HARRISONBURG, Va. (Nov. 1, 2014) – The No. 17 William and Mary football team owned an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter but fell at James Madison, 31-24, on the Dukes' homecoming Saturday afternoon.
Although W&M (5-4, 2-3) led 24-13 following Kendell Anderson's blocked punt return for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, JMU (6-3, 3-2) closed the game with 18 unanswered points.
A 9-yard touchdown pass from JMU quarterback Vad Lee to wideout DeAndre' Smith with just 0:47 remaining proved to be the game-winning score and punctuated a 12-play, 78-yard drive. Following the touchdown pass, Lee converted a 2-point conversion on the ground for the final margin.
W&M marched to the Dukes' 23-yard line with 0:10 remaining, but linebacker Sage Harold sacked quarterback Steve Cluley to end the contest.
Junior running back Mikal Abdul-Saboor recorded his fourth 100-yard effort of the season and rushed for 124 yards on 29 carries with a touchdown.
Senior linebacker Airek Green led the Tribe's defense with 11 tackles, a TFL and three PBU's, while senior defensive end Mike Reilly posted eight tackles and 2.5 sacks. Junior cornerback DeAndre Houston-Carson also came up big with nine stops and blocked a punt for the third consecutive game.
W&M jumped out to an early 3-0 lead when redshirt freshman kicker Nick Dorka connected on a 23-yard field goal to cap off the game's opening drive. The nine-play march covered 62 yards and was highlighted by a 39-yard pass from Cluley to freshman tight end Andrew Caskin that put W&M at JMU's 6-yard line.
After a 37-yard field goal by Ryan Maglio knotted the score at 3-3, the Tribe answered with a 4-yard touchdown run by Abdul-Saboor with 4:19 left in the first quarter. The run punctuated a short six-play, 19-yard drive that began after a 77-yard kickoff return by freshman wide receiver Dedmon. In addition to the touchdown, Abdul-Saboor also converted a fourth-and-2 from the 11-yard line to help keep the drive alive.
JMU narrowed the margin to 10-6 on a 25-yard field goal by Maglio as the second quarter clock expired. The scoring drive seemed to have stalled near midfield when W&M returned an apparent fumble to the Dukes' 7-yard line. However, the play was ruled an incomplete pass, and W&M was whistled for a personal foul that resulted in a first down.
Although the Tribe led at halftime, the margin could have been greater as two of its drives began in JMU territory but resulted in no points. The first opportunity came early in the first quarter when W&M recovered a fumble at the Duke's 32-yard line, while the second came after a blocked punt by Houston-Carson that gave the Tribe starting field position at the 42.
W&M dominated the time of possession in the first half, 19:07-10:53, and limited the Dukes to just 14 rushing yards.
James Madison took its first lead of the afternoon, 13-10, with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Lee to wide receiver Brandon Ravenel midway through the third quarter. The 10-play, 80-yard drive lasted just 2:52.
The Tribe responded with an 11-play, 69-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 30-yard strike from Cluley to Dedmon down the middle with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
W&M increased its lead to 24-13 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Anderson took the ball off the foot of JMU's punter at the Dukes' 2-yard line and stepped into the end zone for a touchdown.
After Maglio's third field goal of the contest narrowed the margin to 24-16 on the ensuing drive, Lee connected on a 20-yard touchdown pass to wideout Daniel Brown with 8:49 remaining to cut W&M's lead to just one.
After a missed 38-yard field goal by Dorka with 4:39 remaining, JMU posted the game-winning touchdown drive.
Although W&M dominated the time of possession by nearly 10 minutes, JMU outgained the Tribe, 445-274, and converted all five of its trips into the red zone.
Individually, Lee completed 26-of-40 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns. It marked just the fifth time since the start of the 2007 season (a span of 91 games) that a W&M opponent passed for more than 300 yards.
The Tribe will return to action when it hosts Elon next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
