JMU Falls in Semifinals at Sam Houston 38-35

Saturday, May 8

Huntsville, Texas

2:30 p.m. (1:30 CT)

James Madison University

Sam Houston

5/8/2021 6:56:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Sam Houston engineered a 28-point turnaround over a five-minute stretch of the second half to down James Madison 38-35 in the semifinal round of the 2020 NCAA Division I Championship on Saturday afternoon at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.

JMU ended its 2020-21 spring season at 7-1 overall while Sam Houston advanced to its third FCS title game appearance, improving to 9-0.

James Madison led 27-10 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter when momentum turned Sam Houston's way. The Bearkats connected on a 69-yard touchdown pass, an 80-yard punt return, a quarterback keeper following a botched kick return for the Dukes and another quarterback touchdown following a JMU interception.

With 12 minutes remaining, the Dukes had time for a comeback as Percy Agyei-Obese carried four times to start JMU's drive, and Cole Johnson found Scott Bracey for a 36-yard touchdown strike. Johnson's keeper on the two-point attempt made it 38-35, still with 10:14 remaining.

After a defensive stop, JMU got the ball back at its own 15 and orchestrated a six-minute drive into Sam Houston territory. Facing fourth-and-long, the Dukes turned to their deep kicker for the 51-yard attempt into the wind to tie and came up wide left.

JMU outgained SHSU 430-332 for the game, ran 77 plays to 59 for the Bearkats and led time of possession 36 minutes to 24, but it was the big momentum plays in the middle portion of the second half that turned the tide for Sam Houston.

Johnson was 16-for-26 passing for 271 yards and three touchdowns for JMU. Agyei-Obese gained 98 yards on the ground on 24 carries while Jawon Hamilton added 61 yards on 12 rushes. Antwane Wells continued his strong playoff push with 89 receiving yards on seven catches and a score.

Jequez Ezzard led Sam Houston with 107 yards receiving and a score, in addition to the 80-yard punt return for a touchdown. Quarterback Eric Schmid was 13-for-27 passing for 218 yards and two interceptions, but added two scores on the ground to go with one in the air.

Key Moments

Sam Houston appeared poised for a quick start. An inadvertent JMU blocked punt resulted in SH ball at the JMU 2-yard line, but the defense came up stout, including a fourth-down pass attempt for the Bearkats.
With the score tied 3-3 and JMU's offense largely stymied, the Dukes put together a big drive in the middle of the second quarter with a Hamilton 36-yard run followed by an option play for Johnson to Clayton Cheatham for another 33 yards. That set up a fourth-and-1 keeper for Johnson.
On the ensuing JMU drive, tight end Noah Turner broke multiple tackles for a big 41-yard play-action pass. That set up a Johnson-to-Wells score to make it 17-3.
Late in the second quarter, Greg Ross picked off a third-down pass to set the Dukes up at midfield. After a 36-yard strike to Wells, Johnson found Cheatham again on a scoring strike to make it 24-3 at the break.
In the third quarter, the Dukes turned to Hamilton five times on a mid-third quarter drive, chewing up five minutes off the clock and ending with an Ethan Ratke field goal, making it 27-10 JMU.
With an immediate response to JMU's score, Sam Houston got a Schmid-to-Ezzard 69-yard strike to make it 27-17 with three minutes to go, igniting the 28-point burst.
After a quick defensive stop, Sam Houston struck paydirt on a big play again, this time on special teams as Ezzard returned a punt 80 yards to make it 27-24 late in the third.
On the ensuing kickoff, JMU couldn't handle a high kick and high bounce as Sam Houston recovered on JMU's 40. Schmid scored on a 20-yard keeper for SHSU's first lead at 31-27 since it was 3-0.
As the clock turned to the fourth quarter, JMU turned it over on a tipped interception. Schmid scored on his second keeper to make it 38-27 with 12 minutes to go.
JMU came back with a big answer, turning back to its ball-control offense. Agyei-Obese ran four times and Hamilton another before Johnson's 34-yard strike to Bracey.

Inside the Box Score

After gaining 33 yards in the first quarter, JMU flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring SHSU 24-0 and outgaining the Bearkats 244-40.
However, the Bearkats flipped it right back in the third quarter, outscoring JMU 28-3 with a 174-36 advantage in yards.
Sam Houston had not thrown an interception in the playoffs before JMU picked off Schmid twice. Kelvin Azanama and Greg Ross had first-half picks. Altogether JMU had seven interception in three playoff games after just five in five regular-season games.
Ratke's two field goals were the 71^st and 72^nd in his career to climb to third all-time in FCS history. He finished the spring a perfect 14-for-14 with his last being a career-long 48-yarder in the third quarter against Sam Houston.
Sam Houston improved to 16-0 all-time at home in the postseason while JMU fell to 6-9 in road playoff contests.
Wells finished his three-game playoff run in his first JMU season with 18 catches for 364 yards and four touchdowns.