Defense Powers Blue Hens in First Round Playoff Loss to #6 James Madison

Saturday, November 24

Harrisonburg, VA

3 p.m.

University of Delaware

7-5

James Madison University

9-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Delaware

James Madison

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Defense Powers Blue Hens in First Round Playoff Loss to #6 James Madison

11/24/2018 8:12:00 PM | Football

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The eight-year wait was finally over.

The University of Delaware football program returned to the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 2010 and battled tooth and nail with one of the nation's top programs, but ultimately came up just short, 20-6, to #6 James Madison in the first round of the playoffs on a dreary, cold afternoon in Harrisonburg, Va.

"Congratulations to Coach Houston and JMU. They've got a really talented and tough football team and they made the plays to advance this afternoon," head coach Danny Rocco said. "I'm proud of this team and what they accomplished this season, bringing our program back to the postseason for the first time in a long time. We're certainly disappointed in the outcome today, but we've got a lot to look forward to and we're excited to get better."

It was a defensive battle from the opening kick with the Blue Hens limiting the powerful JMU rushing attack to just 93 yards on the afternoon. The Dukes came into the game averaging over 36 ppg, but Delaware held them to just 18 offensive points in the contest.

Senior Troy Reeder had a season-high 16 tackles to lead the defensive unit. He finished with 131 on the year, the sixth-most in a single-season all-time and the most by a Blue Hen since 2000 (Dan Mulhern – 142). Classmate Charles Bell finished with 10, pushing his career total to 334, the 10^thmost-ever in program history. Bell also picked up a fumble recovery for his fourth turnover on the season. Sophomore lineman Caleb Ashworth finished with a season-high 11 tackles on the afternoon.

"We knew we had to come out and lay it all on the line," Reeder said. "We've got a bunch of seniors on our side of the ball and we knew we had put in too much work, we had to give everything we could."

Offensively, junior QB Pat Kehoe became just the 13^thplayer in school history with over 2,000 yards passing in a season, but couldn't muster a ton of offense against a stout JMU defensive unit. Senior kicker Frank Raggo tied the school record with his 41^stcareer field goal, tying Jon Striefsky's mark (2005-2009).

"I thought our defensive battled and gave us a great effort for 60 minutes," Rocco said. "We struggled to find any rhythm or consistency offensively and certainly the way JMU played had something to do with that, but we certainly knew that we'd have to connect on some big plays to win and we weren't able to do that tonight."

Defense was the name of the game early with both teams' units forcing punts on the first five possessions of the afternoon. JMU would put together a 13-play drive that resulted in a field goal and just a few minutes later get a safety to take a 5-0 advantage.

The Dukes would add a touchdown late in the second quarter, but the Blue Hens responded, putting together their best drive of the day and junior Jake Roth connected from 48 yards out to send the teams into the break at 12-3.

Delaware's defense would once again hold strong to open the second half, allowing the offense to get in position to send in another field goal after a long run from senior Joe Walker allowed Raggo to hit from 37 yards to bring the Blue Hens within one possession at 12-6.

JMU would answer with a touchdown drive of their own and looked to take momentum, but the Blue Hens defense would once again prove large, forcing a fumble in JMU territory to set up the offense in good position. But Delaware was unable to capitalize and the Dukes would hold strong the rest of the game to come away with the victory.