HARRISONBURG – St. Francis coach Chris Villarrial recognized what him and his players were up against.

“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Villarrial said of James Madison coach Curt Cignetti following the Dukes’ 44-7 win over the Red Flash on Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Before spending 11 seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills, Villarrial played for Curt’s father, Frank Cignetti Sr., at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The win for Curt Cignetti was his first as the coach at Madison.

“I was coached by Curt’s dad and obviously Curt is a guy who loves to run the ball and play-action [pass],” Villarrial said. “I think they’ve mixed it up a little bit, but we expected that they were going to try to establish the run game and take their shots on us.”

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- James Madison redshirt freshman running back Solomon Vanhorse made his first career start count. Vanhorse rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries to lead the Dukes in both stats for a second straight week. Last week he did it off the bench when he ran for 55 yards and a score at West Virginia.

- Of his running backs Cignetti said, “We’re going to see who has the hot hand, but right now Solomon Vanhorse is pretty special.”

- Vanhorse said his confidence is continuing to build as he gets more opportunity.

- True freshman running back Austin Douglas scored his first-career touchdown when he hauled in a 19-yard scoring pass from quarterback Ben DiNucci in the third quarter.

- JMU sophomore tight end Drew Painter and redshirt freshman wide receiver Reggie Brown each had their first-career reception on Saturday.

- Cignetti said DiNucci, “saves us sometimes with his legs.” DiNucci ran for 51 yards against St. Francis.

- Cignetti said although the offense played well, the unit needs to improve in the red zone. There were three straight red-zone trips that ended with field goals instead of touchdowns for the Dukes.

- On defense, JMU utilized its nickel package more frequently against St. Francis than it did against West Virginia. The nickel package includes linebackers Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey and Mike Cobbs as well as defensive backs MJ Hampton and Chris Chukwuneke, who sub in for defensive tackle Adeeb Atariwa, spur Wayne Davis and linebackers Dimitri Holloway and Landan Word. Of the group Cignetti said, “Mike Cobbs and Tucker-Dorsey are linebackers with pretty good mobility. They’re good blitzers also and Tucker-Dorsey does a nice job spying the quarterback when we’re rushing three and playing 2-man.”

- Hampton had six tackles and forced a fumble for the first time in his career.

- JMU has now won 17 straight home openers and is 37-11 all-time in home openers since 1972.