By Chris Estrada
Both the Huskies and No. 9 James Madison had their share of missed opportunities during Saturday’s game at Parsons Field.
But the Dukes’ ability to make big plays in key situations was enough to overcome a solid defensive effort by Northeastern as they held on to win, 21-14. JMU managed to survive two fourth-down conversion attempts by Northeastern in the final quarter, then forced an interception with 36 seconds left in the game to seal the victory.
“Our young men played very hard and physical and they hustled,” head coach Rocky Hager said. “They made some very good plays.”
The Huskies managed to put the clamps on JMU’s dual threat quaterback Rodney Landers, who only threw for 57 yards on the day and ran for 73 yards. But despite allowing senior back Maurice Murray to run for 182 yards on 32 carries, the Dukes also caused several Husky drives to stall out.
After Northeastern was unable to capitalize on a fumbled punt recovery by freshman linebacker Chad Parham at the Dukes’ 17, the visitors went three-and-out and the Huskies charged down the field to the JMU one yard-line. But on fourth-and-goal, Anthony Orio’s pass to tight end Brian Mandeville (4 rec, 52 yards, 2 TD) was broken up in the end zone by cornerback Darrieus Ramsey.
“That’s a play we’ve been working on for probably three years now,” Mandeville said. “It was just a crossing route to the other side. … I felt like [Orio] could get it there. It was just one of those plays that, like coach said, can go one way or the other.”
NU got another try on its next possession, but junior running back Alex Broomfield was unable to corral an Orio pass on fourth-and-six with 2:33 left.
The Husky defense held strong to give the offense one more chance. With 36 seconds left and the ball on the JMU 44, Orio’s pass to the right sideline was picked off by Nick Adams, ending the game and spoiling an afternoon that saw Murray take the No. 2 spot on Northeastern’s all-time rushing list with 2,960 career yards.
“[Going to No. 2] is a nice accomplishment and I’m proud of it,” Murray said. “But we still lost the game. It would have felt better if we would’ve won.”
Both teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter; for Northeastern, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Orio to Mandeville, and for James Madison, a two-yard scoring run by Landers. But the Huskies’ opening drive of the second quarter ended up dead at the JMU 26. Sophomore kicker Mat Johnson attempted a kick from 44 yards out, but it was wide left.
The Dukes took advantage of the missed field goal with a three-play, 74-yard drive that was punctuated by tailback Griff Yancey’s first career touchdown, a 36-yard zip through the right side of the field. Down 14-7, the Huskies fought back on their next possession by driving to the JMU one yard-line. On fourth-and-goal with seconds left in the half, Orio found Mandeville again in the near corner of the end zone and then tied the game with the extra point.
The start of the second half saw JMU take the lead with a six-yard pass from Landers to fullback Charlie Newman in the middle of the end zone to make it 21-14 with 11:30 left in the third. NU took the ball back to the visitors’ 21, but Johnson missed again from 38 yards out, partially because the kick was tipped by JMU defenders.
The Huskies travel to Delaware for their next game Saturday at noon.
