D14
FROMTERRAPINSINSIDER Vellano playing at a newlevel
Don Brown, Maryland’s defensive coordinator, recalls a preseason alumni function during which he showed tape of some of his best players. There were clips of middle linebacker AlexWujciak’s greatest hits of 2009 and shots of
strong-side linebacker Adrian Moten excelling during the same season. And then came footage of a somewhat diminutive defensive tackle making hits on warm spring days on a practice field. “You had to show spring tape because that’s all you had,” Brown said of sophomore Joe Vellano. “But we knew in the spring that he was ready to go.” Vellano, a 6-2, 285-pound tackle, has become the talk of the defense in recent months. After a breakthrough performance in spring practice—he was arguably the most impressive player on the team in the spring— Vellano had 10 tackles in his first career start against Navy, earning him ACC defensive lineman of the week honors. On Saturday against Morgan State, he had four tackles, one for a loss. “He had a heck of a game” against Navy, Coach Ralph Friedgen said. “It was how he has been playing.”
—Eric Prisbell NEXT UP: atWest Virginia, Saturday, noon. NEXT UP: vs. East Carolina, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
EZ SU College football The region
FROMHOKIESJOURNAL Dudzik’s legs make a difference
When he snapped the ball on what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown in James
Madison’s 21-16 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday, Dukes quarterback Drew Dudzik saw almost immediately that he was going to score. “Right after I took the first step I knew I was gone,” said Dudzik, a 2006 Centreville High graduate. “Obviously, that’s the biggest touchdown ofmy life.” Dudzik finished with 54 yards rushing and both of the Dukes’ second-half touchdowns. “I played in a lot of big games in high school, but this is by far the biggest game,” Dudzik said.
—Mark Giannotto NEXT UP: vs. VMI, Saturday, time TBA
NEXT UP: at Louisiana Tech, Saturday, 7 p.m.
FROMCAVSJOURNAL Thinking ahead
In its first game ever in the state of California, Virginia played No. 16 USC on
Saturday night. The only other time the Cavaliers played a game on the West Coast was exactly 34 years ago. On Sept. 11, 1976, Virginia defeated Washington, 38-17. Sophomore tight end Colter Phillips, who recently lost his father in an Alaska plane crash, was chosen to carry out the American flag when the Cavaliers took the field. Entering the game, the Trojans had won their past 12 home openers and their past 31 night games at the Coliseum.
—Steve Yanda
FROMMIDS INSIDER
Taking special care
Among the mistakes from Monday’s loss to Maryland that
Navy was seeking to correct in its home opener Saturday were special teams breakdowns. The Midshipmen averaged 29.5 yards on two punts, allowed several long kickoff returns and muffed a catch on a punt return. Navy was better on Saturday against Georgia Southern. The Midshipmen averaged 35.8 yards per punt, and Alexander Teich returned the opening kickoff 55 yards.
—GeneWang
KLMNO
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
James Madison shocks Virginia Tech hokies from D1
can’t describe how I feel right now,” said Hokies sophomore running back Ryan Williams, who rushed for 91 yards. “We should not be losing.” The Hokies have themselves
to blame on a rainy afternoon that featured several offensive gaffes and plenty ofmissed tack- les.
