CAA Football Rewind - Dec. 7
Rob Washburn
James Madison 66, Monmouth 21
Box Score
Second-seeded James Madison set a school record for points and yards in a playoff game, rolling over Big South champ Monmouth, 66-21, in second-round action at Bridgeforth Stadium. It was the 12th straight victory for the Dukes (12-1), who will host Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals.
JMU piled up a season-high 623 yards of total offense and controlled the ball for nearly 43 minutes. Senior quarterback Ben DiNucci completed 21-of-25 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 66 yards and two scores. Jawon Hamilton ran for a team-best 95 yards and Percy Agyei-Obese added 90 yards and three TD's on the ground, increasing his season TD total to 18. Riley Stapleton made a team-best seven receptions for 87 yards and Brandon Polk contribued six catches for 83 yards, becoming just the second receiver in school history to eclipse 1,000 yards (1,062) in a season.
After giving up some big plays early, JMU's defense pitched a shutout over the final 44 minutes and limited Monmouth's high-powered offense to 266 total yards. Defensive end John Daka contributed six tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, a forced fumble and a blocked field goal. Charles Tutt returned an interception 79 yards for a TD in the fourth quarter.
Monmouth (11-3) got off to a fast start, getting a 93-yard TD run by Pete Guerriero on its first play of the game and a 93-yard kickoff return by Lonnie Moore to take a 14-7 advantage just 2:27 into the contest. However, the Dukes answered as DiNucci threw first-quarter TD passes to Polk (49 yards) and Jake Brown (21 yards) and Agyei-Obese found the end zone from a yard out to put JMU up 21-14 after the first quarter. The Hawks pulled even at 21-21 early in the second period, but JMU dominated from there, scoring 45 unanswered points. DiNucci and Agyei-Obese each had TD runs in the second quarter and again in the third to expand the margin to 52-21.
Montana State 47, UAlbany 21
Box Score
UAlbany's historic season came to an end after a 47-21 setback at fifth-seeded Montana State. The Great Danes (9-5) got off to a great start as Jeff Undercuffler connected on a 58-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Green on the opening drive of the game. However, the Bobcats reeled off 47 unanswered points to pull away. UAlbany added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 23-yard run by Karl Mofor and a 16-yard pass from Undercuffler to Jerah Reeves.
Undercuffler was 18-of-37 passing for 273 yards. With his two TD passes on Saturday, he increased his FCS-best total to 41 for the season. Green had three catches for 123 yards and his FCS-best 17th receiving TD. It was his seventh 100-yard outing of the year. Reeves added six receptions for 72 yards. Tyler Carswell led the UAlbany defense with six tackles and a forced fumble.