This was the one they’d been waiting for.

“That’s bragging rights for the whole defense,” James Madison senior defensive end Ron’Dell Carter said. “That sends a message. That says something when you shutout a team like that.”

The second-seeded Dukes used five sacks, two forced fumbles and a relentlessly stifling effort from their defense to secure the first postseason shutout in program history and to blank visiting Northern Iowa 17-0 in the national quarterfinals on Friday at Bridgeforth Stadium.

JMU (13-1) is onto the FCS semifinals for the third time in four years and will host third-seeded Weber State on Dec. 21 while the season ends for Northern Iowa (10-5).

The shutout was also the first of this season for the Dukes and marked the first time Northern Iowa had been shutout since a 27-0 loss at Iowa State on Sept. 25, 2010.

“It’s crazy because [linebacker] Dimitri Holloway was actually the one who brought it up today when we were in the team hotel,” JMU senior cornerback Rashad Robinson said. “He said, ‘For as good as this defense is we don’t have a shutout yet, so why not make it tonight?’”

And Holloway, who led the Dukes with eight tackles, a sack and 3.5 tackles for loss, stuffed Northern Iowa senior running back Trevor Allen on a third-and-1 at the line of scrimmage on the Panthers’ initial possession of the contest to set the stage for how the cold, wet and foggy December night would play out.

Northern Iowa was limited to 114 total yards of offense, 2.3 yards per play and seven first downs while not gaining any yards on the ground.

“That absolutely set the tone for the game,” JMU defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said about Holloway’s first-quarter take down of Allen. “They had a short-yardage situation, and if they get that they’ll start to take a shot play or get some momentum in that drive, so I think that thing really killed their momentum early.”

Holloway said: “I just made the play I was supposed to make.”

The ensuing series for the Dukes netted them the only the touchdown they would need.

Quarterback Ben DiNucci connected with wide receiver Brandon Polk on a screen that Polk turned into a 15-yard touchdown. Polk has a touchdown in each of his last nine games.

After that, the onslaught of pressure from Holloway, Carter and senior defensive end John Daka left Northern Iowa quarterback Will McElvain without anywhere to go and scrambling simply to find space to throw the ball away.

The Panthers were 2-of-12 in third-down situations as Daka notched two sacks and Carter had one sack.

“It was evident they gave us a lot of trouble,” Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley said of Daka and Carter. “They got good speed, good strength and they we’re disruptive and that was evident to the quarterback.”

JMU coach Curt Cignetti said it’s why he decided his offense would play conservatively in the second half.

The Dukes dominated time of possession, controlling the ball for more than 42 minutes of the contest.

“I told the coaches at halftime,” Cignetti said, “I said, ‘Look. If we don’t screw it up on offense, we’ll be fine because [Northern Iowa] could play offense the whole second half against our defense and not score, and we’d win the game,’ and I really felt that way. So it was a great effort.”

Kicker Ethan Ratke’s 42-yard field goal in the second quarter and running back Percy Agyei-Obese’s 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter gave JMU the score it would win by. Agyei-Obese’s touchdown came just one play after defensive tackle Mike Greene capped the defensive performance with a sack of McElvain to turn Northern Iowa over on downs.

“Finally,” Carter said. “It’s something we’ve all been working toward. It’s been paying off all season, but to get a shutout in the playoffs, that’s big time.”

BOX SCORE

Northern Iowa 0 0 0 0—0

James Madison 7 3 0 7—17

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

JMU—Polk 15 pass from DiNucci (Ratke kick), 4:10

Second Quarter

JMU—Ratke 42 field goal, 6:39

Fourth Quarter

JMU—Agyei-Obese 1 run (Ratke kick), 2:19

Individual Stats

RUSHING—UNI: Allen 10-17, Hoosman 1-8, McElvain 8-(-25). JMU: Agyei-Obese 33-124, Hamilton 21-62, DiNucci 4-6.

PASSING—UNI: McElvain 12-30-0-114. JMU: DiNucci 19-28-1-157.

RECEIVING—UNI: Graham 4-39, James 3-37, Allen 2-15, Lane 2-13, Hadachek 1-10. JMU: 7-59, D. Stapleton 4-48, Hamilton 3-13, Vanhorse 2-22, Agyei-Obese 2-9, R. Stapleton 1-6.