We shouldn’t expect anything less than brilliance from North Dakota State, the team that’s playing for its eighth FCS championship in nine seasons while looking to extend its win streak to an incredible 37 games.
But James Madison was caught off guard Saturday in the championship game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas when the Bison lined up to kick a field goal late in the first half and instead pulled off a fabulous trick play. On 4th-and-8 on the Dukes’ 20-yard line with just shy of four minutes remaining in the second quarter, North Dakota State looked poised to kick a relatively easy field goal and extend its lead to seven points.
Safety James Hendricks was in position as the holder, but when he got the snap, he took off to the left, and thanks to some perfect blocking by the Bison, he had a wide-open lane to the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown, giving North Dakota State a 21-10 lead.
Earlier in the drive, it looked like the Bison scored a touchdown on 2nd-and-6 with a little less than five minutes left in the half when quarterback Trey Lance connected with tight end Ben Ellefson for an 18-yard score. However, officials dealt North Dakota State an ineligible receiver penalty and moved the team back to the 23-yard line for 2nd-and-11.
A three-yard rush and an incomplete pass, both from Lance, brought the Bison to a fourth down and set up this perfectly executed trick play.
North Dakota State entered halftime with a 21-10 lead over James Madison.
