To commemorate the 10th anniversary of UMass' Division I-AA Championship in 1998, I'm rerunning the game story from each game from that season in its corresponding week this year. I'll add some commentary on the old articles in in italics.

As I go through these stories I'm struck by how many single plays in so many close game could have cost the Minutemen a playoff spot and with it a championship. There were plenty in this game.

Smith, Shipp keep UM on solid footing

AMHERST _ When Brian Smith got his fingers on the ball, the University of Massachusetts sideline breathed a collective sigh of relief.

With 58 seconds left in the game, James Madison had just scored to cut the Minuteman lead to 28-26, and the Dukes set up for the two-point conversion. With his top two options covered, quarterback Greg Maddox tried to hit receiver Marc Bacote in the back of the end zone. Smith managed to touch the ball and knock it to the ground to give the Minutemen a 28-26 win over Atlantic 10 rival James Madison Saturday at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

"Brian Smith made a great play," UMass coach Mark Whipple said. "Brian has really been the most consistent and the best defensive player we've had throughout."

UMass (4-1) now has won four consecutive games and is the only unbeaten team in the A-10 (2-0).

Whipple was pleased with the game's result but not entirely happy with his team's performance.
"We found a way to win and that's the most important thing," Whipple said. "If you keep putting yourselves in these situations, you're going to get bit in the rear. But I think the players realize that they did not play very well."

The defensive heroics were necessary due to a costly UMass penalty on its previous drive. The Minutemen had a first-and-10 from the Dukes' 12-yard-line. After Kevin Quinlan made a short run up the middle, offensive lineman Mim Hill was called for a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, forcing the ball back to the 23, out of Matt Murphy's comfortable field goal range.

UMass couldn't make up the ground and Murphy missed a 36-yard try, keeping the Dukes within one score.

"That was one of the most foolish penalties I've ever been associated with," Whipple said. "We lost our focus. It could have cost us the game, which could have cost us a championship. That is frustrating and hopefully we're going to learn. They will certainly get some extra conditioning because of it. I'm going to run them."

Sophomore tailback Marcel Shipp was a bright spot, rushing for 190 yards on 24 carries for UMass, including a 12-yard touchdown run.

"Nobody really stepped up today except No. 5 (Shipp)," Whipple said. "He is a great football player. goes hard every play, every time in practice. I don't think there's any doubt that Marcel Shipp was the difference in our win."

Much like last week's game against Hofstra, the Minuteman defense covered for a sputtering offense in the first half. Four JMU trips inside the Minuteman 20-yard line produced only one touchdown and two Alan Haston field goals.

But Haston missed the point after on the TD, a moment that would loom large. Had Haston made the kick, James Madison would have only needed to kick a PAT at the end of the game.

Quarterback Todd Bankhead punched in UMass' only first-half score just two seconds into the second half from 1-yard out, which gave UMass a 7-3 lead.

Down 12-7 at halftime, the Minuteman offense came to life. On the first play from scrimmage Bankhead hit Jimmy Moore for a 20-yard reception at the 47. Shipp moved UMass ahead 2 yards, before Bankhead and Moore connected again.

Moore caught the ball on the right sideline but was drilled by a JMU defensive back as he headed toward the goal line. The ball popped loose and rolled into the endzone, where Steve Ley recovered for a touchdown that gave UMass a 14-12 lead with 13:45 left in the third quarter.

"We just came out and clicked on offense," Moore said. "We weren't doing anything in the first half on offense. We just had to execute."

The Minutemen extended that lead to 21-12 with 5:19 left. A 38-yard run by Shipp gave the Minutemen the ball on the JMU 16. On the next play, Moore held on this time as Bankhead found him for the TD. Moore finished with five catches for 109, while Bankhead had 187 yards in the air (11-for-23) but threw one interception, fumbled once and was sacked four times.

Four plays later the Minuteman defense forced the Dukes to punt, giving the offense the ball back just 2:19 later.

Shipp accounted for 65 of the Minutemen's 69 yards on the next drive _ 36 on the ground and 29 on a pass reception _ capped by a 12-yard TD run that put the UMass ahead 28-12.

"We just stepped our game up a lot and the holes were open," Shipp said.

James Madison didn't throw in the towel, though. Led by Maddox's arm and the running of Delvin Joyce (104 yards) the Dukes scored on consecutive fourth-quarter drives to set up the final two-point conversion attempt.

"I thought our kids played hard," said JMU coach Alex Wood said. "But it's one of those things."

Notes: Senior linebacker Khari Samuel returned to the Minuteman lineup after missing last week due to a deep thigh bruise. He made 10 tackles and recovered a fumble, while playing most of UMass' defensive snaps.

"I held up," Samuel said. "I just need to come back and play."

...10 years since that game...