HARRISONBURG, Va. - Ninth ranked James Madison pounded out 352 rushing yards and logged 10 quarterback sacks to down VMI, 41-10, Saturday afternoon before a Bridgeforth Stadium homecoming crowd of 15,312 spectators.
The Dukes never trailed, but VMI, down 27-10 with six minutes left, missed an opportunity to cut the deficit to two scores when a fumble halted a Keydet drive that had moved to the JMU 12-yard line. The Dukes never looked back from that point - tacking on two touchdowns in the final 3:26 of the game.
The loss dampened a strong showing by VMI quarterback Kirk Moneteleone, who completed 21 of 30 passes for a career-high 234 yards passing and one touchdown. Monteleone, who became VMI's fourth starting quarterback last week, netted his first 200-yard passing game in just his third game at QB this year.
JMU got going early, as a five yard touchdown run by sophomore tailback Maurice Fenner capped a 12-play, 71-yard drive to give the Dukes a 7-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game. JMU kept the ball on the ground for most of the drive, churning up 57 yards on 10 attempts, and a 14-yard pass from Duke QB Justin Rascati to D.D. Boxley for 14 yards keyed the drive.
The Dukes upped that advantage to 21-0 on a pair of surgical drives, each of which covered 60-plus yards in less than three minutes. Four minutes into the second quarter, senior quarterback Matt LeZotte scored from one yard out after his 24-yard pass to sophomore wideout D.D. Boxley brought the Dukes down to the VMI 2. Five minutes later, sophomore quarterback Justin Rascati scored on a five yard scamper of his own to give JMU a three-touchdown lead.
Just before the half, VMI took advantage of a JMU special-teams mistake, as junior linebacker Mike Maleski fell on a fumbled punt return by L.C. Baker at the JMU 8. Four plays later, freshman kicker Barrett Way kicked a 29 yard field goal to give the Keydets their first points of the day with 2:38 left in the half. It was the sixth consecutive field goal for the freshman from Richmond.
The Dukes came out rolling out of the intermission, driving 71 yards in three minutes for their fourth touchdown, an eight-yard run by Rascati. However, VMI blocked the point after, limiting JMU to a 27-3 lead.
VMI got rolling on a drive of their own toward the end of the third quarter, marching 68 yards in less than four minutes. Sophomore quarterback Kirk Monteleone lofted a perfect strike to the back of the end zone that was hauled in by junior wideout Zohn Burden from 19 yards out to cut the JMU lead to 27-10. It was Burden's fourth TD reception of the year.
Five minutes into the fourth quarter, just as JMU appeared to be headed for another touchdown, VMI sophomore cornerback Jamaal Walton recovered an Antoinne Bolton fumble in the end zone.
On the ensuing drive that started at the Keydet 20, a 45-yard pass from Monteleone to junior tight end John Fox gave the Keydets the ball on the JMU 22. However, after a pass interference call in the end zone advanced the ball to the JMU 12, a fumble by Burden on an inside screen pass wound up in JMU strong safety Rondell Bradley's hands at the 20, ending the Keydets' final scoring threat of the day.
Hines led all rushers with 111 yards on 20 carries and Bolton gained 103 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown as two opponent players went over the 100-yard rushing mark for the second time this year. (Rouse 130, and McRae 100, of Ohio University was the other time).
With nine catches for 114 yards, Burden had his second 100-yard receiving game of the year, joining his 10-catch 124 yard effort at Ohio Sept. 4. It was his third 100-yard receiving game of his career, and the Va. Beach native extended his consecutive games catch streak to 21 games. Junior wideout Gary price caught five passes for 52 yards and extended his consecutive games reception streak to 21 games as well.
VMI junior tailback Sean Mizzer gained 62 yards on seven carries in the first half, but was limited to four yards on eight carries in the second half and finished with 66 yards.
Robert Mason and Todd Baldwin led VMI's defense with 11 tackles each while linebacker Todd Baldwin had nine stops including a seven yard sack and a pass break-up.
Linebacker Kwynne Walton led JMU on defense with 10 tackles including seven for loss for -40 yards.
VMI closed out its road schedule and returns home next Saturday to face Big South rival Liberty at 1:00 p.m. The game will be televised in Western Virginia on WDRL -Roanoke, Danville, Lynchburg and on the Flames television network.
JMU takes on Delaware in Harrisonburg next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
COACH CAL McCOMBS-
ON JMU DEFENSE- "I have to give JMU a lot of credit. They have an experienced defense. They have a lot of speed on the defense, and everybody runs to the ball. They brought a lot of pressure against Kirk, who's only playing his third week at quarterback."
ON OPENING DRIVE- "I felt like we had a shot to get some confidence early, grab a 7-0 lead on that first drive, and if we had, who knows how things could have turned out. Probably that first drive of the day was our most consistent, we just had a few mistakes that really cost us."
KIRK MONTELEONE-
ON JMU DEFENSE- "They are a very fast, athletic defense. At times I felt like they had 15 guys out there on the field. They brought the house, and with me not playing quarterback in two years, I have the tendency to pull the ball down and want to take off too early. They would send a blitz, and I knew that I would have receivers open, but I just wanted to get out of the pocket."
ON OPENING DRIVE- "We got out there on that first drive, and we started moving the ball. I was like