After Dudzik’s touchdown
gave the Dukes their first lead of the game, Virginia Tech senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor drove the Hokies inside the James Madison 20-yard-line, but fac- ing fourth and two at the Dukes 17-yard line, he could not con- nect with wide receiver Jarrett Boykin. Then, after forcing a James
Madison punt, the Hokies again drove down the field to the Dukes 12-yard line, but junior running back Darren Evans fumbled with less than six min- utes remaining, and JamesMad- ison recovered. The Dukes were able to run the clock out from there. For the game, Virginia Tech
got inside the James Madison 25-yard line six times while racking up 238 rushing yards, but only came away with one touchdown and three field goals fromplace kicker Chris Hazley. “We need to block better,” said
Beamer, adding that the short week of practice after Monday night’s loss did not contribute to the defeat. “I think the expecta- tions are that this was gonna be a win.” At the start, it appeared as if
the Hokies would be in for an easy victory. After forcing a three-and-out on James Madi- son’s first possession, Taylor found Boykin for a nine-yard touchdown reception to give Virginia Tech a 7-0 first-quarter lead. The completion capped off a
17-play drive that began on the Hokies 6-yard line and took more than eight minutes off the game clock. The drive was Vir- ginia Tech’s longest, in terms of plays, since 2005. But Virginia Tech’s perfor-
mance went from impressive to sloppy, and the momentum turned for good thanks to some mistakes by theHokies’ defense, a unit that features seven new starters this fall. After holding the Dukes to 10 yards on their first 12 plays of the contest, James Madison senior Jamal Sullivan took an innocent-look- ing swing pass downthe sideline for a 77-yard touchdownmidway through the second quarter, breaking three Hokies tackles on his way to the end zone. “After we gave up that long
touchdown,we kind of got down on ourselves a little bit,” said linebacker Bruce Taylor, one of
Virginia Tech's Darren Evans ponders theHokies’ 21-16 loss to JamesMadison at home on Saturday. ACC’s not-so-super Saturday
With only a few exceptions (Maryland and Clemson were able to subdue their division I-AA foes), it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the ACC on Saturday. But hey, at least Duke andWake Forest played an entertaining game, if you think defense is overrated. James Madison 21, No. 13 Virginia Tech 16 Things haven’t looked this bleak in Blacksburg since the early days of Coach Frank Beamer’s esteemed tenure in the late 1980s. No. 10 Oklahoma 47, No. 17 Florida State 17 The Seminoles were simply pounded by a Sooners team that almost was upset by Utah State last weekend. No. 2 Ohio State 36, No. 12 Miami 24 Hurricanes QB Jacory Harris did his best Karl Malone impersonation, throwing picks all over the place. Kansas 28, No. 15 Georgia Tech 25 The Jayhawks scored 25 more points against Al Groh’s Yellow Jackets defense than they did last weekend against North Dakota State.
the culprits on the play. “That was a play that three, four guys had a chance to make a tackle. After that, I just feel we weren’t the same.”
Dudzikwas particularly effec-
tive, confusing Virginia Tech’s defenders with his quick deci- sions running the spread op- tion. After Hazley made a field
goal to give the Hokies a 16-7 lead early in the third quarter, the Dukes drove right down the field on a 14-play, 66-yard touch- down drive thatDudzik finished offwith a seven-yard touchdown run. The score was set up by a
holding penalty on Bruce Taylor that gave theDukes a fresh set of downs inside the Virginia 10- yard-line. Three plays after Dudzik’s
touchdownrun,Taylor threwhis first interception of the season when safety Jonathan Williams jumped a pass thrown toward Boykin. Taylor did not have his best game, losing a fumble in the first half. He ran for 86 yards and completed 10 of 16 passes for 124 yards. It was Dudzik who was the best signal caller on this day. He
took over after Taylor’s intercep- tion and marched the Dukes on an eight-play, 66-yard touch- down drive that gave James Madison the most unlikely vic- tory of this season. In his postgame news confer-
ence Taylor could only look out at the cameras with a blank stare on his face, trying to find answers for an 0-2 record that seemed out of the question just two short weeks ago. “People usually say ‘Go back
to the drawing board,’ but we seriously have to do that, just the whole team and see what’s going on,” Taylor said. “I can’t put my finger on it, it’s just a bunch of things we need to correct. . . . We just gotta get back on the field, suck it up, and start over.”
giannottom@washpost.com
Howard starts fast but can’t snap losing skid againstHampton BY KATHY ORTON
Early in Saturday’s game, it appeared that Howard’s lengthy skid against Hampton would at long last be coming toanend.The Bison took control at the start, but once again, the Pirates proved too much for them. Howard’s 31-21 setback before
7,086 at Greene Stadium was its 14th consecutive loss to Hamp- ton. The Bison’s last win against the Pirates came in 1996. Though Howard (0-2, 0-1 Mid-
Eastern Athletic Conference) per- formedbetter than last year’s 37-0 defeat, the Bison had too many miscues in the second half and too many defensive breakdowns. “I felt real confident going into this game that we were going to
beat them,” linebacker Keith Pough said. “We fought. We fought hard, but we made mis- takes. It hurts. It hurts me deep- ly.”
