Saturday, September 12
Harrisonburg, Va.
4:00 PM
Lehigh University
1-1
17
at
55
James Madison
2-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
7
7
3
0
17
James Madison
10
28
7
10
55
Big second quarter dooms Lehigh in loss at No. 11/13 James Madison
9/12/2015 8:58:00 PM | Football
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HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 11/13 James Madison scored 31 unanswered points spanning the first and second quarters and Lehigh was unable to recover as the Mountain Hawks fell to 1-1 on the season with a 55-17 setback Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes racked up 618 yards of offense to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Lehigh gained 379 yards but turned the ball over three times and gave up seven sacks. Junior Nick Shafnisky completed 25-of-38 passes for 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and also led the ground attack with 53 yards on 22 carries.
JMU quarterback Vad Lee passed for 334 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 50 yards and a score. Khalid Abdullah and Cardon Johnson combined for 169 rushing yards and each rushed for two scores. Johnson also caught a touchdown.(9/12/2015) Football at JMU, 9/12/2015
Lehigh was held to just 70 rushing yards, with freshman Dominick Bragalone carrying eight times for just 11 yards. Bragalone did catch three passes for 92 yards.
Senior Derek Knott led Lehigh's receiving corps with ten catches for 83 yards while junior Trevor Socarras added 50 yards on seven grabs.
The game began with each team scoring a touchdown within the first 3:24. The Dukes moved the ball 72 yards in eight plays. After converting a pair of third downs, Lee hit Johnson for a 13-yard touchdown to give James Madison a 7-0 lead.
The Mountain Hawks needed just two plays to answer as Shafnisky hit Bragalone over the middle and the freshman broke free for a 72-yard touchdown. Ed Mish's extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 11:31 to play in the first quarter.
The Dukes answered with a ten play, 63-yard drive. James Madison moved into the red zone before a holding penalty set them back. The Lehigh defense held and Ryan Maglio's 33-yard field goal put the Dukes back up 10-7 with just over six and a half minutes played.
After a 3-and-out, Lehigh's defense forced the game's first turnover as junior Joe Barrett sacked Lee and sophomore Tyler Cavenas recovered. After one first down, Shafnisky was picked off by Curtis Oliver.
James Madison was able to extend its lead to 17-7 on a 12-play, 77-yard drive that saw the Dukes convert a pair of third-and-longs. Johnson's second touchdown of the day, a three-yard run to give JMU the ten point cushion.
A fumble by senior punter Austin Devine on Lehigh's ensuing possession was recovered by Rashad Robinson, who ran 34 yards for a touchdown that put James Madison up 17. JMU added touchdowns on a Khalid Abdullah five-yard run and a 17-yard scamper by Lee to go up 38-7 before Lehigh marched 59 yards on its final possession of the half, putting the ball in the end zone on a seven yard pass from Shafnisky to sophomore Troy Pelletier to make the score 38-14 JMU at the break.
"I really don't think we put our best foot forward," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "It really went awry for us in the second quarter. We were pretty competitive at that point in time. We had the punt issue where the punter drops the ball and didn't get it kicked and it wound up being a touchdown. Throughout the course of the game we didn't do a good job getting the Dukes off the field on third downs and we didn't convert third downs and that's not the right remedy."
James Madison out-gained Lehigh 396-202 in the first half. Shafnisky was 11-of-18 for 153 yards two touchdowns and two interceptions and also led the ground attack with 12 carries for 44 yards. Senior Derek Knott was the leading receiver with four catches for 31 yards.
Lehigh opened the second half with a 15-play, 72-yard drive that was capped by a 23-yard Mish field goal. James Madison answered with 17 more unanswered points, including touchdown runs from Abdullah and Johnson.
"You have to tackle them and that's really all you can do," Coen said. "We didn't tackle very well today. I was disappointed in that. We had too many players lunging and diving instead of breaking down and executing the tackle the way it should be. That's something we have to improve ourselves upon."
The game was delayed 35 minutes by lightning with 10:44 to play. When play resumed, both teams went to their benches. Freshman Brad Mayes made his first appearance at quarterback, completing 2-of-4 passes for 46 yards.
