HARRISONBURG — Gage Steele knew exactly how to sum it up.

“It was definitely a nail-biter and I probably lost a couple of years off my life at that game,” the senior linebacker said, referring to the collapse James Madison nearly suffered in an October Colonial Athletic Association game at New Hampshire.

The two teams meet for a rematch Saturday in the second round of the FCS Playoffs, but it’s what almost happened in the regular-season showdown that has the attention of fourth-seeded JMU.

The Dukes led 42-12 with 10 minutes left to play and New Hampshire had turned to its backup quarterback. Steele — and other Madison players — said the outcome of the game should have never been in doubt.

But faster than the Dukes built a 30-point lead, the advantage evaporated.

That backup quarterback, New Hampshire senior Adam Riese, ran for a touchdown and threw for two more — including a 13-yard strike to Rory Donovan with 1:15 remaining — to pull the Wildcats within three points of JMU.

“I’m not sure exactly what it was schematically,” New Hampshire running back Dalton Crossan said, regarding the fourth-quarter comeback.

Crossan caught one of the touchdowns Riese threw and ran one in during the scoring flurry.

“But I know for a fact that we don’t quit,” he said. “Coach [Sean] McDonnell always preaches to us to never give up and move on to the next play, no matter what happens, good or bad. We just kept playing as hard as we could for four quarters, but in that fourth quarter we obviously had a lot of success.”

JMU (10-1, 8-0 CAA) managed to escape with a 42-39 win after senior wide receiver Domo Taylor recovered a New Hampshire onside kick following Donovan’s touchdown catch.

“You don’t get away with teams coming back like that too often,” Steele said.

For JMU, the fourth quarter at New Hampshire (8-4, 6-2 CAA) was its worst quarter of the season. The 27 points scored by the Wildcats was the most any opponent scored in a quarter against JMU this season.

The defense went from dominant for three quarters to awful for one quarter due to one reason, according to first-year JMU coach Mike Houston.

“New Hampshire had a great deal to do with that fourth quarter,” Houston said. “But a lot of the breakdowns there were guys out of position and not doing the things that they were coached to do.”

Houston said he’s used the game film of the fourth-quarter escape at New Hampshire to show defensive players what could happen if they don’t play within the 4-2-5 system.

“They’ve been able to look at that fourth quarter, and also tape of themselves since then, and see that when they do what they’re asked to do on a down-to-down basis, that they’re going to have success,” Houston said.

Steele, who has 72 tackles this year, said the defense also learned to never let up regardless of whether or not the Dukes think they have the game secured.

“We always have to keep on fighting and never let off the throttle,” Steele said. “In the games after that, like Villanova and Richmond, we knew we couldn’t do at all what we did at New Hampshire. It’s something that fueled the fire for us as a team to continue to play well and to make sure everyone is communicating to stay on the same page. It’s something we’ve focused on late in the season and tried to get better at.”