DURHAM, N.H. – For the second straight week, James Madison’s defense stifled a high-powered opponent in the second half. And for the second straight week, it wasn’t enough to overcome the hole the Dukes were in after the first half.
New Hampshire scored 25 points before the break and JMU had a third-quarter touchdown called back as the No. 9 Wildcats held on to win 28-10 in front of 4,466 fans at Cowell Stadium on Saturday on an unseasonably warm November day in New England.
Neither team scored a touchdown in the second half as what looked to be a shootout in the first quarter turned into a snooze-fest. UNH (7-2 overall, 5-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association) added only a late field goal.
The Dukes (5-4, 3-3), losers of three of their last four, killed themselves with eight penalties for 73 yards, including a critical holding call on left tackle Matt Cunningham – playing for the injured A.J. Scott – that erased a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jace Edwards to Brian Barlow.
“I don’t know if we would’ve beat them if we had that touchdown, but we sure would have made it interesting,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said.
JMU got 111 rushing yards from Dae’Quan Scott, playing after dislocating his left shoulder for the second time in last Saturday’s loss to Old Dominion.
The Dukes’ defense sacked New Hampshire quarterback Kevin Decker five times and held the CAA’s top passer to just 186 yards and a touchdown and picked him off in the second half.
“We knew what they were defensively,” UNH coach Sean McDonnell said. “They’ve got guys who can really run to the football. There front four are good and their two linebackers are unbelievable.”
But New Hampshire’s defense, statistically one of the weakest in the league this year, turned in a huge second half against the beat-up JMU offense. The Dukes were playing without both its starting tackles and quarterback Jace Edwards – who also dislocated his shoulder earlier this year – rolled his ankle in the first half.
Edwards finished 18-for-31 for 159 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked five times. It was the touchdown pass he threw that didn’t count that may have been the biggest play of the day.
“I didn’t even see the flag until after the touchdown,” Edwards said. “That’s a tough one. I definitely thought we were about to get back in the game right there.”
For UNH, running back Dontra Peters rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
The Wildcats got off to a great start Saturday.
UNH had great field position on its first two possession of the game and capitalized. After starting at the 49-yard line – set up by a good kick return and a JMU facemask penalty – Peters scored from 3-yards out.
The Wildcats caught JMU by surprise going for a 2-point conversion and getting the points when Decker completed a throw to Chris Setian, making it 8-0 just 1:36 into the game.
UNH’s next scoring drive was even shorter. It started at JMU’s 25-yard line – after a big return and an offsides penalty on the kickoff. New Hampshire’s Mike MacArthur hit a 36-yard field goal to put UNH up 11-3 with 7:38 left in the first quarter.
JMU got itself back into things with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jace Edwards to Brian Barlow, making it 11-10 UNH with 3:39 left in the opening period.
But as fast as JMU scored, the Wildcats answered. Decker hit Sean Cullen for a 19-yard touchdown to go up 18-10 with 54 seconds left in the first.
In the second quarter, Peters scored his second touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run to make it 25-10.
But the Dukes defense seemed to settle in after that and JMU went to the half down 25-10.
A week after managing just 77 yards and no points in the second half against ODU, the Dukes totaled 136 yards and no points after the break Saturday.
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