Backfield Blitzkrieg
Madison pounds VMI on the ground enroute to road win
By Matthew Stoss, senior writer
Posted on October 2, 2006

LEXINGTON – The JMU football team visited Virginia Military Institute Saturday, and at the end of the afternoon, the statistics said it all.

The 15th-ranked Dukes piled up 525 yards of total offense, while holding the Keydets to 199 as JMU crushed VMI 45-7 before 8,830 at the newly dedicated Alumni Memorial Field.

“I give VMI a lot of credit,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “They played very hard and didn’t turn the ball over. It’s difficult to blow out a team if they don’t turn the ball over.”

JMU found a way.

The Dukes (3-1 overall, 1-0 in the Atlantic 10) scored on their first four possessions to jump out to a 24-0 lead at halftime and never looked back. In the second half, Madison scored on three of five possessions. The only two not producing scores ended on an interception and a knee that ran out the clock to end the game.

“The A-10 is as a good a league as there is in the country,” first-year VMI coach Jim Reid said. “Any of the top teams can beat any of the lower-standing I-A teams.”

“The teams we’re facing are very good.”

Of JMU’s first four scores, three were courtesy of Alvin Banks’ legs. The senior tailback scored on runs of 2 yards, 13 yards and 5 yards en route to his second straight week with three rushing touchdowns.

The fourth score was on a 20-yard field goal from senior kicker David Rabil.

“It’s not that I’m playing better, it’s just I’m playing harder,” said Banks, who finished with 174 total yards on 24 touches. “We started off good. We had a couple of penalties in the first drive, but besides that, we scored on every possession.”

Also turning in a big day was senior quarterback Justin Rascati, who completed 18 of 24 passes for 237 yards and one interception. With the victory, Rascati is one win shy of becoming the all-time winningest quarterback in JMU history.

Mike Cawley holds the current record with 23 wins.

“It’s a neat thing,” said Rascati, who among his wins owns a I-AA national championship. “I’m not big into individual goals, but that was one of my goals going into the season. I tied it this week and hopefully next week, I can break it.”

The JMU defense held the Keydets (1-4) off the scoreboard until midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to nine tackles for loss that totaled 41 yards, including three sacks for 26 yards.

A big part of that was speed.

“It helps,” said JMU senior defensive end Kevin Winston, who led the Dukes with seven tackles and two sacks. “When someone does make a mistake and you’ve got 11 other guys flying to the ball around you, it helps.”

VMI’s lone score came with 7:40 left to play when true freshman quarterback Kyle Hughes hit fellow true freshman wide receiver Tim Maypay on a 28-yards touchdown pass to make the score 38-7.

The Keydet offense finished 113 yard through the air and only 86 on the ground, compared the Dukes’ ground game, which racked up 277 yards between Banks, junior Antoinne Bolton (seven carries for 84 yards)and senior Maurice Fenner (eight for 68). Backup quarterback Rodney Landers added 20 yards on two rushes. The sophomore also caught two balls for 19 yards.

Junior wide receiver L.C. Baker led JMU with five receptions for 67 yards.

“We just got a great scheme,” Rascati said. “In the first two games, we had the chances and we didn’t take advantage of them.”

“We had the pieces. We just had to come together. Lots of people doubted us and what we could do.”