ELON, N.C. – The pair of senior defenders sensed it.
They knew James Madison’s defense needed an improved effort in the second half if the No. 1 Dukes were going to rally and win at Elon on Saturday.
“At halftime, Coach [Curt] Cignetti had talked to me a little bit,” JMU senior defensive end Mike Greene said following the Dukes’ 20-17 victory, “about going out there and lighting a fire, and I just tried to go out there and dominate the second half. I tried to go out there and make some plays.”
Greene disrupted the rhythm of the Phoenix all afternoon at Rhodes Stadium, but particularly in the second half and Elon couldn’t replicate the success it had in the opening 30 minutes.
Elon racked up 169 total yards and 84 yards on the ground en route to its 17-3 halftime edge. But after the break, the Phoenix managed only 37 yards of total offense and they had negative seven rushing yards.
With nine minutes left in the third quarter, Greene’s pass rush forced the opposing tackle back into the pocket and Elon freshman quarterback JR Martin to slide left away from the congestion. Martin’s maneuver led him to his first bad decision of the game as he hurled a pass toward the sideline without a receiver in sight.
“I was guarding my man,” JMU senior cornerback Wesley McCormick said, “and then I had looked up because the [receiver] was down the field. I just wanted to see where the ball was at and what the quarterback’s intentions were, and I just saw that the ball was up in the air floating and it looked like it was still in bounds. I didn’t see anybody around it, so I ran underneath it and tried to catch it.”
McCormick made an over-the-shoulder snag for the interception and returned it 64 yards all the way down to the Elon 9-yardline before a replay review ruled McCormick stepped out at the JMU 48.
The pressure and the turnover were enough to slow the Phoenix’s belief in their upset attempt, though.
“Big interception,” Cignetti said.
Said Greene: “The interception had the whole team coming together.”
The Dukes booted a field goal to turn the interception into 3 points and cut the deficit to 17-6.
McCormick registered another crucial stat when he had a pass breakup on the third down of Elon’s next possession to put together back-to-back stops for the Dukes.
Greene, who had four tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss, notched a sack on third down of the next offensive series for the Phoenix, and after that JMU quarterback Gage Moloney engineered a 13-play scoring drive to cut the Elon edge to four points.
From there, the Dukes’ defense continued its stranglehold on the Phoenix and shutout their opponent in the second half for a second consecutive week. Safety MJ Hampton blocked a punt to setup the game-winning drive.
Greene said there were some adjustments made at halftime that allowed the Dukes to blank Elon over the final 30 minutes. Cignetti said defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman instructed the changes for JMU’s defense.
“They came out and they were doing a lot of shifting, motioning and had us on our heels,” Cignetti said. “But we kind of simplified a little bit.”
Martin, who completed his first five throws against JMU, finished 12-of-26 for 129 yards. He threw one interception and was sacked once by Greene.
