FOOTBALL DUKES BEAT DELAWARE, IMPROVE TO 8-1

Saturday, November 4

Harrisonburg, Va.

6:00 PM

James Madison University

8-1 , 6-0

Delaware

4-5 , 2-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Delaware

James Madison

11/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Nov. 4, 2006 ? Senior quarterback Justin Rascati (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz) threw for 211 yards and three touchdowns, and James Madison had three scoring plays of 50 yards or more in beating Delaware 44-24 in Atlantic 10 Football Conference play Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field.

Rascati hit on 14 of 20 passes and also ran for 79 yards as JMU won for the seventh straight time and raised its overall record to 8-1 and its Atlantic 10 mark to 6-0. He had touchdown passes of 16, 70 and 14 yards, and his rushing effort allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard career rushing plateau for his three JMU seasons.

Rascati hit senior wide receiver D.D. Boxley (King George, Va./King George) with a 70-yard touchdown pass on the opening play of the second half to give the Dukes a 27-7 lead, and JMU got scoring runs of 50 and 80 yards from junior tailback Eugene Holloman (Virginia Beach, Va./Bayside).

Holloman finished with a career-high 171 yards on 15 rushing attempts.

Playing before 16,144 fans -- the third-largest crowd in stadium history -- and a regional television audience, JMU compiled 542 yards of total offense (331 rushing, 211 passing), was successful on seven of 12 third-down conversion attempts, and didn't have a turnover.

The Dukes held Delaware to 20 rushing yards and 311 yards overall after allowing only 177 yards through three quarters.

In addition to Boxley's scoring catch, JMU got 16-yard touchdown grab from senior wide receiver Ardon Bransford (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) and 14-yarder from junior wide receiver L.C. Baker (Richmond, Va./Armstrong). The Dukes' other touchdown came on a 22-yard fumble return by freshman defensive end Arthur Moats (Portsmouth, Va./Churchland).

Holloman's 50-yard scoring run pulled JMU into a 7-7 tie on the Dukes' initial possession after Delaware opened the game with 44-yard scoring drive following a 48-yard return of the opening kickoff.

Bransford's touchdown catch gave the Dukes a 14-7 lead with 0:31 left in the opening quarter, and Holloman's 80-yard scoring sprint raised the JMU margin to 20-7 with 2:52 remaining before halftime.

Boxley's and Baker's scoring receptions were sandwiched around a third-quarter Delaware field goal and gave the Dukes a 34-10 margin after three periods, and a 31-yard field goal by senior David Rabil (Franklin, Va./Franklin) increased the JMU lead to 37-10 with 11:33 left in the game.

Holloman's rushing performance was his fifth 100-yard outing of 2006 and increased his season rushing yards total to 806 in seven games.

Rascati's 79-yard effort on the ground was the second-best of his career and improved his three-year JMU rushing total to 1,026 yards. His 290 yards of total offense are his No. 2 game outing as a Duke.

Rabil kicked extra points following JMU's first two touchdowns to set a team record of 76 straight successful conversions but failed on his third PAT try of the game, his first miss since the Dukes' 2004 home game against Delaware.

Moats' fumble return for a touchdown came off a sack by JMU senior defensive tackle Chuck Suppon (Shavertown, Pa./Dallas) and was the Dukes' third fumble return for a score this season.

JMU's defenders registered four sacks for the game, raising their season total to 40, the most a Dukes squad ever has produced during a regular season. Junior tackle John Baranowsky (Sudbury, Mass./Linclon-Sudbury) had two of the sacks, and JMU also got 14 overall tackles and two stops for loss from senior linebacker Akeem Jordan (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg).

JMU plays next Saturday (Nov. 11) in a 1 p.m. game at Villanova, a 31-21 winner at home Saturday against Richmond.