at their own 33 with a lone timeout remaining. Jake Willcox hit on passes to Graham Walker and Mark Mahoney to reach Hail Mary range, but his pass down the left sideline was picked off by Gibbs. It was just the second Brown turnover in four games this season — they both came on what developed into a rain-swept afternoon.
“[Willcox] just tossed it up,” Gibbs said. “I was like, ‘All right, why not take this?’ I had the look in my eye.”
URI ran some clock and gained some valuable field position late in the fourth thanks to a big play from a city native. Kasim Hill fired 38 yards to Classical alum Marquis Buchanan down the right sideline, a third-down conversion out past midfield. Buchanan dropped a similar pass earlier in the quarter but this throw became part of his team-high 84 receiving yards. The former Purple star added a 27-yard touchdown in the second.
“I was asking for that particular play the whole second half just the way they were playing it,” Buchanan said. “That was the time to make a play — late in the fourth. It’s winning time.”
Christopher Maron’s 47-yard field goal with 12:40 left put the Bears in a position to prevail with a touchdown. That long kick was actually a victory for the Rams' defense. Brown scored on all five trips to the red zone but settled for field goals on three of them. AJ Pena blew up a Samuel Baddoo reverse for an 11-yard loss to force the deep try from Maron.
“It was going to be throwbacks, screens — all that type of stuff,” Pena said. “Just trying to keep us on our heels. Especially with how aggressive we are as a defense, we were well prepared for that one.”
The Bears (2-2) enjoyed significant advantages in total yards, rushing yards and first downs at halftime. URI (4-2) was locked in a 20-20 tie and might have been a bit fortunate. Randy Jordan’s 95-yard kickoff return up the middle helped make up for some of those statistical differences, a bonus after a spectacular rushing touchdown by Wes Rockett on a reverse.
“The special teams is kind of a microcosm,” Perry said. “We played really well in a lot of phases, but we did let that one get out.”
Rockett’s rush around right end and gutsy dive toward the onrushing Rams secondary saw him pinwheel his way over the pylon. Brown was competitive from the start in a matchup it dropped by a combined 162-62 in the previous four meetings. Ian Franzoni’s 25-yard rush up the middle gave the Bears a 27-20 lead early in the third, but URI answered behind Hill’s 27-yard touchdown pass down the middle to Darius Savedge and Ja’Den McKenzie’s 50-yard burst around left end down the sideline.
“Guys stepped up,” Fleming said. “There was no panic. There were things that happened in the game that we had to overcome.
“At the end of the day, you’re looking at some pretty special things.”
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island tops Brown in Governor's Cup football matchup
