There was no need for emotional halftime speeches this week.

The top-ranked and top-seeded Montana Grizzlies played like the No. 1 team in the land should, scoring 35 first-half points and intercepting five Sam Houston State passes in the second half. Montana dismantled the No. 13 Bearkats 49-24 in the Division I-AA quarterfinal playoff game Saturday on a beautiful afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

"Oh man, our football team showed up in a big way," said Montana coach Joe Glenn, who saw his Griz win for the 12th straight time. "Just kind of one of those deals; you've heard me liken it to a boxing match. We smothered them with punches and probably had them rocked early in the game and they could not rebound. We were too much for them."

The 18,125 in attendance rocked 'n' rolled early, and so did Montana's offense. The Griz scored touchdowns on all five of their first-half possessions and rolled up 356 of their 455 yards before intermission. UM led 35-10 at the break.

Montana has won 16 straight home games and is undefeated in six quarterfinal contests. The Grizzlies have won five straight home playoff battles and moved to 15-2 in the postseason at Washington-Grizzly.

Junior quarterback John Edwards, bad ribs and all, rebounded from a dismal effort in last week's come-from-behind victory against Northwestern State with the best 30 minutes of football he's played in his collegiate career. Edwards completed 16 of 19 first-half passes for 270 yards, including a 38-yard screen to Yohance Humphery on the opening play. Edwards scored on runs of 16 and 2 yards. The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder completed 19 of 25 passes for 278 yards before giving way to junior Brandon Neill late in the third quarter.

"Obviously, anytime you have a bad day, you hope you can shake it and come back and play well," Edwards said. "It helped that we got it rolling right away with a nice completion to Yo. ... I'm just happy to come out and play consistent and play well after having a rough go last week."

"I thought John played a heck of a game," said receiver T.J. Oelkers, who threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Etu Molden to give UM a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter. "I spent a lot of time with him this week. He never had his head down once. He came out. He was the guy."

The Grizzlies (13-1) will face Northern Iowa next Saturday in a semifinal game. Kickoff is at 12:05 p.m. Northern Iowa, champion of the Gateway Conference, beat Maine 56-28 in a quarterfinal on Saturday. The winner will advance to the I-AA national championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 22.

"It's in the sights," said Griz receiver Rory Zikmund, who tied a career-high with four catches for 56 yards. "We've got to look at next week and that game first. We all know we can get there. No one is going to stop us. We can go as far as we want to go."

Sam Houston State quarterback Josh McCown threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns, but had just 83 passing yards at halftime . McCown, who tied the game 7-7 with an 8-yard scamper, was intercepted four times in the second half, including twice by Vince Huntsberger. Junior cornerback Johnnie Peeples Jr. picked off a McCown pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown, giving Montana a 42-16 lead with 3:41 to play in the third quarter.

"We were in coverage man-to-man and I was playing my man head-up," said Peeples. "I saw the tight end go out right away. He never even saw the ball. I broke on it and made a big play."

Sam Houston State, co-champion of the Southland Football League, finished its season 10-3. The Bearkats ran for just 70 yards on UM's defense, which held them 13 points under their season average.

"Ever since we came up here, all anyone wanted to talk about was the weather and the crowd," said Sam Houston's classy coach Ron Randleman. "I've said all the time the weather and the crowd wasn't going to beat us, and they certainly didn't. My concern has always been Montana's football team. They have a fine football team and played well today.

"They deserve to win and we give them credit. That does not diminish the season we've had. It does not diminish the way these young men have performed. I'm very proud of them."

The Bearkat defense did a dandy job against Humphery, holding the senior to just 39 rushing yards, his lowest total since gaining 28 against Eastern Washington last year in a game he left in the first quarter with an injury. It was just the second time Humphery failed to get 100 yards this season. Humphery, however, scored on runs of 3 and 4 yards in the first half. The first put his team up 7-0. The second gave UM a 28-7 advantage.

Humphery and Molden had a lot of success on screens. Humphery had three catches on traditional screens for 50 yards, including the 38-yarder to open the game. Molden tallied 101 of his 138 receiving yards on inside and middle screens. He capped the Grizzlies' scoring when he took a screen pass from Brandon Neill 41 yards along the sideline and into the end zone with 13:33 left in the fourth quarter. Molden got a great downfield block from wide receiver Dane Oliver.

