MISSOULA – The Montana Grizzlies took the first punch of their ranked-vs.-ranked matchup against Western Carolina on Saturday.
And the second. And the third.
But, despite going down 17-0 barely a minute into the second quarter to the Catamounts and their hotshot quarterback Cole Gonzales, the Griz kept playing to their strengths – grinding down WCU with a persistent run game, punishing Gonzales with a physical defense and eventually proving their heavyweight status with a 46-35 win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“We just kept fighting,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “Our team’s got a lot of fight and a lot of belief. You’re down 17, that’s kind of a gut check, and there was no hesitation on our sideline or in our huddle.”
For the second straight game, Montana easily cleared 300 yards rushing, finishing with 349 altogether. After scoring seven rushing touchdowns a week ago against Morehead State, the Grizzlies added six more – one early by Eli Gillman, one late by Nick Ostmo and four in the middle two quarters by redshirt freshman quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat, who set a new Montana record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and equaled the overall program record.
Gillman ran for a career-high 175 yards on just 14 carries, the 24th-most in a single game in Griz history. His 66-yard touchdown early in the second quarter got Montana on the board and kicked off the Grizzlies’ comeback.
“Eli and Nick are special dudes,” receiver Junior Bergen said. “Keali’i ran the ball really well today too, but that’s a credit to the O-line. They just kept going. We kept talking about it, just keep wearing on them, they’re going to break, and that’s essentially what they did. Eli popped that one and it was our spark, really.”
With the deficit cut to 17-7, Montana’s defense, which had given up points on three of Western Carolina’s first four drives, started to find a foothold.
Gonzales, a preseason All-American, completed 12 of 13 passes in the first quarter, standing tall in the pocket and taking hits while delivering accurate passes on multiple occasions. But as the hits kept piling up, Western Carolina’s quarterback became gunshy, throwing off his back foot and missing the short throws that kept the Catamounts’s offense on schedule early.
After the first quarter, Gonzales completed just 13 of 34 passes the rest of the game.
“I thought they took some shots on (Gonzales) early, that’s why I was really upset,” said Western Carolina head coach Kerwin Bell, who picked up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties over the course of the game. “I just didn’t want to get him hurt in a non-conference game. Nowadays, you can’t drive people into the ground, and they continued to do it until he’s got a second-degree separation on his non-throwing arm. … He’s a tough guy that our team truly believes in.”
The Catamounts still led 27-21 at halftime after Ah Yat’s 9-yard touchdown run – his second of the game after a 1-yard sneak earlier in the quarter – answered a big 61-yard touchdown throw from Gonzales to De’Andre Tamarez. But momentum was squarely with the Griz by that point despite the impressively spirited start by the visitors.
After multiple fruitless drives to start the second half, Montana finally broke through late in the third quarter. Gillman’s 58-yard carry took the ball to the WCU 6 and, after two incomplete passes, Ah Yat took a QB keeper to the right and dove in at the pylon while taking a big hit for the touchdown to put the Griz up 28-27 after the extra point.
On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Gonzales, who’d been struggling for nearly two straight quarters at that point, bounced a short screen pass off his receiver’s hand. Griz corner Trevin Gradney came flying in for a diving interception at the Catamounts’ 22, setting up another short TD sneak for Ah Yat – his fourth touchdown of the day.
The last Montana player at any position to run for four touchdowns in a game was Jordan Canada in 2013. A total of six total Grizzlies have reached the end-zone four times on the ground in one game.
“Good players rally back,” Hauck said. “You never want a guy that, if he doesn’t start fast, he’s lost for the day. Our guys are competitive, and Keali’i’s competitive, and that probably shows that.”
Despite that 14-point shot of momentum, the Griz had to dig deep to put the game away.
Ah Yat didn’t return to the game after his fourth and final touchdown, leaving it up to Logan Fife to close the game out for Montana.
He led a drive that ended with a 34-yard field goal by Ty Morrison to put the Griz up 38-27 early in the fourth quarter, but Gonzales finally seemed to wake back up, hitting two beautiful throws to get WCU into the red zone and then capping the drive with a 3-yard touchdown throw to AJ Colombo.
When Gonzales ran in the 2-point conversion himself, the Catamounts were down just 38-35, leaving the Griz to close out the game with a backup quarterback.
No problem.
Fife converted two straight third downs and then a fourth and 4, all on throws to Junior Bergen, and then Ostmo bounced outside for a 12-yard touchdown run with under two minutes to go, all but sealing the game.
“We had the lead and he was in the game, we were kind of leaning on some of the things that he excels at and sees well,” Hauck said about Fife. “That’s what we wanted to do, and I thought he came in and executed.”
The final drive epitomized a resolute win for the Griz, who continue to bounce back after surrendering their own 17-point lead two weeks ago at North Dakota.
And by sticking to their strengths even after falling behind, they continue to build their identity heading into conference play next week at Eastern Washington.
“Our guys are knocking guys off the ball, our receivers are working hard in the run game down the field, our backs are patient and seeing it, and then they’re finishing runs,” Hauck said. “And that’s how that happens. It’s fun and it’s comforting and it’s dominating when you can do that.”
Notes: Montana was called for 12 penalties for 101 yards, while Western Carolina was right behind at 11 penalties for 100 yards…Those penalties for Montana included a late targeting call on Riley Wilson for a hit on Gonzales. Wilson will miss the first half of next week’s game…Ah Yat started just 2 of 6, including throwing his second career interception to set up the field goal that made it 17-0. He was 14 of 21 after that, throwing for 145 yards and running for 57 more…Ah Yat didn’t return to the game after his fourth touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, and spent the rest of the game on the sideline without his helmet, talking to trainers. Hauck did not confirm an injury to his starting quarterback in the postgame press conference…Jaxon Lee led Montana’s defense with 11 tackles…Tamarez had eight catches for 229 yards and one touchdown – the most receiving yards by a visiting player at Washington-Grizzly Stadium since Eastern Washington’s Aaron Boyce had 232 in 2007…Bergen, in just his second game back from injury, had eight catches for 99 yards.