"Our team competed," Coen said. "I was proud even when we had to come back from this lightning deal. That will serve them well as we go through the rest of this season. We're a very young football team. I think we have 56 players who are freshmen or sophomores. A lot of them are getting an opportunity to play at a young age and that's a tough thing to do. When the bigger, faster, stronger team is there it's hard to beat that team and that's what happened today."
The Mountain Hawks will open their home schedule next Saturday when they host the Penn Quakers on Youth Sports Day at Goodman Stadium. Tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting LehighTickets.com.
EXTRA POINTS…James Madison increased its lead in the series to 3-1… Saturday's game was the first meeting between the teams in Harrisonburg… for the second consecutive season the Lehigh-JMU game was delayed by lightning… the Dukes converted seven of their first eight third downs and finished 7-for-12, while Lehigh was limited to 8-of-19…senior DJ Kee and freshman Nick Thevanayagam recorded their first career carries… Pelletier finished with two catches for 18 yards after being questionable all week due to injury… sophomore Trevor Socarras added seven catches for 50 yards… senior Noah Robb had Lehigh's other sack… the 55 points were the most allowed by Lehigh since the Mountain Hawks gave up 59 in a loss to Holy Cross in 2007… attendance was 15,949 at Bridgeforth Stadium… the Mountain Hawks paired white pants with their white jerseys and gold helmets after wearing brown pants at CCSU last week.
HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 11/13 James Madison scored 31 unanswered points spanning the first and second quarters and Lehigh was unable to recover as the Mountain Hawks fell to 1-1 on the season with a 55-17 setback Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes racked up 618 yards of offense to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Lehigh gained 379 yards but turned the ball over three times and gave up seven sacks. Junior Nick Shafnisky completed 25-of-38 passes for 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and also led the ground attack with 53 yards on 22 carries.
JMU quarterback Vad Lee passed for 334 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 50 yards and a score. Khalid Abdullah and Cardon Johnson combined for 169 rushing yards and each rushed for two scores. Johnson also caught a touchdown.
Lehigh was held to just 70 rushing yards, with freshman Dominick Bragalone carrying eight times for just 11 yards. Bragalone did catch three passes for 92 yards.
Senior Derek Knott led Lehigh's receiving corps with ten catches for 83 yards while junior Trevor Socarras added 50 yards on seven grabs.
The game began with each team scoring a touchdown within the first 3:24. The Dukes moved the ball 72 yards in eight plays. After converting a pair of third downs, Lee hit Johnson for a 13-yard touchdown to give James Madison a 7-0 lead.
The Mountain Hawks needed just two plays to answer as Shafnisky hit Bragalone over the middle and the freshman broke free for a 72-yard touchdown. Ed Mish's extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 11:31 to play in the first quarter.
The Dukes answered with a ten play, 63-yard drive. James Madison moved into the red zone before a holding penalty set them back. The Lehigh defense held and Ryan Maglio's 33-yard field goal put the Dukes back up 10-7 with just over six and a half minutes played.
After a 3-and-out, Lehigh's defense forced the game's first turnover as junior Joe Barrett sacked Lee and sophomore Tyler Cavenas recovered. After one first down, Shafnisky was picked off by Curtis Oliver.
James Madison was able to extend its lead to 17-7 on a 12-play, 77-yard drive that saw the Dukes convert a pair of third-and-longs. Johnson's second touchdown of the day, a three-yard run to give JMU the ten point cushion.
A fumble by senior punter Austin Devine on Lehigh's ensuing possession was recovered by Rashad Robinson, who ran 34 yards for a touchdown that put James Madison up 17. JMU added touchdowns on a Khalid Abdullah five-yard run and a 17-yard scamper by Lee to go up 38-7 before Lehigh marched 59 yards on its final possession of the half, putting the ball in the end zone on a seven yard pass from Shafnisky to sophomore Troy Pelletier to make the score 38-14 JMU at the break.
"I really don't think we put our best foot forward," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "It really went awry for us in the second quarter. We were pretty competitive at that point in time. We had the punt issue where the punter drops the ball and didn't get it kicked and it wound up being a touchdown. Throughout the course of the game we didn't do a good job getting the Dukes off the field on third downs and we didn't convert third downs and that's not the right remedy."
James Madison out-gained Lehigh 396-202 in the first half. Shafnisky was 11-of-18 for 153 yards two touchdowns and two interceptions and also led the ground attack with 12 carries for 44 yards. Senior Derek Knott was the leading receiver with four catches for 31 yards.
