Mountaineers Down Dukes

JMU’s lone score comes from defense

Amy Paterson / Photo editor Redshirt sophomore running back Alvin Banks (No. 1) ran for 109 yards on 30 carries in JMU's 45-100 loss to West Virginia.

The Dukes came into 2004 with a much-hailed, "new-look offense." In Saturday’s game against West Virginia University, that new offense was a bit unusual as it took the form of redshirt senior defensive tackle Brandon Beach.

Beach scored the Dukes’ only touchdown in West Virginia’s 45-10 win over JMU before 56,609 at Milan Puskar Stadium.

"Defensive linemen never think they are going to score," Beach said. "It’s a fat man’s dream and I’m happy that it happened, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it."

In the closing minutes of the game, senior wide safety Rodney McCarter stripped the ball from WVU second-string quarterback Charles Hales. Beach grabbed it and lumbered 35 yards for the touchdown.

The Dukes’ other score was 32-yard field goal in the third quarter goal by sophomore kicker David Rabil.

Saturday was the first time JMU scored on a I-A opponent since the Dukes put 15 points up on the University of Maryland in 1998. JMU eventually lost 23-15.

"The big difference between I-A and I-AA is the number of scholarships," Beach said. "They’re deeper and have a bigger rotation. We had some juice early, but it progressively left us."

No. 6 WVU (4-0) cruised passed the Dukes (2-1)(1-0) on the strength of quarterback Rasheed Marshall’s right arm. The senior touched up JMU for 184 yards and two touchdowns while completing 17 of 22 pass-attempts.

Marshall’s preferred target was wide receiver Chris Henry, who reeled in seven catches for 74 yards, including both of Marshall’s touchdown-passes.

"It’s what I expected," redshirt sophomore running back Alvin Banks said. "They’re the No. 6 team in the country. They shut out teams and do what they do to be that."

But this is not uncharted territory for the Dukes. Last year, JMU traveled to Virginia Tech while the Hokies were a top-25 team and left on the wrong end of a 43-0 score.

"I think we played much better [than we did last year]," coach Mickey Matthews said. "We have a better team than we had last year, but I don’t know if we could’ve beat [WVU]."

In the first quarter, JMU held WVU scoreless — and vice versa. The quarter closed with the Dukes stopping West Virginia on 3rd and 1 at the JMU 2-yard line.

"People are just going to think that we got blown out," redshirt freshman free safety Tony LeZotte said. "But unless you were here, you don’t know how well we played on defense and how well we stopped them."

Banks carried the ball 30 times for 109 yards.

"I thought we were going to pass the ball more," Banks said. "We haven’t played a team where we were able to pass the ball yet a lot, so I thought we would pass."

On the passing side of the offense, JMU ran out redshirt sophomore quarterback Justin Rascati, who has started all three of the Dukes’ games this season. Rascati went 11 for 16 for 110 yards. Redshirt senior quarterback Matt LeZotte also saw action. It was the first time he had taken a snap since the season opener against Lock Haven University. The senior finished 2 for 7 for 36 yards.

"It’s a win in that we didn’t have any catastrophic injuries," Beach said. "We are going to get into our conference games and hopefully, we can win an [Atlantic 10] championship."

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