At the half of Duke's Homecoming contest, the Blue Devils are tied 10-10 with the visiting Cavaliers.
Things got off to a good start for the home team, as redshirt junior safety Jeremy Cash kickstarted Duke's momentum once again Saturday, as he stripped Virginia's Miles Gooch on the second play from scrimmage. Defensive end Jonathan Jones jumped on the ball to cap the Cavaliers' opening drive and give Duke the ball at its own 38-yard line.
On the Blue Devils' first offensive play of the game, quarterback Anthony Boone would hit senior Jamison Crowder in the middle of the field for a 27-yard gain to the Virginia 35-yard line. Six plays later, Boone found tight end Erich Schneider for a one-yard score, the first of Schneider's career.
After forcing the Cavaliers into a second-straight punt, the Blue Devils took over at their own 20-yard line and put together another solid drive, going 78 yards were stuffed at the goal line for three consecutive plays, leading to a Ross Martin field goal with 12:24 left in the half.
Virginia would answer right back, though, driving 75 yards on its next series to close the gap to 10-7. The Cavaliers punched it in on quarterback Matt Johns' five-yard strike to running back Khalek Shepherd. But they weren't down there.
With 2:15 left in the half, Virginia, which had stalled at the Blue Devil 35-yard line, decided to go for the 52-yard field goal try to tie the game. Kicker Ian Frye missed the field goal but Duke could do nothing with it, going three-and-out and punting the ball back to the Cavaliers.
Johns—who is filling in for injured starter Greyson Lambert—led Virginia 85 yards to the Duke one-yard line. Frye would close out the half by tying the score with a 21-yard field goal.
Through just two quarters of play, Johns has 212 yards and a score. His favorite target was sophomore receiver Miles Gooch, who finished the half with four catches for 96 yards, including several big-play first down conversions.
Observations in the first half:
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Jeremy Cash went down with a right knee injury after getting rolled up in a pile in the first quarter. He would return in the second.
- With his four catches in the first half, Jamison Crowder moves into sole possession of third place on the ACC's all-time receptions list. He now trails Clemson's Sammy Watkins and Duke's Connor Vernon.
- Issac Blakeney had five catches in the first half. He had just six in the last three contests.
- Boone is 16-of-21 for 121 yards and one score through the first two periods of play. He went 16-of-26 for 126 and a score through the entire game last week at Georgia Tech.
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