BOZEMAN – Big plays were seemingly a dime a dozen for Montana State as it used takeaways by its defense and gash plays by its offense to take a 44-28 win over Stephen F. Austin to advance to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals for a Big Sky Conference record fifth time in six seasons.
MSU pin-balled plays of 64, 42, 40, and four more over 20 yards from scrimmage, while the defense collected four turnovers, with the first two leading to touchdowns as the Bobcats won their 12th straight game, ending SFA’s 11-game winning streak in the process.
The Bobcats got an amazing effort from Kenneith Eiden IV, who had three sacks and two forced fumbles, 160 total yards and three touchdowns from running back Adam Jones, 96 yards rushing from Julius Davis, and a 20 for 26, 246-yard passing effort from quarterback Justin Lamson.
Eiden, who went through graduation earlier in the day, was feeling himself a bit in the post-game press conference.
“It was kind of a day that was all about me,” the Bozeman High product joked to the delight of the post-game press conference crowd. “I had a nice morning this morning and got to play football with my buddies.”
Despite all that, it took a time consuming 13 play, 69-yard drive in the fourth quarter that culminated in an innocuous field goal by Myles Sansted to finally put the Lumberjacks away.
SFA bounced back from a horrendous start that put it in a 24-0 hole with just 1:33 left in the first half. The Lumberjacks then got 14 unanswered points on back-to-back drives of 75 and 76 yards to cut MSU’s lead to 24-14 only to see the Bobcats answer their second half threats each time.
“They weren’t going to go away,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “The score before the half kept them in it and the score after the half did more of that. But our guys continued to answer.”
Aside from taking a knee at the end of the half and game, MSU scored on all but two possessions, including all four in the second half as SFA’s relentless offense kept the pressure on.
One drive ended on quarterback Justin Lamson’s interception with MSU in the red zone. It was just his third interception of the season, but it cost MSU at least three points.
“That’s elementary stuff,” Lamson said. “Just not throwing across my body on a rollout. I’m better than that, I know I’m better than that.
“I am happy with the way I bounced back on the next drive. I went out there and completed passes and got us right back. Coach Vigen was saying, ‘hey, you can’t let this effect you.’ I thought I handled that well but can’t let it happen in the first place.”
The Bobcats went three and out on their first possession of the game and it resulted in their only punt of the night. SFA quarterback Sam Vidlak went right to work driving the Lumberjacks to the MSU 27 as they appeared set to make an early statement.
Eiden IV brought that drive to an abrupt halt when he sacked Vidlak, who played at Montana in 2023, and forced a fumble that fellow defensive end Zac Crews recovered. Lamson followed that with seven straight completions to set up Jones for a one-yard scoring run as the Bobcats seized control despite not developing their run game.
MSU was held to just 27 yards on 20 carries in the first half, which ballooned the confidence of colorful SFA head coach Casey Carthel at halftime.
“Defense played unbelievable in the first half,” he said. “First half they had 27 yards rushing on 20 attempts. That don’t happen very often around here. Montana State Bobcats can run the football. We were like, ‘who’s going to go take it.’”
The Bobcats got a field goal and then forced a three and out after SFA’s second half opening touchdown but looked like they would turn it over when wide receiver lost the ball after a 24-yard gain. The play was reviewed and overturned then Lamson’s third down pass to Taco Dowler was flagged for pass interference. Jones followed with a 40-yard run and MSU was in the end zone three plays later to go up 34-14.
Davis made a great move at the line of scrimmage late in the third quarter and raced 69 yards for an apparent score only to see the touchdown negated for giving the peace sign to a SFA defensive back as he went into the end zone. The ball was placed at the SFA 20 and his sidekick, Jones, rolled in from the 16 two plays later as MSU took command 41-21.
SFA, as it did all game, pressed forward and scored with 10:05 to play to set up the Bobcats for one of their familiar long, game-ending drives.
“Obviously, when you get a drive like that to close out the game it’s huge,” Lamson said. “Wish we would’ve scored there but Stephen F. Austin they didn’t go away. It’s not easy here at Bobcat Stadium and those dudes kept fighting. We knew it was going to be a dog fight. They responded right before half but having that eight-minute drive or whatever it was is huge. We’ve had a couple of those this year, so I’m just happy with the way the guys finished the game and its super important.”
The Bobcats ran the ball 11 straight times until it got to the SFA one-yard line. By then they had burned up eight minutes and despite settling for a Myles Sansted field goal left the Lumberjacks with less than two minutes to score 16 points.
Sansted made all three of his field goal attempts and all five of his extra points.
“The first one we had a penalty before that and it ended up being a 47-yarder,” Vigen said. “Even at the end to get us up 16 – I know we wanted to score a touchdown there – but getting that lead to 16 was critical there, so he’s been really steady.”
The Bobcats were marred on offense with seven false starts and the team had 12 penalties for 100 yards.
“I know we had a several procedure penalties and they had a couple delay of games, so there was this balance there of what they were doing to get us moving,” Vigen said. “They got called for it twice, we got called for it way too many times. We want our guys to play hard. There’s two types of penalties: the pre-snaps where we absolutely need to eliminate those and then the aggressive penalties. That the one number that jumps out at me – 12 penalties for 100 yards – where would we have been with that number not being quite what it was.”
The Bobcats were solid on third downs, including a third and 20 play that Lamson found Jones crossing the middle of field and he scored on the play to put MSU up 14-0.
“Third down is important and you hate to see yourself in a third and 20 like that, but that was a huge play,” Vigen said. “It was checkdown, so it was good timely pass by Justin and a great finish by Adam.”
Caden Dowler continued his incredible run over the last part of the season. In the last five games, Dowler has all six of the interceptions he’s made and what has made them even more incredible are the returns he’s made after catching the ball. Dowler set the Big Sky Conference record for most interception return yards in a season when he took away the ball on SFA’s second possession at the MSU four-yard line and returned it to the 41. He needed just three yards to set the record and got 37, which gives him 267 on the season.
“He’s playing at an elite level,” Eiden IV said. “I think he’s the best competitor in the country. One of the best players in the country and he deserves all the praise and accolades he gets. He just keeps showing up for us every single week and sets the offense up the best he can and really saving us on defense a few times. He’s a guy we lean on to make plays for us, and he shows up every single time.”
The Bobcats await the winner of the Montana-South Dakota quarterfinal game to determine who they play next week in the semifinals. That game will be played in Bozeman on Saturday.
