No. 25 'Cats Come Up Just Short vs. No. 3 JMU

Saturday, October 2

Durham, N.H.

3:30 PM

University of New Hampshire

3-2 , 2-1

James Madison

4-0 , 2-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

James Madison

New Hampshire

Randall Harris returned an interception 18 yards for a third quarter score.

10/2/2021 8:49:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Post-Game Press Conference Photo Gallery

Palm, Harris Key Defensive Effort with Returns for TDs

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

DURHAM, N.H. – Freshman safety Noah Palm (Lancaster, Pa.) returned a fumble 93 yards for a score and sophomore defensive back Randall Harris (Walled Lake, Mich.) grabbed an interception and ran it back 18 yards for a TD, but the University of New Hampshire football team came up just short and fell to No. 3 James Madison, 23-21, on Saturday in front of a Homecoming crowd of 17,323 in Wildcat Stadium.

The No. 25 Wildcats are now 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association.

They have next Saturday, Oct. 9, off and resume their intrastate series against Dartmouth with a Family Weekend game in Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.

Fans can purchase tickets at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm).

James Madison improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the CAA.

The Dukes averaged 53.3 points per game in their first three games and had not turned the ball over.

UNH forced three turnovers overall. The first two led to the Palm and Harris touchdowns. Redshirt freshman safety Noah Stansbury (Orange, N.J.) caused the fumble that Palm returned for the TD.

Freshman defensive end Josiah Silver (Hampton, Va.) caused the third turnover when he sacked JMU quarterback Cole Johnson, who fumbled the ball away. Junior defensive tackle Niko Kvietkus (Southington, Conn.) recovered that fumble and it set up a scoring drive that gave UNH a 21-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Bret Edwards (Lowell, Mass.) passed to junior Brian Espanet (Hopedale, Mass.) for an 8-yard score to cap the drive with 6:52 left in the third quarter.

Johnson and Kris Thornton teamed for their second scoring pass, this from 30 yards out, to give JMU the lead back at 23-21 with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter.

After an exchange of punts, UNH started a final drive looking to get into field goal range. But an Edwards pass was intercepted by Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey at the James Madison 38-yard line with 1:45 to play and the Dukes ran out the clock.

Wildcat redshirt freshman linebacker Ryan Toscano (Bedford, Mass.) led all defenders with 12 tackles, sophomore linebacker Bryce Shaw (Raynham, Mass.) had 11 and grad student safety Evan Horn (Lebanon, Pa.) had 10.

Silver had two of UNH's three quarterback sacks and grad student lineman Duval Paul (Lynn, Mass.) had the other.

COMING UP

UNH is off next Saturday, Oct. 9, and plays Dartmouth at home for Family Weekend on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.
The teams last met in 2016.
Tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000.
Wildcat home games may be viewed on NBCSports Boston.
Home and CAA games are also on FloSports, which may be accessed through www.unhwildcats.com.
Richmond comes to town on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. for Halloweekend.
UNH closes out the regular season with its rivalry game against Maine in the Border Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket at home on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
The remaining UNH road games are Oct. 23 at Elon, Nov. 6 at UAlbany and Nov. 13 at Rhode Island.

1^st QUARTER

Johnson completed a 15-yard pass to Kris Thornton for the only score of the period.

2^ND QUARTER

Ethan Ratke kicked a 300-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 9:33 left in the period.
JMU was marching toward another TD when Palm scored on the 93-yard fumble return with 5:57 left in the period.
Stansbury caused the fumble.
Sean Lehane (Milford, Mass.) kicks the conversion for 10-7 with 5:57 left in the half.
Johnson threw a 9-yard TD pass to Reggie Brown with 17 seconds left in the half.
The Dukes led 17-7 at the break.

3^RD QUARTER

Harris picked off Johnson's first pass of the second half and returned it 18 yards for a TD.
Lehane's kick cut the JMU lead to 17-14 with 13:14 left in the quarter.
The 'Cats took the lead on an 8-yard TD pass from Edwards to Espanet with 6:52 left.
Lehane kicked the conversion for 23-21.

4^th QUARTER

Johnson and Thornton teamed up for their second TD, from 30 yards out, to take the lead at 23-21 with 8:20 to go.
Defensive end Gunner Gibson (Hailey, Idaho) blocked the conversion kick.

GAME NOTES

Palm had eight tackles to go with his fumble recovery for a TD.
Harris had seven tackles to go with his interception for a score.
JMU's Johnson completed 33 of his 44 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns and threw his first interception of the season.
Thornton caught 15 passes for 112 yards and the two scores.
UNH junior Carlos Washington, Jr. (Fort Washington, Md.) carried 15 times for 43 yards.
Edwards completed 18 of his 25 passes for 131 yards and the score.
Sophomore Dylan Laube (Westhampton, N.Y.) had five catches for 22 yards.
Sophomore tight end Kyle Lepkowski Adamstown, Md.) had four catches for 31 yards.
Redshirt freshman Aidan Cadogan (Waltham, Mass.) averaged 41.4 yards on his five punts.
JMU had 432 yards on offense and ran 90 plays.
UNH ran 48 plays and had 162 yards of offense.
The Dukes had a 36:52 to 23:08 edge in time of possession.