Dukes Breeze Past Saint Francis, 44-7, for Home-Opening Victory

Saturday, September 7

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

1-1

Saint Francis (Pa.)

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Saint Francis

James Madison

Dukes Breeze Past Saint Francis, 44-7, for Home-Opening Victory

9/7/2019 11:01:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score Highlights Press Conference Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- No. 2 James Madison football rushed for nearly 300 yards and used a stifling defensive effort to upend Saint Francis 44-7 in Saturday night's home opener at Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field.

JMU improved to 1-1 on the season, while the Red Flash's record was evened to 1-1. The Dukes improved to 4-0 all-time against SFU and 7-0 against teams from the Northeast Conference.

The Dukes' defense limited SFU to only 69 yards of offense through the first three quarters, scoring the game's first 37 points to lead wire-to-wire.

Redshirt senior quarterback Ben DiNucci led JMU's passing attack with 221 yards and two touchdowns. The signal caller also added 51 yards on the ground.

Redshirt freshman running back Solomon Vanhorse rushed for a career- and game-high 86 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, averaging 6.1 yards on his 14 carries. Two other JMU running backs surpassed 50 on the ground, as redshirt junior Jawon Hamilton and junior Percy Agyei-Obese had 54 and 51 yards, respectively. JMU's fourth back, freshman Austin Douglas ran for 33 yards and scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 19-yard catch.

DiNucci's top target, redshirt senior receiver Brandon Polk, caught six passes for 95 yards, both career highs. That included catches of 28 yards and a season-long 29 yards. Redshirt junior receiver Jake Brown tallied four catches for 52 yards, which included a 45-yard touchdown strike, and senior tight end Dylan Stapleton added three receptions for 39 yards.

Three defenders recorded at least six tackles in the win, paced by redshirt sophomore safety Sam Kidd, who had a career-high seven tackles. Senior safety Adam Smith and junior safety MJ Hampton each had six, as Hampton's tackles total was a career high while also forcing his first fumble. Up front, junior defensive lineman Adeeb Atariwa had 1.5 tackles for loss with a pass breakup, while redshirt senior defensive lineman Ron'Dell Carter and redshirt junior safety Wayne Davis each had 1.0 TFL.

JMU tallied 533 yards of offensive in the win, with 295 on the ground and 238 more through the air, averaging 6.7 yards per play. SFU was held under 100 yards both in passing and rushing, being limited to 175 yards of total offense.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

KEY MOMENTS
JMU scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns on its way to tallying the first 37 points of the game. Saint Francis had a pair of first downs on its opening drive but was held to 10 consecutive three-and-outs, failing to move the chains until the fourth quarter.

ADDITIONAL GAME FACTS

DiNucci completed 76.2% of his passes, including 80% in the first half. With his 272 yards of offense, he surpassed 3,000 career yards at JMU, moving to 3,172 yards.
Redshirt junior kicker Ethan Ratke was perfect in the kicking game, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 5-for-5 on PATs. Ratke is only four field goals off the JMU all-time record.
Redshirt junior quarterback Cole Johnson was also 4-for-4 in relief, passing for 17 yards and a touchdown, which he threw to junior tight end Clayton Cheatham in the fourth quarter.
The Dukes won the time of possession battle by a margin of 34:59 to 25:01.
JMU scored 37 unanswered points to start the game, before Saint Francis finally scored with 9:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.
James Madison recorded 29 first downs, with 20 on the ground and nine in the air. SFU moved the chains just nine times.

UP NEXT
JMU is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 14 when it hosts Morgan State. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Washington and streamed on FloSports.