The University of Northern Iowa Panther’s plane landed 2 hours late Friday and they were playing catch-up ever since. The Panthers, who only had time for a walk-through practice on the Washington-Grizzly SprinTurf playing surface, came out wearing shoes better suited for their short, indoor surface. As a result, many Panthers weren’t getting good footing on the SprinTurf, which has the length and feel of natural grass. By the Panther’s third defensive series, they were changing their longer spikes. By this point, they were already down 10-0.

UM had the first possession of the game and they wasted no time running down the field. Behind a dominant offensive line, Yohance Humphery exploited holes and John Edwards optioned the Grizzlies into a 36-yard field goal by Chris Snyder.

UM’s defense forced two costly turnovers. Following a UNI fumble deep in their own territory, John Edwards scored his first touchdown of the day.

On UNI’s second possession, they were forced to punt. Edwards, taking tacklers head-on all day, eventually scored his second rushing touchdown and propelled the Grizzlies to a 17-0 first-half lead.

On the resulting possession, Dave DeCoite’s interception setup a T.J. Oelkers 13-yard run. With the point after by Chris Snyder, the Griz recorded their 24th point while the Panthers were waiting to record their first first down of the game.

Tom Petrie took over for an injured Jurgens but was unable to move the Panthers. Levander Segars won the field position game by returning the 53 yard Panther punt 55 yards to the Panther 8-yard-line. Segars injured his right hamstring on the play and was seen on cruthes heading to the lockerroon before half-time. The extent of his injury was unknown as of Saturday afternoon.

Yohance Humphery got in the books with his first rushing touchdown of the day. After the Synder point-after, the Griz lead 31-0.

The Panthers only had two scoring threats all day. The first, coming late in the first half, was stopped by sacks and Panther receiver Jake Soliday’s personal foul. Soliday, the Panther’s star receiver, struck Dave DeCoite and was the first of two Panthers ejected from the game.

At the end of the first half, UM was leading 31-0.

The third quarter saw UM’s career scoring leader, Yohance Humphery, rush for his second touchdown of the day. After the Synder point-after, the Griz lead 38-0.

The only other threat to the Grizzly defense’s shutout came later in the third quarter. However, senior stars Vince Huntsberger, Dan DeCoite, Calvin Coleman, Matt Steinau, and others were not going to have their last game in Washington-Grizzly Stadium spoiled. With first-and-goal on the Grizzly 2, personal fouls and a smothering defense pushed the Panther’s back and saw kicker MacKenzie Hoambrecker’s 32-yard field goal attempt bounce off the uprights.

Speaking of the uprights, they were last seen heading over the Higgins Avenue Bridge into Missoula's downtown. With the goalposts lathered in white grease and almost a dozen police on-hand, who had instructions to not interfere, Grizzly fans celebrated by tearing down the south goal posts.

In other misconduct, KPAX TV reported that UNI player #9 Ken Harris was allegedly to be arrested after the game for spitting on a sidelines camera person. Harris, who was also ejected from the game, might have been arrested sooner than that.

It was Edwards, not Humphery who was Montana's rushing star in the first quarter of the Grizzlies' 38-0 Division I-AA semifinal shellacking of Northern Iowa on Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Edwards sliced through Northern Iowa's defense for two rushing touchdowns and 95 rushing yards in the first quarter. Edwards finished with a career-high 111 yards running on 13 carries.

"I was happy for him," said Humphery, who finished with 142 yards and two touchdowns. "I was jacked for him. He was moving the ball well for us. That's what we need. That's what we expect from a leader. If something doesn't look right, make something happen with your feet."

Edwards worked magic with his shoes early and often Saturday. On the Grizzlies' first play, he pulled the ball down and scrambled for 11 yards. On the first play of UM's second drive, Edwards dropped back to pass, pumped once and motored for an 18-yard gain. On the next play, he rolled out on a bootleg and dived across the goal line for a 12-yard touchdown, putting UM ahead 10-0.

"He's a defensive coordinator's worst nightmare," said Montana coach Joe Glenn. "You can cover the pass, drop everybody and rush your lanes. You can go with a four-man rush and pretty much have everything under control. Now, all of a sudden a guy pulls it down, splits your pass rush and you're running lose. ... He keeps those defensive coordinators awake at night. There's not much you can do about it."

"They dropped into coverage and they were jamming our receivers pretty tough," said Edwards, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 65 yards. "I looked at it and didn't like it, so I pulled it down and get up the middle a little bit.

"They were throwing a lot of different coverages at us and rolling here and rolling there, safeties were running everywhere," he added. "We always talk about if you're not comfortable with it, make something happen with your feet."

Edwards wasn't done after his first touchdown. On the second play of UM's third drive, he dropped back, found nothing and took off for a 17-yard gain. Two plays later, he scrambled for 19. On the next play, Edwards rolled right and scored from six yards out, putting the Griz up 17-0.

"The difference in the game in the first quarter was when the quarterback took off with the football," said Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley. "Everything was covered. He probably rushed for most of these yards, I assume. He got his yards in the first half on broken plays. We weren't getting off blocks and we weren't running down the quarterback. He made some nice plays."

"I don't know if he was better than any running quarterback we saw," said UNI linebacker Adam Vogt. "Our DBs did a great job of covering. When things were covered he just took off right away. When something wasn't there, he just took off. He had his mind made up that he was going to make the play."

