#12 Dukes Sprint Past Morehead State, 56-7

Saturday, September 5

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

1-0

Morehead State

0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Morehead State

James Madison

9/5/2015 9:23:00 PM | Football

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. - The 12th-ranked James Madison football team racked up a school-record 713 yards of total offense on Saturday evening, as the Dukes opened the 2015 season with an emphatic 56-7 victory over Morehead State at Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field.

Redshirt-senior quarterback Vad Lee paced the JMU offense, going 18-for-25 through the air for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Lee also added 105 yards on the ground, combining with redshirt-sophomore running back Cardon Johnson (123 yards) and junior running back Khalid Abdullah (102) to mark the first time in program history that three Dukes have broken the century mark on the ground. Defensively, redshirt-junior linebacker Gage Steele led the Dukes with a team-high 10 tackles (6 solo), while junior safety Raven Greene had a team-best eight solo tackles (9 total) to go with a forced fumble in the red zone.

Lee scored on a pair of 66-yard plays for JMU, taking a quarterback draw down the left sideline in the second quarter to put the Dukes up 14-0 before finding redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Ishmael Hyman for a third-quarter strike down the middle that gave JMU a 42-7 lead and marked Lee's final play of the evening.

JMU scored the first 21 points of the game before the Eagles made it 21-7 with a 1-yard run from quarterback Austin Gahafer with 3:01 to play before halftime. Madison found the end zone on the last drive of the first half and first drive of the second half to make it 35-7 and put the contest out of reach.

The Dukes, who are now 23-20-1 in season openers and 33-11 in Bridgeforth Stadium openers, picked up more than 300 yards both passing and rushing for the first time since a win over Lock Haven on Sept. 2, 2000.

Breakthrough Performance:
Redshirt-sophomore running back Cardon Johnson rushed for 123 yards on just 14 carries in his first collegiate game after missing last season to injury. Johnson took his first carry through the left side for 33 yards on the Dukes' first offensive play.

Quoting Coach Withers:
"There's a lot of boxes you can check off for the first ballgame," Head Coach Everett Withers said. "I don't like nine penalties, but for a first ballgame, I was pretty pleased. Hopefully, we can make enough of the jump from game one to game two that you need to make to be a good football program. Hopefully, we can do that this week at practice."

Play of the Game:

CLICK HERE for complete highlights.

Senior Spotlight:
Senior tight end Deane Cheatham, playing in his first contest since an injury in a Nov. 8, 2014, contest against Stony Brook, made his one reception count, pulling in a 9-yard touchdown catch 30 seconds before halftime to put JMU up, 28-7.

Climbing the Record Board:
Redshirt-senior quarterback Vad Lee continued his march up the JMU record books. After Saturday's performance, he ranks in the top seven in five career categories at JMU:
Passing Yards: 6th, 3,759 (5th: Matt LeZotte, 4,504)
Passing Attempts: 7th, 490 (6th: Tom Bowles, 584)
Passing Completions: 6th, 300 (5th: Eriq Williams, 326)
Passing Touchdowns: 6th, 33 (5th: Greg Maddox, 34)
Total Offense: 7th, 4,690 (6th: Greg Maddox, 4,825)

Tweet of the Game:

Of course @JMUFootball is winning. That's a given.
— Earl Watford (@EWatts78) September 5, 2015

Career Evenings:
Multiple Dukes notched career evenings on Saturday, led by junior running back Khalid Abdullah, who's 102 rushing yards marked the first 100-yard performance of his career. Redshirt-sophomore Cardon Johnson (123 rushing yards) and junior wide receiver Dominique Taylor (75 receiving yards) both tallied career bests by virtue of playing in their first Division I contests, while redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Ishmael Hyman posted a career-best 86 receiving yards of his own.

Photo of the Game:

JMU players raise their helmets during a moment of silence in memory of Alison Parker

CLICK HERE for the full photo gallery.

Next Up:
The Dukes will be back at Bridgeforth Stadium next Saturday when they welcome Lehigh for a 4 p.m. kickoff. The Mountain Hawks opened their season on Friday evening with a 20-14 victory at Central Connecticut State.