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University of New Hampshire Athletics
Saturday, November 3
Durham, N.H.
1 PM
University of New Hampshire
3-6 , 2-4
35
vs
24
James Madison
6-3 , 4-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
James Madison
3
0
7
14
24
New Hampshire
14
7
7
7
35
Team Stats
JMU
UNH
Total Yards
486
315
Pass Yards
422
181
Rushing Yards
64
134
Penalty Yards
45
20
1st Downs
27
14
3rd Downs
7
6
4th Downs
2
0
TOP
29:59
30:01
1st Quarter
JMU 0, UNH 7
UNH - Presley,Kieran 29 yd pass from Knight,Trevor (Hughes,Jason kick) 3 plays, 41 yards, TOP 1:04
JMU 0, UNH 14
UNH - Ellison,Rick 44 yd interception (Hughes,Jason kick)
JMU 3, UNH 14
JMU - Tyler Gray 34 yd field goal 7 plays, 28 yards, TOP 2:13
2nd Quarter
JMU 3, UNH 21
UNH - Horn,Evan 75 yd interception (Hughes,Jason kick)
3rd Quarter
JMU 3, UNH 28
UNH - Coyne, Sean 23 yd pass from Knight,Trevor (Hughes,Jason kick) 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:54
JMU 10, UNH 28
JMU - Cardon Johnson 1 yd run (Tyler Gray kick), 9 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:21
4th Quarter
JMU 10, UNH 35
UNH - Knight,Trevor 75 yd run (Hughes,Jason kick), 2 plays, 75 yards, TOP 0:53
JMU 17, UNH 35
JMU - Trai Sharp 2 yd run (Tyler Gray kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:47
JMU 24, UNH 35
JMU - Cole Johnson 2 yd run (Tyler Gray kick), 11 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:51
Game Leaders
CMP
14
TD
2
YDS
181
INT
0
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
K/WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
S
/ Football
WR/K/P
/ FootballQB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DE
/ Football
K/P
/ Football
CB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
RB
/ FootballQuinlen Dean recorded eight tackles, had two sacks and forced a fumble.
Photo by: Vincent Dejana
Defense Grabs 6 Turnovers, 'Cats Stun No. 3 JMU
11/3/2018 4:55:00 PM | Football
DURHAM, N.H. – An aggressive, ball-hawking University of New Hampshire defense returned two first-half interceptions for touchdowns – and came up with six turnovers overall – to lead the Wildcats to a stunning upset win over No. 3 James Madison University, 35-24 on Saturday in Wildcat Stadium.
Video Highlights
Photo Gallery
Postgame Press Conference/Highlights
Junior safety Rick Ellison (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) returned a pick 44 yards for a TD early in the first period and sophomore safety Evan Horn (Lebanon, Pa.) got an interception and took it 75 yards in the second period to highlight the defense.
It was the first time the Wildcats had scored two defensive touchdowns in a game since Oct. 22, 2016. Prince Smith, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored on a 16-yard interception return and defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak (Bethel Park, Pa.) on a 39-yard fumble return that day.
Against JMU, the UNH defense had four interceptions overall, recovered a pair of fumbles and also had five quarterback sacks.
The Wildcats improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association with their first win over the Dukes since 2013.
The triumph came on the day UNH celebrated the 125th Anniversary of New Hampshire football.
James Madison fell to 6-3 and 4-2.
The Wildcats play Albany in their UNH Salutes/Military Appreciation Game in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. to close out the home portion of their schedule.
Group and individual tickets for UNH home games are available by calling 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
"It's a very good win, obviously, against a really good football team," said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. "It's something that you've seen now for a couple of weeks in our program, guys starting to play the way they're capable of playing. We played pretty much error free football. We played great defense in spurts. We scored twice on defense. I thought we played downhill on them the whole way."
Junior safety Pop Lacey (Reading, Pa.) led the defense with 11 tackles and also had an interception).
The UNH offense, led by senior quarter Trevor Knight (Amherst, N.H.) contributed its share to Saturday's triumph as well.