"They did a real good job of covering the deep ball," Molden said. "They were playing off. It was cool coming in and getting those little screens and catching it and making something happen, letting the guys get out in front of me, being patient and reading the blocks. It was good from there."

"We'd be looking for the screen and they'd hit us with a screen to the tailback when we thought (Molden) was going to get the screen," said Sam Houston senior safety Keith Davis. "When we did cover up the screen, the QB scrambled for good yardage. We were pretty confused. They did a good job. You've got to give them credit."

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

Game details

Crowd: 18,125.

Conditions: Temperature of 30 at kickoff. Warming to 39. Partly cloudy. Winds out of the south at 8-10 mph.

Time of game: 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Records: Montana, winners of 12 straight, moved to 13-1. Sam Houston State finished its season 10-3.

Next Saturday: Top-ranked Montana will play host to No. 6 Northern Iowa in a semifinal game at 12:05 p.m. Northern Iowa beat Maine 56-28 in a quarterfinal on Saturday.

Saturday's stars

For Montana, QB John Edwards completed 19-of-25 passes for 278 yards and ran for two touchdowns. WR Etu Molden caught eight passes for 138 yards and caught TD passes of 19 and 41 yards. RB Yohance Humphery scored two touchdowns. WR Rory Zikmund caught four passes for 56 yards. CB Johnnie Peeples Jr. intercepted two passes, including one for a 25-yard touchdown. SS Vince Huntsberger registered seven tackles, intercepted two passes and had three pass breakups. LB Matt Steinau had nine tackles. CB Calvin Coleman had four tackles, an interception and a pass breakup.

If there ever was a group of players in need of a big bear hug, it was Montana's much-maligned secondary. Peeples got his squeeze after intercepting a pass by Sam Houston State backup quarterback Rob Stephenson in the closing minutes of the Grizzlies' 49-24 Division I-AA quarterfinal victory against the Bearkats at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

It was the last of Montana's five second-half interceptions, which all came by performers in the secondary. Senior safety Vince Huntsberger had two. Peeples returned his first pick 25 yards for a touchdown to give Montana a 42-16 lead with 3:41 left in the third quarter. Peeples also forced a fumble in the third quarter that was recovered by linebacker Dan Orizotti. Senior cornerback Calvin Coleman, who spent much of the day taunting Sam Houston receiver Jonathon Cooper, also snared a pick.

"Coach has been saying we need to get good re-routes and get them out of running straight up the field," Huntsberger said. "We kind of did that today. I had a couple of holds called, which I didn't want. What that did is kind of took (the receivers') rhythm off, not so much the quarterback. That did in turn throw his off. The receivers weren't quite where they wanted to be when he was throwing the football."

"We had an over-under coverage pretty much," Peeples said. "We played a lot of two-man with safety help, so we could get a good jam on the receiver and worry about playing sound defense. We jam them and they run underneath and we've got safety help and we can do what we want. We played solid."

The final stats say Sam Houston senior quarterback Josh McCown threw for 344 yards and two touchdowns. But the athletic senior managed just 83 passing yards in the first half when his team fell behind 35-10. His big second-half was scarred by four interceptions. The SMU transfer had thrown just eight picks in 379 attempts in his previous 12 games. He threw four in his first 30 attempts in the second half.

McCown threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Cooper and 56 yards to Corey Zeno in the second half, but it was far from enough.

"Once I got going, something would take it (rhythm) out of me," McCown said. "I'd have a miss or an interception or get sacked. We got off to a pretty good rhythm before the second touchdown. My credit goes to Montana. They did a great job defensively. My hats off to them. We just couldn't get in a rhythm."

"Just the look on his face made it seem like he never got in a rhythm," said Griz linebacker Matt Steinau. "When he threw an incomplete ball, his face looked totally dejected. I have no idea what happened to him."

Cooper, one of the most dangerous receivers in I-AA, was held to just three catches for 18 yards in the first half. He broke one on a crossing route for 64 yards in the third quarter. Cooper, who finished with nine catches for 117 yards, capped that drive with an 8-yard touchdown.

"Watching film, you could tell they were a good defense," Cooper said. "They got to the ball real fast. Their linebackers dropped back and found receivers. There was nothing that surprised me."

"They played a good game today," Cooper added. "At the same time, our offense is capable of making big plays. We're capable of having a great team. They were a better team today."