Dukes exterminate Spiders
JMU controls own destiny Atlantic 10
By Brian Hansen, sports editor
Posted on October 30, 2006

RICHMOND — Justin Rascati knows how to win.

The senior quarterback ran for one score and threw for another on his way to leading the JMU football team to a 27-10 victory over the University of Richmond. It was the Dukes’ sixth consecutive win and improves their record to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Atlantic 10.

“I thought Richmond played very well,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “I thought the game was decided for all intents and purposes in the third quarter when we held them scoreless with the wind at their back.”

Both offenses battled 30 mph winds that grounded their aerial attacks and forced them to stick to running the ball.

“The wind was pretty bad,” Rascati said. “I think I would have traded a little rain for the wind. It affected the game a great bit.”

Rascati went to the air to put the game out of reach for the Spiders, though, when he hit junior wide receiver L.C. Baker on a 43-yard touchdown strike in the fourth quarter.

It was the fifth touchdown pass Rascati has thrown to Baker this season and the fourth of over 40 yards.

“They blitzed up the middle and left us in [man-to-man] coverage and we took advantage of it,” Rascati said.

The Gainesville, Fla., native finished the day 12 of 16 for 137 yards and one touchdown, but also threw two interceptions. The touchdown pass was the 42nd of his career, tying him with Mike Cawley (1993-‘95) for first on the all-time list.

The rest of the game was dominated by the Dukes’ defense.

JMU held UR to 165 total yards including a dominating negative two yards rushing. Spiders’ running back Tim Hightower ran the ball nine times for just 15 yards.

“They have a lot of team speed,” Hightower said. “They played hard, they were aggressive and they were physical.”

A year ago, Hightower helped lead UR to an upset of JMU at Bridgeforth Stadium by running for 119 yards and two touchdowns. This year, the Dukes were sure to shut down the Spiders’ running game.

“JMU has a very good defense,” UR coach Dave Clawson said. “They came out and said ‘you need to beat us through the air,’ and we couldn’t do that.”

Senior defensive end Kevin Winston led the charge for the defense recording five tackles, one sack and a 38-yard fumble recovery for the Dukes’ second touchdown of the game.

“I came back outside [the tackle] and the ball popped up to me and I just started running,” Winston said.

It was the second fumble recovery for a touchdown this year by Winston, who joked afterward about moving to running back in the future.

JMU forced six UR three-and-outs while getting very familiar with redshirt freshman quarterback Eric Ward, sacking him four times and hitting him in the backfield almost every time he dropped back to pass.

“When we watched the tapes, he had not been hit,” Matthews said. “He was not touched last week. We really felt like being a young quarterback in a huge game like this, [that] quarterback pressures and hits would be big.”

Senior linebacker Akeem Jordan led the Dukes in tackles again with eight and also forced the fumble that Winston turned into a touchdown.

For the Dukes, it was a revenge game after losing 18-15 to the Spiders a year ago. The loss ended the Dukes’ hopes of making the playoffs and Saturday’s victory may have done the same to the Spiders.

After beating both William & Mary and JMU last season, UR had “State Champions” put onto their rings. This year, JMU won against both in-state rivals, but to Rascati, the “State Championship” wasn’t what he was after.

“We’re not caught up in all that,” Rascati said. “We want the Atlantic 10 and the national championship.”