Knight completed 14 of his 21 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He also took off and scored on a 75-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
The TD passes were timely.
The first was to senior Kieran Presley (Amherst, Mass.) and covered 29 yards. It came 2:49 into the game and three plays after junior linebacker Quinlen Dean (Greenbelt, Md.) ended JMU's first possession of the game with a strip sack and forced fumble.
The second was a 23-yard connection with redshirt freshman Sean Coyne (Portsmouth, R.I.) that capped a scoring drive to open the second half and put UNH up 28-3.
"I thought Trevor did a really good job of taking care of the ball today," McDonnell said. "Made a couple of good throws and had a heckuva run late in the game. Heckuva win for this football program. Hecukva win. It was something we needed and we got."
NEXT UP
1st QUARTER
2ND QUARTER
3RD QUARTER
4TH QUARTER
'CAT NIPS
TEAM STATS
Rushing: JMU 37-64. UNH 37-134.
Passing: JMU 32-50-4 0 TDs. UNH 14-21-0, 2 TDs
Total Offense: JMU 87-486. UNH 58-318.
1st Downs: JMU 27. UNH 14.
Time of Possession: JMU 29:59. UNH 30:01.
Penalties: JMU 5-45. UNH 3-20.
Turnovers: JMU 6. UNH 0.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: JMU – Cardon Johnson, 11-27. UNH – Trevor Knight 6-76.
Receiving: JMU – Riley Stapleton 8-116. UNH – Kieran Presley 3-52.
Passing: JMU – Cole Johnson 31-48-3, 0 TDs. UNH – Knight 14-21-0, 2 TDs.
Tackles: JMU – Dimitri Holloway 4-7-11. UNH – Pop Lacey 6-5-11.
Video Highlights
Photo Gallery
Postgame Press Conference/Highlights
Junior safety Rick Ellison (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) returned a pick 44 yards for a TD early in the first period and sophomore safety Evan Horn (Lebanon, Pa.) got an interception and took it 75 yards in the second period to highlight the defense.
It was the first time the Wildcats had scored two defensive touchdowns in a game since Oct. 22, 2016. Prince Smith, Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored on a 16-yard interception return and defensive tackle Ryan Sosnak (Bethel Park, Pa.) on a 39-yard fumble return that day.
Against JMU, the UNH defense had four interceptions overall, recovered a pair of fumbles and also had five quarterback sacks.
The Wildcats improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association with their first win over the Dukes since 2013.
The triumph came on the day UNH celebrated the 125th Anniversary of New Hampshire football.
James Madison fell to 6-3 and 4-2.
The Wildcats play Albany in their UNH Salutes/Military Appreciation Game in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. to close out the home portion of their schedule.
Group and individual tickets for UNH home games are available by calling 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.
"It's a very good win, obviously, against a really good football team," said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. "It's something that you've seen now for a couple of weeks in our program, guys starting to play the way they're capable of playing. We played pretty much error free football. We played great defense in spurts. We scored twice on defense. I thought we played downhill on them the whole way."
Junior safety Pop Lacey (Reading, Pa.) led the defense with 11 tackles and also had an interception).
The UNH offense, led by senior quarter Trevor Knight (Amherst, N.H.) contributed its share to Saturday's triumph as well.
Knight completed 14 of his 21 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He also took off and scored on a 75-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
The TD passes were timely.
The first was to senior Kieran Presley (Amherst, Mass.) and covered 29 yards. It came 2:49 into the game and three plays after junior linebacker Quinlen Dean (Greenbelt, Md.) ended JMU's first possession of the game with a strip sack and forced fumble.
The second was a 23-yard connection with redshirt freshman Sean Coyne (Portsmouth, R.I.) that capped a scoring drive to open the second half and put UNH up 28-3.
"I thought Trevor did a really good job of taking care of the ball today," McDonnell said. "Made a couple of good throws and had a heckuva run late in the game. Heckuva win for this football program. Hecukva win. It was something we needed and we got."
NEXT UP
- Albany fell to 2-7 overall and 0-6 in the CAA with a 21-16 loss at home to No. 13 Delaware on Saturday.