Lehigh opened the second half with a 15-play, 72-yard drive that was capped by a 23-yard Mish field goal. James Madison answered with 17 more unanswered points, including touchdown runs from Abdullah and Johnson.
"You have to tackle them and that's really all you can do," Coen said. "We didn't tackle very well today. I was disappointed in that. We had too many players lunging and diving instead of breaking down and executing the tackle the way it should be. That's something we have to improve ourselves upon."
The game was delayed 35 minutes by lightning with 10:44 to play. When play resumed, both teams went to their benches. Freshman Brad Mayes made his first appearance at quarterback, completing 2-of-4 passes for 46 yards.
"Our team competed," Coen said. "I was proud even when we had to come back from this lightning deal. That will serve them well as we go through the rest of this season. We're a very young football team. I think we have 56 players who are freshmen or sophomores. A lot of them are getting an opportunity to play at a young age and that's a tough thing to do. When the bigger, faster, stronger team is there it's hard to beat that team and that's what happened today."
The Mountain Hawks will open their home schedule next Saturday when they host the Penn Quakers on Youth Sports Day at Goodman Stadium. Tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting LehighTickets.com.
EXTRA POINTS…James Madison increased its lead in the series to 3-1… Saturday's game was the first meeting between the teams in Harrisonburg… for the second consecutive season the Lehigh-JMU game was delayed by lightning… the Dukes converted seven of their first eight third downs and finished 7-for-12, while Lehigh was limited to 8-of-19…senior DJ Kee and freshman Nick Thevanayagam recorded their first career carries… Pelletier finished with two catches for 18 yards after being questionable all week due to injury… sophomore Trevor Socarras added seven catches for 50 yards… senior Noah Robb had Lehigh's other sack… the 55 points were the most allowed by Lehigh since the Mountain Hawks gave up 59 in a loss to Holy Cross in 2007… attendance was 15,949 at Bridgeforth Stadium… the Mountain Hawks paired white pants with their white jerseys and gold helmets after wearing brown pants at CCSU last week.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
JMU
Total Yards
379
618
Pass Yards
309
349
Rushing Yards
70
269
Penalty Yards
15
74
1st Downs
23
30
3rd Downs
8
7
4th Downs
1
0
TOP
35:07
24:53
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 0, JMU 7
JMU - JOHNSON,C 13 yd pass from LEE,V (MAGLIO,R kick) 8 plays, 72 yards, TOP 2:34
LEHIGH 7, JMU 7
LEHIGH - BRAGALONE,D 72 yd pass from SHAFNISKY,N (MISH,E kick) 2 plays, 76 yards, TOP 0:45
LEHIGH 7, JMU 10
JMU - MAGLIO,R 33 yd field goal 10 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:57
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 7, JMU 17
JMU - JOHNSON,C 3 yd run (MAGLIO,R kick), 12 plays, 77 yards, TOP 3:29
LEHIGH 7, JMU 24
JMU - ROBINSON,R 34 yd fumble recovery (MAGLIO,R kick)
LEHIGH 7, JMU 31
JMU - ABDULLAH,K 5 yd run (MAGLIO,R kick), 7 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:57
LEHIGH 7, JMU 38
JMU - LEE,V 17 yd run (MAGLIO,R kick), 6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:15
LEHIGH 14, JMU 38
LEHIGH - PELLETIER,T 7 yd pass from SHAFNISKY,N (MISH,E kick) 10 plays, 59 yards, TOP 2:35
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 17, JMU 38
LEHIGH - MISH,E 23 yd field goal 15 plays, 72 yards, TOP 5:37
LEHIGH 17, JMU 45
JMU - ABDULLAH,K 9 yd run (MAGLIO,R kick), 6 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:30
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 17, JMU 48
JMU - MAGLIO,R 31 yd field goal 6 plays, 12 yards, TOP 1:02
LEHIGH 17, JMU 55
JMU - JOHNSON,C 3 yd run (MAGLIO,R kick), 5 plays, 51 yards, TOP 1:27
Game Leaders
CMP
25
TD
2
YDS
263
INT
2
CMP
2
TD
0
YDS
46
INT
0
Players Mentioned
OLB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
P
/ Football
WR
/ FootballQB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
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