WILLIAMSBURG – Ron’Dell Carter didn’t intend to best his buddy.

“Nah, I didn’t get jealous of [John] Daka,” Carter, the James Madison senior defensive end, said with a grin. “Daka is my guy.”

Carter tallied 10 tackles including a career-high six tackles for loss and a sack as part of a pummeling effort from the Dukes’ defense during No. 2 JMU’s 38-10 win over Colonial Athletic Association rival William & Mary on Saturday at Zable Stadium.

It’s the seventh straight win for the Dukes (7-1, 4-0 CAA), who took sole possession atop the league standings with the victory, while the Tribe (2-5, 0-3 CAA) remained without a win in conference play.

Last week, the fellow JMU senior defensive end, Daka, racked up nine tackles, five tackles for loss and two sacks against Villanova that earned him STATS FCS National Player of the Week honors. Carter’s performance against the Tribe could warrant the same.

In every quarter against W&M, Carter secured and punished a trying quarterback or running back behind the line of scrimmage.

“He’s an excellent football player and he kind of fits what they do,” William & Mary coach Mike London said.

Carter’s first-quarter sack came on a third-down try for the Tribe, forcing them to punt.

JMU took a 7-3 lead four plays later – setup by a 49-yard punt return from D’Angelo Amos – when quarterback Ben DiNucci found wide receiver Brandon Polk on a 16-yard scoring strike.

The Dukes would never trail the rest of the way.

JMU running back Percy Agyei-Obese had two rushing touchdowns in the first half and DiNucci threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Kyndel Dean in the third quarter.

Other tackles for loss Carter notched derailed William & Mary drives before those series could get going. In the second quarter on a first-down snap, his takedown of Tribe running back Owen Wright was timed just as Wright took the handoff three-yards deep in the backfield.

And Carter’s six tackles for loss were part of the season-high 15 tackles for loss JMU had Saturday to hold William & Mary’s go-go offense to 194 total yards.

“Every time I turned around, it seemed like [Carter] was the in the backfield,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said. “I was really impressed with the effort because I was concerned all week long and I think [William & Mary] made major improvements offensively and they’ve played well against good teams, but we’ve got good players and they stepped up when they needed to.”

Hits on William & Mary starting quarterback Kilton Anderson eventually forced him to the sideline. Anderson and backup quarterback Ted Hefter combined to throw three interceptions.

Amos, safety Adam Smith and spur Wayne Davis each recorded a pick for the Dukes.

“We work as a unit,” Amos said. “We can stay on our guys and keep them covered up and that gives [the defensive line] time. If they can get to [the quarterback] fast enough, we don’t have to cover as long. And when any quarterback is taking a lot of hits, he’s going to want to get that ball out faster, and I think that’s why we built up a lot of picks and a lot of pass breakups.”

Carter said the plan JMU defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman and his staff put together worked well against the up-tempo pace of the Tribe.

“They do a lot of different things in the backfield with the quarterback position,” Carter said, “two running backs on the same side, screens and whatnot. They do a lot of different things, but they had a good scheme for us and it was easy. I didn’t have to think too much. I was just going and so was the rest of the defense.”

Cignetti said: “It’s the one-on-one battles. Those things really never change in the game and you’re always just trying to see ‘em differently week to week. We were whipping them up front. We were tackling in space. We were doing a good job covering and we hit the quarterback a number of times, and I had a sense early in the first half that he wasn’t loving being out there.”

Carter, a JMU captain, said the defense’s confidence came on the first play of the game.

“When Daka got the first sack on the first play,” Carter said. “When I saw that, I was like, ‘We’ve got to have a day.’”

Box Score

James Madison 7 14 10 7—38

William & Mary 3 0 7 0—10

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

W&M—Johnston 20 field goal, 7:39

JMU—Polk 16 pass from DiNucci (Ratke kick), 1:56

Second Quarter

JMU—Agyei-Obese 1 run (Ratke kick), 10:40

JMU—Agyei-Obese 1 run (Ratke kick), 4:16

Third Quarter

W&M—Zgombic 6 pass from Hefter (Johnston kick), 9:17

JMU—Ratke 32 field goal, 4:22

JMU—Dean 37 pass from DiNucci (Ratke kick), 2:36

Fourth Quarter

JMU—Palmer 1 run (Ratke kick), 0:59

Individual Stats

RUSHING—JMU: Agyei-Obese 18-68, Hamilton 11-49, Palmer 8-14, Vanhorse 2-0, DiNucci 1-(-5). W&M: Yoder 6-77, Lester 10-21, Funderburke 1-5, Crist 1-(-1), Wright 5-(-4), Anderson 6-(-23).

PASSING—JMU: DiNucci 23-36-1-250. W&M: Anderson 11-17-1-91, Hefter 7-13-2-36, Yoder 1-1-0-(-8).

RECEIVING—JMU: Polk 7-77, D. Stapleton 4-54, R. Stapleton 4-43, Dean 3-47, Vanhorse 2-24, Brown 2-4, Hamilton 1-1. W&M: Burdick 3-58, Crist 3-27, Yoder 3-12, Wright 3-6, Mathis 2-13, Lowery 1-7, Zgombic 1-6, Klaus 1-6, Lester 1-(-8), Everson 1-(-8).