- Delaware scored on a 14-yard run with 18 seconds left in the game to seal the win.
- Albany has won the last two games in the series.
- The Great Danes beat UNH, 15-0, last year in Albany.
- They won 36-25 in their last trip to Durham in 2016.
- UNH's last win in the series was a 24-14 decision at Albany in 2015.
- Tickets for all UNH home games are available at or by calling 603-862-4000.
- After the Albany game, UNH closes out the season with a game at Rhode Island on Saturday, Nov. 17 at noon.
1st QUARTER
- The 'Cats got off to tremendous start.
- They turned a fumble forced by Dean into a 7-0 lead.
- Knight hit Presley for a 29-yard TD pass with 12:11 left in the period.
- Ellison intercepted a Ben DiNucci pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown on JMU's next possession and UNH led 14-0.
- Cole Johnson replaced DiNucci at quarterback after that score,
- JMU's Tyler Gray had a 34-yard field goal for 14-3.
2ND QUARTER
- Horn scored the only points of the period with 75-yard interception return for a TD.
- The UNH defense had three interceptions and a fumble recovery in the first half.
3RD QUARTER
- UNH went 75 yards in seven plays to a Knight to Coyne 23-yard score to open the half.
- The score put UNH up 28-3 with 11:06 left.
- Cardon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run to make it 28-10 with 3:21 left.
4TH QUARTER
- Knight's 75-yard TD run came 53 seconds into the fourth quarter and put UNH up 28-3.
- JMU closed out the scoring with 2-yard runs by Trai Sharp with 9:21 left in the game and Cole Johnson with 1:31 to go.
'CAT NIPS
- Dean had eight tackles, two sacks and the forced fumble.
- Smith also had a UNH interception.
- Senior linebacker Jared Kuhl (Plymouth, N.H.) had a sack and forced a fumble that senior defensive end Kyle Reisert (Plymouth, N.H.) recovered.
- Horn and Smith had had one of the five UNH quarterback sacks.
- Junior safety Michael Balsamo (Atkinson, N.H.) had eight tackles.
- The defense held JMU to 64 rushing yards.
- That and UNH's jumping in front early led to JMU going heavy on the pass.
- Cole Johnson completed 31 of his 48 passes for 398 yards for JMU and was intercepted three times.
- Sophomore Jason Hughes (Atkinson, N.H.) hit all five of his conversion kicks.
- Knight led UNH in rushing with six carries for 76 yards.
- Presley, Coyne and redshirt freshman Carlos Washington, Jr. (Fort Washington, Md.) each caught three passes.
- Presley had 52 yards in catches, Coyne 30 and Washington 28.
- Junior tight end Justin Malone-Woods (San Diego, Calif.) had two catches for 39 yards and senior Neil O'Connor (Leominster, Mass.) two for 19.
- Junior Drew Sanborn (Amherst, N.H.) averaged 40.2 yards on his six punts.
- Possession time was almost dead even with UNH at 30:01 and JMU at 29:59.
- The game was presented by Dr. Pepper.
- The company awarded $10,000 in tuition money to a pair of students after a halftime competition.
TEAM STATS
Rushing: JMU 37-64. UNH 37-134.
Passing: JMU 32-50-4 0 TDs. UNH 14-21-0, 2 TDs
Total Offense: JMU 87-486. UNH 58-318.
1st Downs: JMU 27. UNH 14.
Time of Possession: JMU 29:59. UNH 30:01.
Penalties: JMU 5-45. UNH 3-20.
Turnovers: JMU 6. UNH 0.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: JMU – Cardon Johnson, 11-27. UNH – Trevor Knight 6-76.
Receiving: JMU – Riley Stapleton 8-116. UNH – Kieran Presley 3-52.
Passing: JMU – Cole Johnson 31-48-3, 0 TDs. UNH – Knight 14-21-0, 2 TDs.
Tackles: JMU – Dimitri Holloway 4-7-11. UNH – Pop Lacey 6-5-11.
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