No. 1 James Madison survives Weber State upset bid in FCS quarterfinal

Last-second FG gives Dukes 25 straight wins.

The No. 1 James Madison Dukes narrowly escaped an upset on Friday night, rallying to beat the Weber State Wildcats 31-28 at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg to advance to the semifinal round.

Ethan Ratke nailed a career-best 46-yard field goal at the gun to give the Dukes their 25th consecutive win, the longest active streak in the FCS.

James Madison, the defending FCS champion, trailed by eight points with three minutes remaining but rallied for the tying score, a 40-yard touchdown pass by Bryan Schor and subsequent two-point conversion.

Stefan Cantwell threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another, and accounted for both Wildcats’ scores in the fourth quarter to erase a 17-14 James Madison lead. Cantwell’s 36-yard highlight-reel touchdown pass to Drew Batchelor gave Weber State an eight-point lead with 3:14 remaining.

James Madison found themselves on the opposite end of the upset spectrum as last season, when they upset five-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State in the semifinal round.

The Dukes advance to the FCS semifinal, and will next face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between No. 5 South Dakota State and New Hampshire.