HARRISONBURG – James Madison notched another one on Saturday as part of a dominating special teams effort.
“The blocked field goal was a big momentum boost,” Dukes coach Curt Cignetti said Monday during the Colonial Athletic Association coaches teleconference.
In the opening quarter of JMU’s win over Villanova, Dukes safety D’Angelo Amos blocked a Wildcats field-goal attempt and Rashad Robinson recovered it.
Amos leads the country in blocked kicks with three for the season and as a team JMU is tied for second in FCS with four blocked kicks.
Villanova missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, too, while trying to cut the Dukes’ lead from seven points to four points. After the missed field goal, JMU needed just three plays to extend its edge to two touchdowns.
“I think it starts with [defensive coordinator] Corey Hetherman,” Cignetti said. “He’s got a good plan week to week. In fact, Friday he asked for a little extra time in our walkthrough to go over the field goal block and put a couple of different blocks in, which we don’t normally do, but he had looked at some things.
“But you’ve got to give our guys credit for executing. Our kids, they’re selling out, giving great effort. We’re getting great push up the middle. Amos did a great job of blocking it. We had another guy coming off the edge that had a chance.”
And throughout Saturday, JMU mostly had positive results on special teams. Kick returner Brandon Polk notched a 37-yard return to open the game. Kicker Ethan Ratke drilled a 43-yard field goal and punter Harry O’Kelly averaged more than 38 yards per punt to help the Dukes win the average starting field position.
JMU’s average-starting field position was at its own 34-yard line while Villanova’s average-starting field position was its own 29.
“We had a little bit of a screw up on the kickoff return there to start the second half, our first drive of the second half,” Cignetti said. “But other than that it was pretty solid.”
For the year, JMU ranks 11th in FCS for punt-return defense (three yards per return), 11th nationally for kick-return yards (25.63 yards per return) and 22nd nationally for punt-return defense (17.70 yards per return.)
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- Dukes senior defensive end John Daka was named co-CAA Defensive Player of the Week by the league on Monday. In JMU’s win over Villanova, Daka tallied nine tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble that setup a game-tying touchdown.
- Both of Daka’s sacks and the one fellow defensive end Ron’Dell Carter had come out of a three-man front, Cignetti said. According to the coach, the Dukes blitzed 31 times against Villanova, but the three sacks came when JMU wasn’t blitzing.
- JMU linebacker Dimitri Holloway had seven tackles Saturday to give him 57 tackles for the season. Cignetti said Holloway has great instincts.
- Cignetti said he expects William & Mary to provide a big challenge for JMU this coming Saturday. Cignetti cited the Tribe’s strong effort against Villanova the week before.
