RICHMOND DEFEATS DUKES 18-15 IN JMU'S HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME

Saturday, October 29

Harrisonburg, Va.

James Madison University

4-4 , 2-3

Richmond

5-3 , 5-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Richmond

James Madison

RICHMOND DEFEATS DUKES 18-15 IN JMU'S HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME

10/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Oct. 29, 2005 – Sophomore running back Tim Hightower ran for two touchdowns, and Richmond withstood a late James Madison rally to beat the Dukes 18-15 in their homecoming football game Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field.

Hightower scored on runs of 19 yards and one yard during the second half and ran 20 times for 119 yards overall as Richmond won its fourth straight game. He gave the Spiders a 12-7 lead with his 19-yard touchdown run with 4:37 left in the third quarter and an 18-7 advantage with his one-yard scoring plunge with 9:13 left in the game.

JMU got to within 18-15 on junior quarterback Justin Rascati's (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz) 23-yard touchdown pass to junior tailback Alvin Banks (Hampton, Va./Hampton) and a two-point conversion with 5:05 remaining. The Dukes got the ball back again with 1:17 but advanced only from their 30 to the Richmond 27 before time expired.

Richmond raised its overall record to 5-3 and its Atlantic 10 Football Conference mark to 5-1. JMU lost for the third straight week in Atlantic 10 play and fell to 4-4 overall and to 2-3 in the conference.

Hightower's first touchdown run was set up by junior linebacker Anthony Dabney's blocked punt and recovery at the JMU 33. The Spiders took only three plays to score with Hightower running for six yards on first down and senior quarterback Stacy Tutt hitting junior wide receiver Matt Hale on an eight-yard pass on the second play.

Richmond used 13 plays to drive 74 yards for what proved to be the game's decisive touchdown. Tutt had an 11-yard completion to junior wide receiver Danny Desriveaux on a third-and-seven play from the JMU 37, and Hightower ran for 15 yards on a third-and-one from the JMU 17.

After falling behind 18-7, JMU drove 90 yards in 13 plays for the Rascati-to-Banks scoring pass, and junior tailback Maurice Fenner (Virginia Beach, Va./Bayside) cut the margin to 18-15 with a two-point conversion run. Richmond had missed on its conversion kick attempt after going up 18-7.

Richmond moved for one first down on the following possession before punting to the Dukes, who were out of timeouts. JMU ran eight plays before Rascati was stopped on a scramble from the Richmond 34 and was unable to get off another snap before time expired.

Richmond scored first on a 23-yard field goal by senior Joseph Fore, capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive with 14:05 left in the second quarter.

JMU used only five plays to take a 7-3 lead with 12:13 left in the half on a six-yard touchdown pass from Rascati to senior wide receiver Tahir Hinds (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport).

Fore pulled Richmond to within 7-6 with a 34-yard field goal with 9:06 left in the third quarter, capping a six-play, 40-yard possession.

JMU gained 395 total yards (216 rushing, 179 passing) but lost two fumbles and threw an interception in addition to having a punt blocked.

Richmond had 307 yards of total offense (204 rushing, 103) and lost a fumble and threw an interception.

Tutt threw for 103 yards and ran for 63 for the Spiders. He completed nine of 19 passes.

Banks for 18 times for 120 yards and Fenner 13 times for 60 yards for JMU, and both players moved past the 2,000-yard career rushing mark during the game. Banks raised his career rushing yards total to 2,087 yards and Fenner ran his to 2,044. They are the ninth and 10th JMU players to reach the 2,000-yard career rushing plateau and the first since Curtis Keaton (1998-99) during the 1999 season.

Rascati completed 18 of 27 passes for 179 yards for JMU.

Junior defensive back Ryan Mace and junior linebacker Adam Goloboski had 11 tackles each for Richmond and junior safety Phil Minafield (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz) 11 for JMU.

JMU travels to William & Mary for a 7 p.m. game next Saturday (Nov. 5), and Richmond will host Virginia Military.