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November 21, 1998 Delaware Stadium Delaware 28, James Madison 14
Senior spread end Eddie Conti capped a record-setting career, catching six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown in leading the University of Delaware to a 28-14 Atlantic 10 Conference football win over James Madison in the season finale for both teams Saturday at Delaware Stadium. The No. 23 Blue Hens (7-4, 4-4) overcame a turnover-plagued first half to down the Dukes (3-8, 2-6) and post their eighth straight winning season and 11th straight .500 or better league season. Conti, a 5-9, 174 lb. senior from Neptune, NJ (Ocean Twp.), set four records on the day to run his tally to 30 school, conference, and NCAA records during his career. He set a school season all-purpose yardage mark with 2,368 yards, Atlantic 10 records for pass receiving yards in a season (1,712) and career (3,547), and broke Jerry Rice's NCAA I-AA season receiving yardage mark (1,682 in 1984) as well. Conti finished the season with 91 receptions for 1,172 yards and 10 touchdowns. The teams played to a 7-7 first half deadlock despite three Delaware turnovers. The Hens scored on their first possession as Craig Cummings scored on an eight-yard run one minute into the game. The Dukes countered with a five-yard run by Curtis Keaton eight minutes later to forge the tie. Conti caught a five-yard scoring pass from sophomore QB Matt Nagy with 2:58 left in the third quarter and Derrick Downs (76 yards) scored on a 21-yard run 50 seconds into the final stanza to give Delaware a 21-7 lead. Conti's touchdown was set up when Deji Ashiru blocked a JMU punt at the Dukes' 13-yard line. It was Delaware's seventh blocked punt this season. James Madison cut the lead to 21-14 with 4:56 left on a one-yard run by Keaton but the Hens came back with a 72-yard scoring drive to seal the win as center Jeff Fiss fell on an Andre Thompson fumble in the end zone for the score with 1;19 left to play. Nagy hit on 12 of 22 passes for 196 yards and set a new UD single season passing yardage record with 2,916 yards. Keaton rushed a school and Delaware Stadium record 38 times for 155 yards and went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season. "When we had those turnovers, I thought 'here we go again,'" said Delaware head coach Tubby Raymond, whose team had five turnovers in a 45-6 loss to Richmond the previous week. "It was not a good feeling. But our defense stiffened and we recovered. We had some confidence on defense today. We were anticipating that we were going to stop them each time. We were also pleased that Eddie got the (NCAA) record. It's an incredible accomplishment." |
