HARRISONBURG – The opening series set the tone.

Top-seeded James Madison allowed senior quarterback Bryan Schor to distribute the ball toward the wide parts of the field during its first drive.

Schor completed all seven of his throws for 72 yards and a touchdown. The 5-yard scoring pass from Schor to junior running back Trai Sharp that capped the series gave the Dukes a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into their second-round FCS playoff contest against Stony Brook.

“I thought it was huge,” JMU coach Mike Houston said. “We talked about starting fast today on offense and we felt like we could tempo Stony Brook.

“I thought that [Offensive coordinator Donnie] Kirkpatrick and the offensive coaches did a good job on that first drive of getting the kids in good situations and the kids did a great job executing.”

With Stony Brook’s defensive backs playing off the ball and spaced back from the JMU receivers, Schor said he took what the Seawolves were giving him. Every throw went toward the sideline. Receivers blocked for each other as one caught the ball and moved it up field.

Senior Terrence Alls had three receptions on the first series. Sophomore Riley Stapleton had a drive-long catch of 18 yards.

“They did a good job scouting us,” Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore said. “If you look at our base defense, those are the things you take advantage of and they did early.

“They completed passes and made a couple of plays, but as you saw they didn’t get it again the rest of the game.”

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- On that opening series, Schor became JMU’s all-time leader for completions, surpassing Justin Rascati.

- Schor, like Houston, said it was critical for JMU to get off to a fast start offensively. “Whenever we can get off to a fast start, I think we can boost our energy. And when we can put points on the board early and give our defense the confidence to go out and attack, that helps us,” he said.

- Schor completed passes to eight different receivers in the game.

- Alls has a career-high 10 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Alls said his day was strong because of the great start he got off to by making three catches on the first series.

- Alls’ touchdown catch in the second quarter gave the Dukes a 16-0 lead. He said he saw a miscommunication in the Stony Brook secondary and was able to take advantage of it.

- Houston said Schor did a good job of getting the ball to Alls throughout the game.

- Defensively, senior safety Raven Greene led the unit with 11 tackles, an interception and three pass breakups.

- Greene was one of five JMU defensive backs – joining Jimmy Moreland, Curtis Oliver, Rashad Robinson and Jordan Brown – with an interception in the team’s win. JMU’s offense scored 13 points off the five Stony Brook turnovers.

- Brown recorded his seventh interception of the year, which ties him for first nationally.

- In addition to the interceptions, Greene, Moreland and Oliver combined for six pass breakups.

- Priore said JMU’s secondary was exactly what he thought it would be throughout the game. Here are his full comments: “As we went through the film starting on Sunday, the one thing that was very apparent was that they could test every ball. I think that’s the style they play a little bit. They’re not really a zone-coverage team. And obviously, they’re athletic. When you turn the film on, they didn’t let up a lot of plays that we’re clean. You got to put the ball in the right place and we did at times. We got more big plays on them than they let up most of the year, but certainly weren’t consistent at it.”

- With its win over Stony Brook, a fellow Colonial Athletic Association squad, JMU has now won 20 straight games against CAA competition. That streak dates back to 2015.

- Overall, JMU has now won 24 straight to extend the longest-active winning streak in Division I. It’s also the second-longest streak in FCS history.

- JMU has captured 15 straight games at Bridgeforth Stadium and has yet to lose a home game under Houston.

- The crowd of 16,449 set a Bridgeforth Stadium playoff record.