JMU rolls over VMI

Efficient attack leads to 45-17 victory while Dukes give reserve players repetitions

By Tim Chapman, sports editor
Posted on September 17, 2007

Usually when a team dominates the time of possession in a football game, it comes away with more points. But this wasn’t the case Saturday for the Keydets as James Madison trounced Virginia Military Institute 45-17 at Bridgeforth Stadium.

In the first half the Keydets held the ball nearly three times longer than the Dukes, but couldn’t find the endzone once. JMU went into the break with a 21-0 lead with the third score coming on senior receiver L.C. Baker’s 36-yard touchdown catch from junior quarterback Rodney Landers.

Just over four minutes before Baker’s score, the elusive wide-out fumbled on a punt return, giving VMI the ball on Madison’s 21 yard-line. Already down 14-0, the Keydets squandered the red-zone opportunity with a missed field goal from 20 yards out, allowing Baker to make amends.

“L.C. made a mistake and he can’t do that,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “As you can tell we threw him the ball the first play after that. L.C.’s an All-American, and he needs to play like it all the time and sometimes he puts more pressure on himself than we do.”

Madison (2-1 overall, 1-0 in the conference) continued to utilize its top receiver’s speed in the second half to get on the board in 20 seconds. Redshirt-freshman receiver Marcus Turner returned the third quarter kickoff 56 yards to the VMI 42 yard-line, setting up another quick score for the Dukes.

On first-and-10 Landers faked a dive-run to redshirt-freshman tailback Jamal Sullivan, opting to handoff to Baker coming on the reverse. Baker made the most of the running opportunity, splitting through the Keydet defense for his second touchdown of the night and stretching the lead to 28-0.

“I tend to be a receiver, but I mean being at my size, I tend to be more of a running back at a receiver’s position, because I’m not that typical 6-3, 215 [lbs.] receiver,” said the 5-foot-7 inch senior.

Size wasn’t much of a problem for Madison’s running back either as 5-foot-7 tailback Antoinne Bolton also scored two touchdowns. He scored from three and two yards, respectively.

Three other running backs saw time against the over-matched Keydets as senior starter Eugene Holloman sat out to nurse a healing separated shoulder. Sullivan, redshirt freshman Griff Yancey, and sophomore Reggie Hicks each got at least five carries.

Sullivan led JMU with a game-high 83 rushing-yards and scored the game’s first touchdown with a 44-yard burst on a draw-play. The score came on only his second career carry.

“I just [stayed] within the offense and did what the coaches told me to do and they didn’t steer me wrong,” Sullivan said. “I saw green grass and I took it.”

Landers finished with 44 rushing yards and was also efficient in the pocket, completing 8 of 10 passes for 123 yards and a score. His ability to get the team down the field opened not only the scoring margin but an opportunity for his backup to gain experience.

Redshirt freshman Drew Dudzik took the field with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter and looked poised as he completed the first four pass-attempts of his career. The third came on a seven-yard shuffle-pass to Hicks for Madison’s final points of the night.

“It was exciting to get out there and show my team what I can do, just in case Rodney goes down, I’m there to back him up,” Dudzik said. “Every week I kind of go with the same attitude and it felt great to get out there and move the ball down the field.”

Second-year coach Jim Reid’s Keydets scored on a field goal with 8:56 remaining in the third quarter to get on the board at 28-3. In the fourth quarter VMI (1-2) struck twice more with a 27-yard touchdown run by sophomore Howard Abegesah and an 86-yard kickoff return by classmate Tim Maypray.

Reid praised his team’s effort and commented on Madison’s toughness, predicting a big year for the Dukes.

“I think that if JMU continues to progress as a team, I honestly believe there could be another national championship here in Harrisonburg,” Reid said.

Matthews assured the media that his team has a while to go before speaking of any championships and is ready to prepare the team for next week’s 6:00 p.m. home game against Coastal Carolina.

“We have a good team, but its much too early,” Matthews said. “We have miles and miles to travel.”