FNS Photo North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance is hit mid-air by Illinois State's Zeke Vandenburgh during the FCS quarterfinals at the Fargodome on Saturday.

FARGO — The second matchup of North Dakota State and Illinois State in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs went down to the final minute again. And like the 2014 FCS national title game, NDSU found a way to win.

It was a struggle for NDSU in a 9-3 home victory Saturday at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome before 14,132 fans. The quarterfinal victory sends to the Bison to next Saturday’s semifinals against Montana State at the dome.

The Bison (14-0) have won an FCS record 35 consecutive games in advancing to the semifinals for a ninth consecutive season.

“I think everybody in that locker room knows how much work it takes to get to this point,” said Bison senior safety James Hendricks. “We’ve come a long way. To make it back, it’s pretty incredible.”

NDSU will be gunning for its eighth trip to the title game in Frisco, Texas, in nine years. The Bison have won seven of the past eight FCS championships.

“There was not one kid in that locker room that took anything for granted,” Bison head coach Matt Entz said. “We’ve got one more game in 2019 and we’re going to finish it. We’re going to be ready to go.”

It was a battle for both teams to get into the end zone. The Redbirds, who lost at home to the Bison 37-3 earlier this season, showed they were a different team this time around making it a four-quarter game with a stingy run defense that gave the Bison fits.

“The first time wasn’t us. That was 10 weeks ago now. We were really able to hone in who we are as a defense. There was a lot of games down the stretch that prove my point on that,” Illinois State senior linebacker Ty DeForest.

Trailing by six, the Redbirds had the ball at their own 20-yard line with 7 minutes, 27 seconds to play in the fourth quarter after NDSU’s fourth punt of the second half. Illinois State freshman quarterback Bryce Jefferson scrambled for 21 yards on third-and-5 to his 46-yard line. But the Bison stalled the drive on a quarterback sack by defensive end Tony Pierce, which forced the Redbirds to punt.

NDSU took over at its 18-yard line with 3:27 to play. Getting a first down in the second half for the Bison was a chore and ISU had all three of its timeouts remaining. A pass interference penalty on Illinois State on third-and-11 gave NDSU a first down at their 32.

That play forced the Redbirds to burn all of their time outs and ISU got the ball at its 22-yard line with 1:22 remaining. Three incompletions and with a short run mixed in run ended their threat.

“We felt confident on the defense that we were going to be able to hold,” Hendricks said.

The Bison held Illinois State star running back James Robinson to less than 100 yards on the ground. The 5-foot-10, 225-pound senior finished with 94 rushing yards on 24 attempts. Robinson had gained more than 200 yards in each of the previous two playoff wins for the Redbirds.

“We played the way we had to play to give ourselves a chance,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said. “We wanted to make the game close. We wanted to make sure we possessed the ball and didn’t turn it over. We made some plays, but not enough to beat a team like that.”

The Bison scored all their points in the first half on three field goals, and that proved to be enough as the NDSU defense limited Illinois State to 194 yards for the game.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Bison linebacker Jackson Hankey, who had 10 tackles. “There was no secret to their game plan, we knew we had to be more physical than them. … We knew that we were going to have to strap up and play.”

Freshman kicker Griffin Crosa, suspended in last week’s second-round win over Nicholls (La.) for violating team rules, made field goals of 38, 33 and 22 yards. The 22-yard boot gave NDSU a 9-0 lead with 27 seconds to play in the second quarter. All of NDSU’s points came in the second quarter.

It was a first half of missed opportunities for the Bison, who faced a first-and-goal from the Illinois State 10-yard line early in the second quarter after wide receiver Christian Watson hauled in a 55-yard pass from Lance. The drive stalled and Crosa kicked a 33-yard field goal that gave NDSU a 6-0 lead with 12:18 to play until halftime.

The Bison had the ball inside the Illinois State 10 two times in the first half and settled for field goals in both instances. NDSU limited Illinois State to 98 yards on 21 plays in the first half. The Bison had 206 yards on 36 plays through two quarters.

The Redbirds reached the Bison 40-yard late in the first quarter, but Jefferson was stuffed on fourth-and-1. NDSU turned that turnover on downs into a Crosa 38-yard field goal and a 3-0 edge with 14:23 to play in the second quarter.

Illinois State got a 27-yard field goal from Sam Fenlason late in the third quarter. That cut NDSU’s lead to 9-3 with 2:02 to play in the quarter. The Bison had to lean on their defense from there. The Bison offense gained only 57 yards on 28 plays after halftime.

“We almost felt to the point that we let them down a little bit,” Bison quarterback Trey Lance said of the NDSU defense. “I didn’t execute. I can do better. I have to give them credit. They are a really good team.”