Make no mistake, Edwards certainly won't be the featured back in next week's national championship game against Furman.

"I'm not quick, I can't cut and I can't put my head down quite like Yo can," Edwards said with a laugh. "I don't know what it is. I just don't know how to tell my body how to do what he does. It would be nice to be able do the same things. It doesn't work for me, for some odd reason. I don't know what it is."

Sophomore left tackle Dylan McFarland almost had a chance at some glory for the Griz. Late in the fourth quarter, Brandon Neill tried a pass to McFarland on a tackle-eligible play. The toss was a lateral and low. McFarland picked up the ball and advanced it one yard.

The play was called in the first quarter, but the shotgun snap from Brian Pelc to John Edwards was high, forcing Edwards to fall on the ball for a loss.

"Pelc snapped it high," McFarland said with a laugh. "I think it was on purpose. I think he wants to score before me. We ran it there at the end. I just didn't get a good ball. Brandon's got to put it on me. I take that to the house. All I do is catch touchdowns at practice. It was just fun to touch the ball."

Glenn didn't sound to optimistic about Levander Segars' status for the national championship game.

Segars, Montana's electrifying true freshman punt returner, reinjured his right hamstring at the end of a 55-yard punt return, his longest of the season.

"We're worried," Glenn said. "It's his hamstring again. Drats. I don't think it's very good. He's had trouble with it. Doggone it, that's a toughie. He's a special guy, no doubt."

Segars' return set up an 8-yard touchdown run by Humphery that gave Montana a 31-0 lead.

Montana's shutout Saturday was only the second in a Division I-AA semifinal playoff game. Youngstown State blanked Samford 10-0 in 1991 and won the national championship the next week over Marshall 27-17. The win over Northern Iowa was Montana's second shutout of the season. The Griz blanked Division II Western Washington in their first home game this year.

Reporter Jon Kasper can be reached at 523-5247 or by e-mail at jkasper @missoulian.com.

Dee-fense

Top defensive efforts by Montana in Division I-AA playoff games:

Year Round Opponent Score
1995 First Eastern Kentucky 48-0

Second Georgia Southern 45-0

2001 Third Northern Iowa 38-0

1996 First Nicholls State 48-3

Third Troy State 70-7

Farley said he was "very pleased" with the treatment Panther fans got from Missoula.

He refused to excuse blatant infractions by his star receiver Jake Soliday and cornerback Ken Harris. Soliday was ejected in the first half after punching UM safety Dave DeCoite below the belt.

"A loss of composure is all that can be said," Farley said emphatically. "It was a good call by the official. You cannot do that."

In other words, Farley and Panther players who appeared at a postgame interview session mere minutes after the humbling were gracious in defeat.

"Montana's a great football team," said Farley, an assistant coach when the Panthers dropped a first-round decision in Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 1994. "We knew that coming in, we knew that at the end of last season, we knew it throughout the season.

"They did everything to take us out of our game. They had a good plan and they played hard. And they've got very good players. You put all that together and they've got a chance to win the national championship."

"They're a good team," tailback Adam Benge said. "They're in the national championship game for the second time in a row. I hope they win the whole thing. It's something for us to try to get to next year."

Farley was in hot water with Grizzly coaches and fans when UM coach Joe Glenn said Northern Iowa refused to exchange game films earlier in the playoffs. Farley intimated it had to do with circumstances surrounding the '94 visit, that there was another side to the story, and said the flap was blown out of proportion.

A reporter for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier wrote during the week that the Panthers were abused in 1994 by Grizzly fans "who hurled insults, obscenities and objects at the Panthers."

He took officials to task for several calls seven years ago, and said they missed a cheap shot by UM's popular tackle Scott Gragg, now a starter for the San Francisco 49ers. He also said UNI was "battered by the press ... and treated rudely by former Grizzlies coach Don Read, who took issue with the quality of the Panthers' game film."

Such buildup made game management a focal point this time. Northern Iowa's bus was escorted to the stadium by police for a Friday walk-through and again Saturday. Security was beefed up on the sidelines at Washington-Grizzly as game administrators anticipated a hostile crowd.

Northern Iowa's frustration built early as the Grizzlies jumped to a 31-0 halftime lead, and not all of the Panthers handled it well. Harris, a senior from Buffalo, N.Y., who began his career at Pittsburgh, shouted a racial slur at a haranguing female fan behind the bench. When upbraided by a male photographer, Harris unleashed a verbal assault toward him. He also squirted a water bottle over his shoulder toward nearby fans.

Late in the game Harris came up from his cornerback position and hit Branden Malcom late on an incomplete swing pass, drawing a personal foul penalty. An ensuing scuffle with Malcom was quaffed before it turned into something bigger. Farley went onto the field and appeared to direct Harris to the sideline, and Harris didn't play on Montana's final series.

As the other players exchanged handshakes after the game, Harris left the stadium flanked by a sheriff's deputy and a Northern Iowa official.

Linebacker Matt Steinau said Glenn warned the Grizzlies not to retaliate if punches flew.

"I think the temptation was there in the first half more than in the second half," said Steinau. "We went in and regrouped and Coach Glenn laid down the law. He said if you get in a fight, you don't get on the plane (to Chattanooga)."

"That was the one thing we said coming in is we can't lose composure, because they have a championship atmosphere," Farley said. "I have to compliment the Montana people because this is a great environment. ... They did a great job in game management, and it was a total different situation, I believe, from what it was the last time we were here."