Come hell or high water, JMU was not going to lose this game. Dubbed the “Commonwealth Clash” by the marketing team at Liberty, t-shirts sold separately at the bookstore that wasn’t right over there, it lived up to its billing for three quarters.
Liberty won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. Some would say a mistake; one may think you would want to put the onus on the JMU offense while the crowd was still pumped up to make the first play. Instead, they elected to receive. Liberty had one first down and drove to the JMU 45 before stalling. The punt was magnificent, pinning JMU on its 2-yard line. However, Drew Dudzik, Jamal Sullivan and the offensive line took charge. Using four different rushes that gained 10+ yards the Dukes drove methodically down the field. After twelve plays and 6 first downs, Dixon Wright kicked a 35 yard field goal to give JMU the lead 3-0.
Liberty received the kickoff after the field goal and drove down the field, including a 3rd and 20 conversion to Summers (which became a trend all night). After one goalline stop, Beecher took the ball right up the middle and got the score. The Flames led 7-3 and the home crowd was feeling the momentum.
As Mickey Matthews had stated would happen, the quarterbacks rotated series through the first half. The next drive was orchestrated by Justin Thorpe. It resulted in a punt after 10 plays.
The Flames failed to gain any ground after the change of possession and went 3-and-out. Dudzik came back out to lead the Dukes on their 3rd possession which started on Liberty’s 46. On the fifth play of the possession Sullivan rushed to the right side and scored a touchdown from 5 yards out. Dixon Wright converted the PAT to give the Dukes the 10-7 lead.
On Liberty's next possession, DJ Bryant made a great interception that gave the Dukes the ball with a little over five minutes left. JMU slowly drove the ball down to Liberty's 9-yard line. With 31 seconds left, Justin Thorpe took a step as if he was going to run for the TD, but instead stepped back and made a quick throw towards his receiver in the endzone. Unfortunately, a Liberty player was waiting for it and intercepted it in the endzone with 24 seconds remaining in the half. Liberty then kneeled it to end the half.
If it was possible, the rain started coming down even harder. Torrential downpour wouldn’t do it justice at this point. The field was starting to retain the water and puddles were forming. Unfortunately for Liberty, while the field was retaining the water, the stadium wasn’t able to retain some of the Liberty fans. Quite a few students left at halftime, which was disappointing considering the score. Liberty was right there in the thick of things, but the students (some of which had been camping out since Friday night) let the weather get to them.
In the third quarter it rained, rained some more, and Dudzik was the quarterback the entire second half. JMU got the ball to start the third quarter, but ended up looking at a 4th and 1. JMU lined up to punt the ball, but then we saw something we rarely see at JMU. Goff took the snap and took off running. He got a gain of 4 to get a first down and continue the drive. Later in the drive, Sullivan got hit low on an option play and was helped off the field. It looked bad, but the reports are it is only a bruised patella. He is doubtful for Hofstra, but we are glad that nothing is broken and it isn’t more serious. Acker would replace Sullivan in the backfield for the remainder of the game. The rest of the third quarter was...well...sloppy. JMU threw an interception and fumbled the ball, but the defense held pretty tough. End of third 10-7 JMU.
Liberty had driven down to the JMU 10 yard line at the end of the third quarter. They successfully kicked a field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 10-10. On the ensuing kickoff Scotty McGee returned it to the JMU 35 yard line. The very next play Corwin Acker finished the job taking the ball 65 yards for the touchdown. He saw his opening on along the left sideline, followed a couple blockers, then outran all of the Flames defenders. Acker showed his speed and vision on this play (and many others). In a matter of seconds Liberty was reeling once again now down 17-10.
Liberty would drive to Madison’s 34 on the ensuing drive before they had to punt. The punt pinned JMU on the 5 yard line. It was a three and out series. Matt Goff would be punting from his own end zone. The JMU fans stood in silence with held breath as we all had seen a couple times this year where we haven't had the best of punts. Even a good punt was going to put the Flames in excellent field position. Mike Brown, Liberty’s do-everything man, lined up at JMU’s 45 to receive the kick. The snap was low and bounced off the ground into Goff’s hands. He grasped the ball and got the kick away. The kicked sailed over Mike Brown’s head and eventually was downed by JMU on Liberty’s 29; officially recorded as a 65 yard punt. That punt changed the entire complexion of the game. Instead of Liberty having a short field to drive and tie the game, they are now in no better field position than had it been a regular kickoff. Liberty would go 3-and-out on this series. JMU's defensive line, highlighted by Arthur Moats and Sam Daniels, were visibly wearing down Liberty's offensive line and were making tackles in the backfield and putting a lot of pressure on Beecher.
Liberty would get the ball back with 3:04 left to play on their 26 yard line. The first pass was incomplete. In the second play, Moats came free and was able to chase down Beecher. Arthur got a great shot in and forced a fumble. There was a nearby Liberty player that rushed in and recovered the ball. The third play, now 3rd and 14, was intercepted by Griff Yancey. Yancey returned it to the the Flames’ 13. After the interception, just as before, Acker only needed one play to get in the end zone. He ran straight up the middle for 13 yards and directly into a JMU 24-10 lead.
Liberty would have one more shot but would turn it over on downs. JMU sealed the win in the victory formation, twice actually. After the first kneel down, Liberty’s coach called timeout. Mickey Matthews then called a regular play in which Acker gained 11 yards, probably could have broken it further and possibly even for a TD, but instead just fell down in bounds to keep the clock running. The Dukes then knelt again, and apparently the message was received as Liberty let the clock run out.
Corwin Acker ran for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns in a quarter and a half. He is a good one for JMU. Images of the 2004 RB tandem of Banks/Fenner/Hines with each back having slightly different skill sets is starting to emerge with Acker and Sullivan. Before the injury Sullivan had run for 93 yards and the opening TD. Together they combined for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns.
It was a good win by the Dukes against a worthy opponent in Liberty. The Flames are a program on the rise and will be a tough game each of the next three years. We should all be proud as the JMU fans and the Marching Royal Dukes once again proved why they are one of the best fanbases in FCS. Even in the cold and pouring rain, they still show up to numbers at an away game that would rival some FBS schools.
Whether Coach Matthews declares it or not, it is very apparent that Dudzik is the go to guy in crunch situations. The offense just seems to have a better rhythm when he is under center. Thorpe will still probably continue to rotate in, but in a tight conference game, Drew will undoubtedly be the man leading the offense.
- Thanks to our newest contributing writer Brandon Sweeney for the article
No comments:
Post a Comment