HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison Dukes scored 42 points in the opening half and put an end to a historic Bearkat season with a 65-7 win over Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Sam Houston (12-1), who held the No. 5 seed in the FCS Playoffs and boasted the top offense in the nation, never could get going in a game played in temperatures that were in the low 20s throughout the night.

With the win, the No. 4 Dukes (12-1) advances to face the winner of top-seeded North Dakota State and South Dakota State for a berth in the FCS Championship game.

HOW IT HAPPENED
James Madison racked up 383 yards in the opening half, finishing with 607 for the game. That included 356 yards on the ground and a pair of 100-yard rushers in Khalid Abdullah and Trai Sharpe who combined for 278 yards and five touchdowns.

The Dukes took advantage of a pair of huge special teams plays in the first half on their way to a 42-0 halftime lead. Sam Houston, who averaged better than 570 yards per game entering Friday's game, were held to just 270 yards, including 135 in the opening half.

JMU quarterback Bryan Schor completed 13 of his 17 passes for 251 yard, throwing for one score and rushing for another, while Bearkat signal caller Jeremiah Briscoe had his toughest night of the season, completing just 13 of 44 tries for a season-low 143 yards in being held without a touchdown pass for the first time this season.

Despite the Kats getting a turnover on an interception from defensive lineman Sione Latu on the Dukes' first play from scrimmage and after taking over at the 20-yard line, everything else in the half went the way of JMU.

Following the turnover, Corey Avery fumbled inside the 10-yard line and the Dukes recovered in the end zone on a third-down play. JMU then went 80 yards on just seven plays to take an early lead as Abdullah scampered the final 14 yards to cap the drive with a touchdown and put the Dukes up 7-0.

A 1-yard rush from Schor was followed by two consecutive special teams touchdowns, starting when Rashard Davis took a punt back 72 yards for a score with 3:57 left in the first quarter, the first punt returned for a touchdown by the Bearkats since 2007.

The Dukes made it 28-0 early in the second quarter when Adam Smith blocked Joseph Figenshaw's punt and Brandon Maginley picked it up and ran 20- yards for a score.

In all, the Bearkats went three-and-out on five of 11 drives in the first half and could not make it back into JMU territory until the final drive of the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Dukes kept adding on, scoring on three of their final four drives, including a 10-yard touchdown pass from Schor to Jonathan Kloosterman and another 1-yard run from Abdullah.

The second half saw much of the same as the Dukes scored on three of their first four drives of the third quarter, opening up the lead to as much as 65-0 before Sam Houston was finally able to get in the end zone when Remus Bulmer capped a 10-play, 90-yard drive with a 15-yard burst up the middle just over three minutes into the third quarter. 

KEY STATS
The Bearkats entered the game averaging better than 570 yards of total offense, but finished the game with just 270 while turning the ball over a season-high three times. James Madison outgained the Kats 356-112 on the ground and picked up 29 first downs, while Sam Houston converted just two of 19 third-down tries.

RECORD WATCH
Jeremiah Briscoe completed 13 of 44 passes for 143 yards on the game, giving him 4,602 passing yards for the season. That moved him past Dustin Long's 2004 total of 4,588 passing yards for the top spot in a single season in Bearkat history.

Freshman wide receiver Nathan Stewart caught two passes for 53 yards, pushing him over the 1,000-yard plateau and making him the first Bearkat in school history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
Remus Bulmer picked up 85 yards on the ground on 20 carries, including the Bearkats' only score of the game. He also hauled in two passes for another 30 yards, giving him 115 all-purpose yards.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
Defensive end P.J. Hall closed out his season with a game that included eight tackles, six of which were solo. The Buck Buchanan Award finalist picked up 3.5 tackles for loss, including 1.5 sacks for the game.