Duquesne provided plenty of highlights during its first-ever FCS playoff appearance, but its offense was left waiting for the chance to produce a few more.

The Dukes pulled to within 52-49 when Dillon Buechel hit Wayne Capers for his sixth touchdown pass of the day with 1:11 remaining in regulation. Duquesne failed to recover the ensuing onsides kick, but still had three timeouts at its disposal.

An William & Mary third-down conversion allowed the Tribe to take a  knee and run out the clock with the dangerous Buechel and Co. left waiting on the sidelines.

Behind a remarkable performance from their quarterback, the Dukes accounted for 540 yards of offense and out-gained the host Tribe by a 60-yard margin.

Buechel had career highs in attempts (33), completions (53), yards (423) and touchdowns (6) while senior Chris King had personal bests of 12 receptions and 221 yards.  Senior Wayne Capers, Jr. tied a career high with seven catches for 81 yards and had a personal best three touchdowns.  Buechel tied the school record with six TD passes set in 2008 and it was the first time since 2002 that a DU receiver had 200-plus yards.

The Dukes opened the scoring on the first play of scrimmage as Dillon Buechel connected with Chris King on a 71-yard touchdown strike to make it 7-0 Dukes, just 16 seconds into the contest.

After forcing the Tribe to punt after three plays, the Red and Blue struck again as Buechel found Nehari Crawford for a 6-yard score at the 9:14 mark of the first quarter to make it 14-0 DU, capping an eight-play, 54-yard drive.

William and Mary answered with a pair of its own first quarter touchdown passes as Steve Cluley hit DeVonte Dedmon from 38 yards out at the 6:05 mark, then again with 4:37 left in the first stanza to tie the score.

The Tribe took its first lead five minutes into the second quarter as Kendell Anderson ran it in from the three yard line to make it 21-14 before Mikal Abdul-Saboor rushed in from the two to make it 28-14 with 3:58 remaining in the half.

The Dukes responded with a 10-play, 75-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard Crawford TD reception from Buechel at the 41-second mark to bring the score to within 28-21.  Carter Henderson then picked off a Cluley pass at the W&M 38 with 30 seconds left, setting up an Austin Crimmins 39-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the half to make it William & Mary 28, Duquesne 24 at the intermission.

The Tribe opened the second half scoring as Dorka was good on a 20-yard field goal attempt to make it 31-24.  The score was set up by a 40-yard pass to the Duquesne eight yard line.

The Dukes then drove to the W&M one-yard line and purposely took a delay of game penalty to set up a 23-yard field goal attempt.  The kick however was blocked and returned 65 yards for a touchdown by DeAndre Houston-Carson to make it 38-24 with 5:34 left in the third.

DU found paydirt again though as Wayne Capers accepted a Buechel aerial in the end zone from 18 yards out to narrow the DU deficit to 38-31 with 1:23 on the clock in the third quarter.

William and Mary extedned its lead to 14 again10 seconds into the fourth quarter as Dedmon caught his third TD pass of the game, this time from 37 yards out, to make it 45-31.

The see-saw scoring continued with 10:27 on the clock as Capers hauled in a five yard fade in the end zone to make it 45-38.  

On the ensuing Tribe possession, Christian Kuntz sacked Cluely, forcing a fumble which was recovered by Luis Quintana at the W&M 19.  The Dukes followed that with a Crimmins 35-yard field goal at the 7:01 mark to make the score W&M 45, DU 41.

William and Mary scored one last time as Anderson scored on an eight-yard run with 3:17 left in the game, making the score, 52-41.

The never-say-die Dukes had one more score up their sleeve as Buechel hit Capers on a 42-yard bomb to come to within 52-47.  Buechel then hit King on the 2-point conversion to make it 52-49 with 1:11 remaining in regulation.  The Dukes’ on-side kick however was recovered by the Tribe and they were able to run out the clock.

Defensively, Abner Roberts and Sam Martello had nine tackles eachKuntz and Martello each had forced fumbles and Kuntz added three tackles for a loss of 17 yards, including two sacks.