JMU Rallies For 27-24 Victory at Stony Brook, Fifth Straight Win

Saturday, November 8

Stony Brook, N.Y.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

Stony Brook

Photo by: Cathy Kushner/JMU Athletics Communications

JMU Rallies For 27-24 Victory at Stony Brook, Fifth Straight Win

11/8/2014 4:43:00 PM | Football

Box Score

STONY BROOK, New York –James Madison scored the final 17 points of the game and shut out host Stony Brook in the second half for a 27-24 victory at LaValle Stadium, Nov. 8. With their fifth straight win, the Dukes improved to 7-3 and 4-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Seawolves fell to 4-6 and 3-3 in the league.

JMU's defense was a difference maker in the second half, keeping the home team off the scoreboard and giving the offense the opportunity to get the Dukes the victory. After creating just one punting situation in the first half, Madison forced four Stony Brook punts in the second half and stopped a fake field goal attempt. The final Stony Brook opportunity late in the game was ended with less than a minute to play as redshirt-senior linemen Sage Harold (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) and Brandon Lee (Sterling, Va./Park View) sacked SBU quarterback Connor Bednarski and forced a fumble that redshirt-junior defensive tackle Alex Mosley (Highland Springs, Va./Highland Springs) recovered to seal the victory.

The Dukes amassed 513 yards of total offense, 165 more than any other Seawolves' opponent this year, as the hosts boasted the No. 1 defense in FCS entering the game in both yards given up while yielding a mere 12.9 points per game, which ranked third nationally. JMU put up two second half touchdowns, with the first a 1-yard touchdown pass from redshirt-junior quarterback Vad Lee (Durham, N.C./Hillside (Georgia Tech)) to redshirt-senior wide receiver Daniel Brown (Windsor, Va./Isle of Wight) just 1:12 into the third quarter. The game winner came after the Stony Brook fake field goal was stopped by redshirt-freshman defensive lineman Simeyon Robinson (Virgina Beach, Va./First Colonial) at the JMU 9. Three plays later, Lee found a wide open sophomore wide receiver Brandon Ravenel (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) for a 76-yard touchdown that gave Madison the lead for good with 13:48 to play.

Lee threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns on 20-for-33 passing, his third straight 300-yard passing game and seventh time this season he has surpassed the 200-yard mark in a game. He also set a JMU single-season passing touchdown record with 24, surpassing Michael Birdsong's record of 22 set last season.

Redshirt-senior running back Jauan Latney (Fredericksburg, Va./Massaponax) had 13 carries for 104 yards, his second career 100-yard rushing game. Brown finished with five catches for 35 yards and one touchdown while Ravenel led the Dukes with 83 yards and one score on two receptions. Redshirt-freshman linebacker Kyre Hawkins (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) led the Dukes with 13 tackles, while Harold tied a career-high 10 tackles, including 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and 1 pass breakup.

Stony Brook got the scoring started on its second drive of the game, going 87 yards in seven plays. Bednarski found tight end Will Tye in the left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown, putting Stony Brook up 7-0 less than seven minutes into the game.

JMU's ensuing drive stalled out at the Stony Brook 20, but redshirt-junior kicker Ryan Maglio (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) hit from 41 yards to trim the lead to 7-3 with 2:45 to go in the first.

The Seawolves came right back scoring quickly in five plays. Bednarski again made it happen through the air, this time with a 41-yard catch-and-run touchdown to wide receiver Adrian Coxson for a 14-3 lead with less than a minute remaining in the first. The hosts then added a 43-yard field goal by Popek to go up 17-3 midway through the second period

The Dukes cut into the lead on the next drive. After a touchdown pass was called back for holding, Lee struck immediately, finding redshirt-freshman wide receiver Ishmael Hyman (Manalapan, N.J./St. John Vianney) for a 47-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 17-10 with 4:24 to go in the first half.

Following the touchdown, JMU went for an onside kick but Stony Brook recovered at the JMU 40. It took the Seawolves just five plays to find the end zone, capped by running back Marcus Coker's 5-yard run to extend the SBU lead to 24-10 with less than two minutes to play in the half.

Madison rallied and got inside the SBU 10 in the closing seconds of the half, but was forced to settle for Maglio's 24-yard field goal to go into the halftime break down 24-13.

JMU outgained Stony Brook 513-460, including 199 yards of rushing, also a season-high given up by the Seawolves. The Dukes converted 8-of-15 third down attempts while holding SBU to just 5-of-13 tries.

Bednarski finished 17-for-29 for 260 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Coker had a career-high 145 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries, while Tye led the receivers with seven catches for 90 yards and one score.

As part of the 2014 football season presented by CarMax, James Madison will travel for its final regular-season road game at No. 8 Richmond, Nov. 15. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network. Following that, the Dukes will return home to host Elon in the regular-season finale, Saturday, Nov. 22 at 12 p.m. The team will recognize its 2014 senior class in a pre-game ceremony, with tickets available by contacting the JMU Ticket Office at 540-568-3853 or online at JMUSports.com/tickets.