Former Nansemond-Suffolk Academy standout KeShaun Moore played for a national championship on Saturday.

The James Madison University football team made it to the national championship for the second year in a row. Last year they won it, and Suffolk native Ryan Kluck was able to experience it as a member of the team. This time around, it was Moore’s turn, but a win was not meant to be.

James Madison lost 17-13 to North Dakota State. However, it was still an incredible experience for a freshman.

On National Signing Day last year, Moore talked about how much of a blessing it was to step into a championship situation at JMU. When he visited the campus for the first time, he said, it immediately felt like home to him.

“I am going into a successful program, and I am excited to be a part of it and be able to always compete for a national championship,” Moore said about choosing JMU.

A year later after signing on the dotted line, he played for a national championship. Making it to that magnitude of a game is a great start for Moore’s career.

At NSA, Moore was an all-conference and all-state player and was part of a state championship team. In 2016, he won the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools Player of the Year. Even though Moore played on both sides of the ball for NSA, he was recruited at linebacker by JMU.

To make it to the championship game, JMU had a 14-0 record. JMU was making its 14th appearance in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. The Dukes made a program-record fourth straight playoff berth. It is 16-11 overall in the playoffs. This is the fourth time JMU has won multiple postseason games, having gone 4-0 in both national title runs, 3-0 this year and 2-1 in the 2008 playoffs.