Dukes Surge Past #18 Southeastern Louisiana, Advance to FCS Quarterfinals

Saturday, December 4

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

11-1 , 7-1

Southeastern Louisiana

9-4 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Southeastern La.

James Madison

Dukes Surge Past #18 Southeastern Louisiana, Advance to FCS Quarterfinals

12/4/2021 8:10:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Cole Johnson tied a JMU playoff record with five passing touchdowns, and the defense forced five turnovers, as #2 James Madison routed #18 Southeastern Louisiana 59-20, in the FCS second round on Saturday afternoon at Bridgeforth Stadium.

The Dukes improve to 11-1 on the year and advance to the quarterfinals to face #5 Montana on Friday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. The Lions ended their season with a 9-4 overall record.

Johnson accounted for six total touchdowns, as he was 12-of-22 for 321 yards and five touchdowns. He also added 44 yards and a score on the ground. His five touchdown passes matched Bryan Schor's postseason single-game mark, as he also had five in the 2016 second round versus New Hampshire.

Antwane Wells Jr. also set a playoff record for the Dukes, as he became the first receiver in school history to record three receiving touchdowns. He finished with six receptions for 123 yards, marking the eighth 100-yard game of his career.

Kris Thornton also scored twice, once through the air and another on the ground. He finished with a pair of catches for 72 yards while adding a few in the run game. Solomon Vanhorse also caught a 63-yard touchdown pass, the longest catch of his career. Austin Douglas, who bested his twin brother Justin at SLU, led the game with 51 rushing yards, averaging 10.2 per carry.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, with JMU leading 14-10, the Dukes broke the game open with 24 points, including 17 over the final 2:56 of the half. The Dukes used three one-play drives for touchdowns in the frame, taking a 38-13 lead into the break.

The Dukes tacked on 21 more in the third quarter, as Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey's 43-yard pick-six to open the quarter. Wells Jr. caught the fifth Johnson touchdown pass on the ensuing drive and Thornton's end-around run put JMU up 59-13 late in the third.

JMU's defense forced SLU into five turnovers, with each of the first four takeaways resulting in points. The Dukes also held the Lions just 42 rushing yards and 1.7 per carry. Tucker-Dorsey led the defense with eight total tackles, a strip sack and his pair of interceptions.

Chris Chukwuneke also had eight stops with a pair of tackles for loss and a sack and forced fumble. Tony Thurston made six tackles with 2.0 TFL and a half sack, and Kelvin Azanama had six stops and a fumble recovery. Isaac Ukwu grabbed five tackles and a sack, Greg Ross also had his team-leading fourth interception of the season, while Taurus Jones recovered his first fumble.

Southeastern Louisiana was paced by Cole Kelley, who was 36-of-50 for 397 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions and a lost fumble. Austin Mitchell had nine grabs for 129 yards and a score.

GAME NOTES:

JMU's 59 points were the third-most in its program history in the playoffs, and it's the fifth time JMU has scored at least 50 points in the postseason.
The 39-point victory was also the third-largest margin of victory in a JMU playoff game.
JMU out-gained the nation's #1 offense by a 484-439 margin, despite running 22 fewer offensive plays.
The Dukes averaged 9.1 yards per play, as opposed to SLU's 5.9.
The teams combined for 718 passing yards, with SLU at 397 and JMU at 321, while the Dukes held a commanding 163-42 lead on the ground.
JMU was +4 in the turnover battle, at 5-1, as it is now +21 for the season.
Teams were perfect in the red zone, as JMU was 2-for-2 and SLU was 3-for-3. Though, the Lions settled for field goals on two of their three trips.
Johnson averaged 26.75 yards per completion, with a long of 63.
He surpassed 3,000 passing yards this season, as he now stands at 3,274, which is third in single-season history. He also crossed the 6,000 career mark, as he's at 6,006, good for third all-time at JMU.
Johnson additionally has a JMU-record 37 touchdown passes this season and 54 for his career to rank second behind Bryan Schor's record of 62.
Wells Jr. now leads the Dukes and the Colonial Athletic Association this season in receptions (73), receiving yards (1,117) and receiving touchdowns (14). He's also fourth all-time at JMU with 20 career touchdowns and ninth with 1,720 receiving yards.
Ethan Ratke tacked on 11 more points to move into 13th place on the NCAA career scoring list (536). He needs just nine more points to own the FCS record.