The game turned on Hamp-
ton’s final touchdown of the first half. Howard had limited the Pirates (1-1, 1-0) to one touch- down and had just scored to go ahead, 14-7. Then, with less than 90 sec-
onds remaining before halftime, wide receiver Dyrii McCain slipped behind the coverage and caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from David Legree that tied the score. A miscommunication be- tween the cornerback and safety led toMcCain being wide open. “It was a breakdown,” Howard
Coach Carey Bailey said. “Those are the kind of things we can’t
have happen.” That touchdown propelled
Hampton into halftime and gave it momentum going into the sec- ond half. The Pirates capitalized by scoring on their first two pos- sessions of the second half, and Howard never threatened after that. The Bison have one of the most dynamic offensive players in the MEAC in wide receiver Willie Carter. But Carter is only as effective
as the quarterback throwing to him. With Howard unsettled at
quarterback and committed to running the ball against Hamp- ton, Carter wasn’t much of a factor against the Pirates. He caught three passes for 91 yards, 78 of those yardscomingona pass
late in the game that set up the Bison’s final score. The 78-yard catch was the longest of his ca- reer. Howard made it clear from the
start what its game plan was going to be: run the ball. This strategy is a clear departure from last season. The Bison, who had only four rushing touchdowns all of last season, ran for three scores againstHampton. “Knowing the kind of offense
[Hampton] had, I wanted to be able to take the ball and eat as much clock up as we could,” Bailey said. Howard attempted only one
pass in the first half, a six-yard catchbyCarter.Theother 31 plays were all on the ground. Casey Council became the third quarterback in three halves
for Howard. The 5-foot-8 junior, who moved from cornerback to quarterback this season, started the game. He followed Terry Bradden, who started against Holy Cross last week, and Jarad Dorsey, who started the second half against the Crusaders. “We’re probably going to use all
three, because all three bring something different to the table,” Bailey said. Council, who played quarter-
back in high school, proved diffi- cult to bring down.He seemed to bounce off tacklers. Even when Hampton brought him down, sometimes forcefully, the resil- ient Council always popped back up.
“He was a smaller guy,” said
Hampton defensive tackle Ken- rick Ellis, who was one reason
After endingits 12-gameoverall
losing streak last weekend, Georgetown halted its Patriot League skidwith a 28-24win over Lafayette on Saturday at Fisher StadiuminEaston,Pa. The Hoyas had lost 13 in a row
in the Patriot League and hadn’t won a conference game sinceOct. 20, 2007. Theywon a league game for only the second time in Coach Kevin Kelly’s five seasons and im- proved to 2-0 overall for the first time inhis tenure. Lafayette (0-1) lost to George-
town for only the second time since theHoyas joined the Patriot League in2001. The Leopards dominated
Georgetown in almost every facet of the game, except on the score- board. They gained more yards (509 to 265),hadmore firstdowns (31 to 13) and held onto the ball longer (40 minutes 13 seconds to 19:47), but were undone by four turnovers — two interceptions andtwo fumbles. Scott Darby completed 18 of 30
passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Hoyas. MaxWaizenegger (W.T.Woodson) and Keerome Lawrence each caught scoringpasses. Phillip Oladeji and Chance Lo-
ganeachranfor a touchdown. Georgetowntrailed,21-7,before
rallying for the win. The Hoyas heldLafayette scoreless inthe sec- ondhalf. l CATHOLIC 42, APPRENTICE
JUSTIN COOK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCHOOL 32: Catholicwithstood a 22-point fourth quarter from Ap- prentice School to hold on for a winatCardinalField. The Cardinals led 42-10 enter-
ing the final quarter, only to allow three touchdowns in 7minutes 32 seconds. Sophomore quarterback Greg
Cordivari completed 21 of 27 pass- es for 304 yards and five touch- downs for the Cardinals (2-0). Sophomore wide receiver Alonzo Cooke (Bishop McNamara) had nine catches for 211 yards and three touchdowns.Freshmanrun- ning back Michael Pitsenberger (Walter Johnson) had 28 carries for 123 yards. Sophomore quarterback Bryan
Shahlamian completed 23 of 36 passes for three touchdowns for the Builders (0-2). Two of the touchdown passes came during Apprentice School’s rally in the fourth quarter.He also rushed for a four-yard touchdown with 6:39 left.
HAMPTON HOWARD 31 21
why there were five NFL scouts on hand for this game. The trans- fer from South Carolina finished with 16 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery. “We’re used to 6-5, 6-3. This is [division I-AA]. He fits the scheme well. He does his job.” Though he completed only 2 of
3 passes for 20 yards, Council led Howard in rushing with 83 yards on 21 carries. After Council threw his first incomplete pass of his career with 3 minutes 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter, he was re- placed by Bradden. Council came back briefly, but Braddenfinished the game. Bradden threw for 135 yards on 5-of-9 passing. He also threwtwo interceptions.
ortonk@washpost.com
AREAROUNDUP
Hoyas win first league game in three years
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166