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HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTOSThe day was dedicated to the Montana seniors, but junior running back Chase Reynolds stole the show.
Reynolds scored three touchdowns as the Griz topped Northern Colorado 38-10. The win secured the Big Sky automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs as outright conference champions.
Andrew Selle started for Montana, but went only 6-9 passing for 72 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Justin Roper was 13-of-20 for 123 yards and a touchdown. UNC quarterback Bryan Waggener was 26-44 for 200 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Reynolds ran for 151 yards on 23 carries, and added 26 yards on three catches. Northern Colorado as a team only rushed for 54 yards on 24 carries.
The Bears’ Patrick Walker led all receivers with 12 catches for 82 yards, while Montana’s Marc Mariani and Tyler Palmer each had three grabs and a touchdown.
The Griz defense made itself known early when cornerback Andrew Swink intercepted Waggener’s pass on the Bears’ first possession and returned it 9 yards to the UNC 35. The interception set up a Brody McKnight 31-yard field goal attempt but the kick went wide left. The UNC QB was sacked twice and hurried four times in the game.
Following a scoreless first period, the Bears broke through first, putting together a 10-play, 75-yard drive ending with an Alex Thompson touchdown reception from Waggener from 18 yards out, giving UNC a 7-0 lead at 13:29 in the second quarter.
Montana answered on its next possession. Reynolds touched the ball on 11 of the 12 plays in the 59-yard drive, including the 1-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal. Reynolds’ 35th career touchdown tied the game 7-7 with 8:03 remaining in the half.
The Montana defense forced a punt with 4:15 left, and the offense went back to work. Roper rifled a 19-yard strike to Palmer with just 0:28 remaining to give Montana a 14-7 halftime lead. The 80-yard drive consumed 3:47 in 11 plays.
The Chase Reynolds show continued in the second half. On Montana’s third play after the intermission, Reynolds evaded two tacklers to break a 54-yard touchdown run. On that run, Reynolds became the 10th player in UM history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. The 80-yard drive made it 21-7.
Following a quick Bear three-and-out, Reynolds took even less time to score his third touchdown of the day. Reynolds took the handoff on UM’s first play from scrimmage, broke an apparent tackle and rambled 37 yards for the score. Montana’s lead was 28-7 with 12:03 left in the third quarter.
Northern Colorado followed up the Grizzlies’ scoring outburst with an epic drive, covering 70 yards in 21 plays and consuming 8:27. The Bears looked to find the end zone when Waggener found an open Thompson streaking to the goal line, but Griz cornerback Brandon Dodson closed the gap and batted away the pass to save the touchdown. The Bears advanced as far as the 4 before an offensive pass interference penalty backed UNC up, forcing a 25-yard Michael York field goal that made the score 28-10.
Selle was intercepted by Quincy Wofford on the second play of Montana’s next drive. Wofford returned the pick 22 yards to the UM 24, but the Bear offense only managed another 3 yards, and it looked like another Bear field goal. York’s 37-yard attempt was blocked by Carson Bender however, and the ball finally caromed out of bounds at the UNC 37-yard line, giving Montana excellent starting field position. The Griz drove 34 yards in 10 plays, setting up a 20-yard McKnight field goal, extending the Montana lead to 31-10 at 13:32 in the fourth quarter.
Another quick Bear three-and-out led to a Cameron Kaman punt. Dan Moore partially blocked the punt, and it netted just 2 yards and Montana set up shop at the Bear 27. Montana advanced to the UNC 8 but failed to punch the ball in on fourth and goal, when Roper’s toss to Dan Beaudin fell incomplete in the corner of the end zone.
Montana again found the end zone later in the quarter when Mariani ran a post and caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Selle. The 7-play, 72-yard drive gave Montana a 38-10 with 3:41 left in the game, and proved to be the final margin.
Montana (10-0, 7-0 Big Sky) concludes the 2009 regular season against Montana State. Kickoff is noon Saturday in Bozeman, Mont.