STATS (htm) | STATS (pdf)
HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTOSIn a Big Sky shootout, Montana's defense played the hero late, holding off Eastern Washington in the closing seconds to secure the 41-34 win.
The game was tied at 27 going into the fourth quarter. The Griz had the ball at the start of the fourth, but couldn’t take advantage of starting at midfield, and had to punt. Sean Wren’s punt went out at the 1, giving the Eagles a long field to cover. Eastern advanced the ball to its own 41 before having to punt. Punt returner Marc Mariani made the first defender, Artise Gauldin, miss before following his blockers 82 yards down the sideline to the house to give Montana the lead, 34-27, with 10 minutes to go.
Eastern Washington answered the challenge, driving 74 yards in 5 minutes, capped by a 1-yard Taiwan Jones touchdown run to again tie the game.
Jabin Sambrano returned the EWU kickoff to the UM 45, giving the Griz great field position to start their drive with 4:50 remaining. Montana had a tough decision right away, facing fourth and 2 from the EWU 47. Quarterback Justin Roper found Kevin Klaboe for the apparent fourth down conversion, but yellow flags littered the field following the play. Montana was flagged for a 5-yard illegal formation penalty, but Eastern’s Jesse Hoffman was charged with a late hit. The result of the penalties was a first down for Montana.
Montana would face another fourth down decision later in the drive, this one at the 1-yard line. Montana again gambled and won. Running back Chase Reynolds was hit short of the goal line, but drove Dante Calcote into the end zone to put Montana up 41-34.
Eastern Washington had 1:18 for its last-chance drive, starting at the 20 following a touchback. Two quick Matt Nichols passes, an 11 yarder to Nicolas Edwards and an 18-yard strike to Nathan Overbay, moved the ball to the EWU 49 with 51 seconds to go. Eastern would go no farther as the Montana defense forced four straight incompletions to take back the ball and lock up the win.
Reynolds was named player of the game. Reynolds had 2 touchdowns off of 69 yards on the ground, including the game winner. Jones ran for a game-high 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Nichols threw 32-49 for 312 yards and three touchdowns. The Montana QB tandem combined for 209 yard. Andrew Selle, the starter, went 11-18 for 150 yards and a TD, and Roper threw 6-8 for 59 yards and a score.
EWU’s Aaron Boyce led all receivers with 114 yards and a touchdown. Steve Pfahler paced the Griz with 79 yards.
Erik Stoll and Shawn Lebsock both had 9 tackles, while Eagle J.C. Sherritt had a game-high 17.
The first quarter belonged to the Eagles. EWU took the ball to start the game, and found the end zone on the 7-play, 70-yard opening drive. Nichols hit Overbay for the 13-yard touchdown.
Montana picked up an immediate first down on its first possession, a 20-yard Selle-to-Pfahler pass to midfield, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Pfahler following the play took back most of the gain, and killed Montana’s momentum. Montana would not enter Eagle territory in the first quarter.
The Griz defense forced a 3-and-out on the second Eagle possession, on the strength of Tyler Hobbs’ sack of Nichols to set up fourth and 14. On fourth down, Tyler Jolley sailed the snap over the head of punter Cameron Zuber out the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety. Eastern’s next possession led to a 39-yard Mike Jarrett field goal, putting EWU up 10-2.
If Eastern owned the first quarter, Montana had the second, outscoring the Eagles 18-3. The Griz offense put together a 15-play scoring drive, advancing to the EWU 10 before Brody McKnight’s 27-yard field goal.
The Eagles were moving the ball well following the UM field goal until a false start and then an incompletion on fourth down gave the Griz the ball at their own 31. From there, Griz running back Thomas Brooks-Fletcher carried the load, gaining 52 all-purpose yards in the 69-yard drive. Roper found Rob Overton in the end zone from 2 yards out to secure the six. Montana, up just 1 at that point, elected to go for it, and Mariani bowled over David Miles at the pylon en route to the end zone on the reverse, giving Montana the 2-point conversion and a three-point lead, 13-10.
The Eagles went 3-and-out again, and Montana went to work near midfield with 2:20 left in the period. Roper rushed for 24 yards in the drive, while Reynolds got the final 18, including a 16-yard TD run to stretch the Griz lead to 20-10.
With 1:05 remaining in the half, Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 39 yards to the EWU 42 where McKnight made a potentially touchdown-saving tackle. Eastern advanced to the UM 31, where Jarrett’s 48-yard attempt as time expired was good, sending the teams to the locker rooms with Montana leading 20-13.
The second half started slow. Montana’s opening drive ended with McKnight’s missed 46-yard attempt, and Eastern followed that with a turnover on downs at the UM 36.
Montana got the second half scoring started at 6:09 when Selle threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Palmer to finish out a 7-play, 64-yard drive. Montana led 27-13.
The Eagles then picked up two quick touchdowns to close out the third quarter. After a 52-yard Nichols-to-Jones pass, Nichols had a 14-yard scoring pass to Ashton Grant and, following a UM 3-and-out, a 50-yard strike to Boyce, knotting the game at 27-27 heading into the final period.
Montana (6-0, 3-0 Big Sky) next heads to Sacramento State on October 24 for a 3 p.m. (MST) contest against the Hornets.