Ravenel Leads JMU To First Playoff Win Since 2011
HARRISONBURG – New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell is relieved to know he won’t ever have to prepare to stop Brandon Ravenel again.
The senior wide receiver made eight catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns and also had an 86-yard kick return touchdown leading fourth-seeded James Madison to a 55-22 win over New Hampshire Saturday in the second round of the FCS Playoffs at Bridgeforth Stadium.
“Being able to win in the playoffs, it feels good,” Ravenel said.
JMU’s win was its first in the postseason since 2011.
Ravenel set a career-best and JMU playoff record with 263 all-purpose yards.
When the two teams met in the regular season, Ravenel tormented the Wildcats too, catching two touchdowns to help the Dukes beat the Wildcats, 42-39.
“He’s a really good player,” McDonnell said of Ravenel while grimacing and shaking his head. “He can catch. He can catch in a crowd. He can run after the catch and obviously he knows where he’s going all the time. He’s a special guy.”
The dominant performance by Madison didn’t get going until midway through the first quarter.
Junior quarterback Bryan Schor, who returned to action for the first time since being injured at Villanova on Nov. 12, threw a 39-yard pass to Ravenel. The long strike setup a field goal to get the Dukes on the board and start a run of 31 unanswered points.
“It was a pretty special day for Bryan Schor and our offense,” JMU coach Mike Houston said. “I don’t think he looked like he missed a beat after his couple of weeks off.”
Schor threw second-quarter touchdown passes to Ravenel, junior wide receiver Terrence Alls and junior tight end Jonathan Kloosterman. Ravenel also hauled in a 37-yard touchdown catch from fellow wide receiver Rashard Davis on a trick play.
Davis took a jet-sweep handoff from Schor before planting a throwing downfield to find Ravenel.
“It was what the defense gave us,” Ravenel said. “The defender jumped a bit and I went right by him. Rashard gave me a great ball and it was like playing catch at that point.”
Schor, the Colonial Athletic Association’s Offensive Player of the Year, finished the game 30-of-37 for 371 yards and five touchdowns.
Schor said going into the game JMU anticipated New Hampshire stacking the box and in turn, making it possible for him to throw over the top of the defense.
He also credited his receivers for making catches on jump balls in one-on-one situations.
“That’s why I throw those balls,” Schor said. “Because if the other team gets one-on-one with us, I have confidence in our guys to go make plays. Those are balls that our guys know that they’re going to get.”
The Dukes took a 31-7 lead into locker room at halftime.
New Hampshire opened the second half with a scoring drive. It was capped when running back Dalton Crossan scored on a 14-yard carry, but just as the JMU lead was cut to 16 points, Ravenel took the game into his own hands.
Immediately following the score, he had his kickoff return touchdown.
“When we got in the huddle, we said we had a chance to take the momentum back,” Ravenel said. “We hadn’t taken one back all year and we were all like, ‘why not now?’”
From there Madison cruised to its playoff win, erasing the disappointing memory of early exits from the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
JMU (11-1) advances to host fifth-seeded Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals next week, while the season ends for New Hampshire (8-5).