Richmond Times Disptach
Playoff fever hits Williamsburg
Madison masters W&M in the mud behind tough defense and ground game
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Dec 11, 2004
WILLIAMSBURG - After recovering his second fumble last night, James Madison defensive tackle Demetrius Shambley jogged off a sloppy field with a face full of mud.
They may not be pretty, but the Dukes are headed to the Division I-AA championship game.
Opportunistic and physical, JMU worked over William and Mary in the I-AA semifinals. Before a capacity crowd of 12,259 at Zable Stadium, Madison scored four touchdowns off four Tribe turnovers, then kept control with the running game on the way to a 48-34 win.
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W&M (11-3) turned over the ball seven times during its 11-game regular season. Ball State was the only I-A or I-AA team to commit fewer turnovers. But the Tribe's difficulty maintaining possession in the first and third quarters allowed Madison to pull away twice.
"I would have obviously liked to have played on a dry field on a dry day," said Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock, whose team turned it over five times. "I think they're much more suited to our game. It's the same for both teams, but given the different things that we do - the amount of ball-handling, the amount of different throws and all that - I think it was tougher on [quarterback Lang Campbell] out there trying to deal with the football in different situations."
W&M, down 21-0 after 11 minutes, came back, riding Campbell. "With the great quarterback they have, you can never count them out of the game," said JMU defensive back Clint Kent, who had a 69-yard scoring interception return in the first quarter. The Dukes' lead slipped to 21-20 at the break.
"We had an extremely one-sided conversation at halftime," JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. "At the half, we were not proud of how we played in the second quarter."
 AP Photo - Raymond hines lunges for a touchdown. |
W&M ran effectively with 6-1, 220-pound Jon Smith in the wet conditions, but he lost a fumble that set up Madison for a TD with 4:34 left in the third quarter (34-26 JMU lead). Then Campbell was hit from behind by Duke Sid Evans. Shambley recovered at W&M's 18, and JMU punched in another TD to make it 41-26. With its running game, the Dukes pushed around the Tribe on the way to the TD that made it 48-26 with 8:01 left.
"Probably, a little bit, we ran out of gas," Laycock said.
W&M's first night football game since the 1930s - first in this facility since it opened in 1935 - had all of the elements necessary for a terrific college football environment: full stands, spirited observers, rival teams, TV exposure (ESPN2) and plenty of mud, for the purists. Great atmosphere. Great game. In spurts. JMU reversed the outcome of the Nov. 13 meeting between these teams in Harrisonburg, where the Tribe got a 46-yard field goal as time expired to win 27-24.
"There was a lot of revenge going on in this game," Shambley said.
Two W&M's turnovers helped JMU go ahead 21-0 in the first 11 minutes. But the Tribe defense did a better job against the Dukes' preferred method of ball movement - the rush - and W&M's offense, as usual, revolved around Campbell. The senior completed 17 of 22 passes in the first half.
Last weekend in its quarterfinal against Delaware, William and Mary came back after trailing 31-10 in the fourth quarter to win 44-38 in double overtime. Last night, the Tribe cut into another three-TD deficit with poise and the precision passing of Campbell, who completed 17 straight during one stretch. This time, W&M rallied against one of Division I-AA's best defenses, a Dukes unit that had allowed only 13 points in each of its two previous playoff games.
James Madison, which shared the Atlantic 10 Conference title with W&M and Delaware, scored with ease on its opening possession (six plays, 73 yards), then got a pair of favors from the Tribe. Trying to catch a punt, W&M's Jonathan Shaw lost the ball when hit by Rondell Bradley. JMU recovered at the Tribe's 25, and made it 14-0 on a 19-yard pass from Justin Rascatti to tight end Casime Harris.
Two minutes later, Campbell's long pass over the middle looked as if it were intended for JMU's Kent, rather than W&M's Dominique Thompson. Kent made the interception and ran 69 yards for a touchdown that made it 21-0 with 6:20 still left in the first quarter.
"Then, we lost our focus," Shambley said.
With more W&M help, additional turnovers, Madison regained its balance. Muddy but still active, the 2004 Dukes hit the road again, for the last time.
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com