FOOTBALL DUKES BEAT RICHMOND FOR SIXTH-STRAIGHT VICTORY

Saturday, October 28

Richmond, Va.

3:00 PM

James Madison University

7-1 , 5-0

Richmond

5-3 , 2-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

James Madison

Richmond

10/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 28, 2006 - James Madison scored on its first two possessions and later got a defensive touchdown from senior end Kevin Winston (Beltsville, Md./High Point) and a record-tying touchdown pass from senior quarterback Justin Rascati (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz) in beating Richmond 27-10 in Atlantic 10 Football Conference play Saturday.

JMU scored on a two-yard touchdown run by Rascati and on a 37-yard field goal by senior placekicker David Rabil (Franklin, Va./Franklin) to lead 10-0 by the 4:34 mark of the first quarter. Winston's 38-yard fumble return allowed the Dukes to lead 17-10 at halftime, and JMU got the only points of the final two periods as Rascati matched the team career record for touchdown passes, hitting junior wide receiver L.C. Baker (Richmond, Va./Armstrong) on a 43-yard scoring strike, and Rabil added another field goal.

The victory was the sixth straight for fifth-ranked JMU and raised the Dukes' overall record to 7-1 and their Atlantic 10 mark to 5-0. Richmond, Division I-AA's 13th-ranked team, fell to 5-3 overall and to 2-3 in the Atlantic 10.

In a defensive struggle during a windy afternoon JMU finished with only 261 yards of total offense (124 rushing, 137 passing) but turned in its most-impressive performance of the year on the other side of the ball, limiting Richmond to 165 yards (minus-2 rushing, 167 passing).

The host Spiders had only 36 total yards and three first downs after halftime, and their minus-2 rushing yards were the fewest by a JMU opponent since Villanova's minus-2 early during the 2004 season.

Rascati's early scoring run capped an 11-play, 51-yard JMU drive during which the Dukes overcame a 15-yard facemask penalty. A 22-yard Racati scramble to the Richmond 32 in a third-down-and-13 situation was the series' key play.

The Dukes then held Richmond without a first down for the second straight series and raised the lead to 10-0 on a 37-yard Rabil field goal with 4:34 left in the first quarter. JMU moved 21 yards to the Richmond 20 during the possession following Spider punt that Winston partially blocked.

Richmond pulled to within 10-7 at the 11:41 mark of the second quarter when quarterback Eric Ward hit Matt Hale with a seven-yard touchdown pass at the end of a 10-play, 80-yard march. The Spiders had gotten the ball on Stephen Howell's interception of a Rascati pass at their 20.

JMU failed to cross midfield during any of its next three series but upped its lead to 17-7 at the 2:15 mark of the second quarter when Ward lost possession while being sacked, and Winston picked up the ball and raced 38 yards for his second touchdown of the season.

Richmond pulled to within 17-10 on Andrew Howard's 45-yard field goal (1:06 before halftime) on the following series, but the Spider offense never advanced as far as midfield during the final half.

JMU's lead remained at 17-10 until Rascati and Baker combined on their scoring play with 12:12 left to play. Rascati found Baker on a crossing pattern, and his 42nd career JMU touchdown pass allowed him to tie Mike Cawley (1993-95) on the Dukes' all-time scoring passes list.