HARRISONBURG, Va. – Each week, winning in the Atlantic 10 seems to get increasingly difficult for the University of Maine football team.

The third-ranked Black Bears continue to do whatever it takes.

UMaine’s resilient defense was tested in the Virginia heat Saturday, but it limited James Madison to two field goals to lead the Bears to a 17-6 Atlantic 10 victory in front of 14,728 fans at windy Bridgeforth Stadium.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s 6-0 Bears, off to the program’s best start since 1989, take a 4-0 league record into Saturday’s game at Massachusetts.

“James Madison gave us everything we could handle. We had all that we could do to get this win,” Cosgrove said. ‘But our team fought. We just persist, and keep after it, and it comes together.”

UMaine sputtered against the speedy Dukes defense, managing 277 total yards, including only 76 via the run. The defense made sure the effort was good enough.

“Our brothers, the defense, they had a gutsy effort today. They put us on their backs a little while and carried us,” said UMaine quarterback Jake Eaton, who efficiently completed 12 of 16 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown.

The UMaine offense made enough plays to score 14 second-half points and the Bears did not commit any turnovers, a statistic that plagued JMU.

“The reason we lost the game was ball security in the first half,” said JMU coach Mickey Matthews, whose team fumbled at the UM 6 with four minutes left in the half and the game tied 3-3. A muffed punt return had set up the Bears’ first-quarter field goal.

Workhorse linebacker Stephen Cooper and the UMaine defense were superb. JMU ran 40 plays in the second half to 21 for UMaine and held the ball for nearly 21 minutes to the Bears’ nine.

Still, the Bears kept the Dukes out of the end zone.

“A lot of the things that they do they didn’t do today,” said Cooper, who made 13 tackles and recovered a fumble. “We had to adapt to it and we had to change our defense up a little bit, but the outcome was all right.”

Sophomore linebacker Brendan McGowan blocked a field-goal attempt and recovered a fumble to go with his eight tackles. McGowan’s block of a 30-yard try by Burke George with 9:56 left in the third kept JMU from grabbing the lead.

The UMaine offense made its move late the third quarter. On a 3rd-and-2 play, tailback Jim Henry took Eaton’s option pitch to the left side, was sprung by blocks made by Mike Zyskowski and Dzigbodi Ababio, and raced diagonally 47 yards for a TD. It was UMaine’s first third-down conversion of the game.

“They were giving us a lot of pressure inside and we thought we could catch them off-guard outside,” Eaton said of the call. “Jimmy hit that seam like he does … and he was gone.”

JMU countered with a long drive extended by a penalty and Alan Harrison’s run on a fake field goal. But the Dukes settled for George’s 29-yard field goal, which cut UM’s lead to 10-6 with 11:09 remaining.

After the teams traded possessions, the UMaine offense came through again. The Bears moved 80 yards on seven plays with Eaton hitting double-covered Ryan Waller (5 catches, 138 yards) on 41-yard scoring strike with 5:15 left.

“It was a quick post turning to the other upright and Jake put the ball right where it needs to be,” said Waller, a Virgina native playing in front of 20 family members and friends.

Dave Cusano intercepted JMU’s Jason Cooke with 4:25 left to help preserve the victory.

Dennis Dottin-Carter was outstanding for the Bears with seven tackles, four for a loss, including three sacks. Brendan Curry made six tackles, three for losses.

UMaine took a 3-0 lead on Mike Mellow’s 29-yard field goal, which was set up by the muffed punt return. JMU tied it with 29 seconds left in the first quarter on George’s 29-yarder.

Early in the second, a 43-yard completion from Eaton to Waller gave UMaine a first down at the JMU 5-yard line. The Dukes seized the momentum by stopping UMaine inside the 1 on a fourth-and-goal run by Eaton.

However, JMU was unable to capitalize. The hosts later moved the ball inside the M 10, but Rondell Bradley failed to handle a Matt LeZotte pitch on first-and-goal from the 6 and McGowan recovered.

BLACK BEARS 17, DUKES 6

Maine (6-0) 3 0 7 7 ? 17

James Madison (3-3) 3 0 0 3 ? 6

UM ? Mellow 29 field goal

JMU ? George 29 field goal

UM ? Henry 47 run (Mellow kick)

JMU ? George 29 field goal

UM ? Waller 41 pass from Eaton (Mellow kick)

Maine JMU

First downs 9 18

Rushing att.-yards 34-42 44-123

Passing comp.-att. 12-16 12-26

Passing yards 201 169

Total yards 277 292

Punts-avg. 7-37.9 5-47.0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-2

Intercepted by 2 0

Penalties-yards 8-69 4-25

Rushing

Maine: Williams 16-53, Henry 2-48, Zyskowski 1-2, Gelsomino 1-(-2), Team 4-(-4), Waller 1-(-9), Eaton 9-(-12); JMU: Bradley 19-75, Connelly 4-30, Goins 1-12, Harrison 1-11, Mallory 1-5, Binns 4-2, Johnson 1-2, Iorio 2-0, LeZotte 10-(-1), Cooke 1-(-13)

Passing

Maine: Eaton 12-16-0-201; JMU: LeZotte 12-22-0-169, Cooke 0-2-1-0, Connelly 0-1-1-0, Harrison 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 7-63, Waller 5-138; JMU: Higgins 5-80, Iorio 3-42, Bradley 1-18, Tolley 1-16, Connaghan 1-13, Binns 1-0

A?14,728