Unlike a week early, Justin Strong and the Montana Grizzlies had answers when things went awry Saturday in Portland.
Strong, a former Oregon State transfer playing in the Beaver State for first time since leaving Corvallis, snared three interceptions despite playing with a cast on his left hand for the third straight week during his senior season. Portland State cut the Montana lead to 37-27 with 14 minutes left thanks to Kahlil Dawson’s 87-yard kick return touchdown. But Strong helped Montana put away a 45-33 victory by taking an interception 64 yards for a game-sealing touchdown.
“It’s funny J-Strong had four picks with one hand,” UM head coach Bob Stitt said in his post-game interview with various Montana media members. “We can’t wait until he has two hands. Maybe he will have eight in a game with two hands.”
The Griz victory snaps a four-game road losing streak that led to UM’s 3-5 finish in Big Sky Conference play last season. Montana is now 5-9 in the road under Stitt. Saturday’s win also showed Montana’s resolve a week after giving up 42 points in the second half in a 48-41 home loss to No. 10 Eastern Washington. Yet Montana still showed striking defensive vulnerabilities.
Montana moved to 1-1 in league play, 3-2 overall by keeping Portland State winless after four games. The Vikings lost their conference opener, a third loss to a formidable opponent despite showing dangerous potential.
Portland State kick returner Khalil Dawson/ Courtesy of Portland State athletics
The Vikings piled up 544 yards of total offense, out-gaining the visitors to Hillsboro Stadium by 90 yards. PSU had 30 first downs, converted 7-of-16 third downs but just one of its four tries on fourth down. Senior Josh Kraght, a starter at quarterback as a freshman in 2014 before starting at receiver the last two seasons plus the first three games this season, threw for 249 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 134 yards and another score as PSU stayed in the game for most of the afternoon.
Strong made his presence known immediately, snagging his first interception in the first play of the game. Strong’s third quarter interception answered Chris Seisay’s second official interception — he has a pick-six in the second quarter that was called back due to an illegal substitution — 13 seconds after UM quarterback Gresch Jensen’s second pick.
“There were times when adversity hit and our guys didn’t blink,” Stitt said.
Strong’s second takeaway also led to a drive that ended the third and began the fourth quarter but stalled out at the Portland State 5-yard line. The Griz had to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Brandon Purdy, his third 3-pointer on a day that included 33 and 34-yard makes as well. Dawon took Eric Williams’ following kickoff to the house. Strong picked off the two-point conversion for an unofficial fourth INT.
The teams traded punts, then Montana punted a second time in the fourth quarter before Strong’s game-sealing pick-6. Kraght would throw his lone touchdown pass, a 25-yarder to Trent Riley, on the next possession for PSU’s final score but Montana got the ball back with 1:08 to play and kneeled out the clock to snap the road losing streak.
“It was a good one to get,” Stitt said. “It’s hard to win on the road, especially in the Big Sky. It was not a perfect game, it wasn’t always pretty, but our guys were playing hard and made enough plays to stay ahead of them.”
Montana junior running back Jeremy Calhoun, pictured here against Savannah State/ by Jason Bacaj
Although Portland State out-gained Montana, the Griz responded at opportune times. Jeremy Calhoun’s first of two touchdowns on a career day that saw him rush for a career-high 124 yards put Montana on the board first. During the first 100-yard game of the talented junior’s career, Calhoun’s second score from two yards out, a score set up by his 24-yard burst, gave UM a 27-14 lead with a minute left in the first half. Calhoun rushed for eight first downs in the first half alone.
“The first half was huge with the run game because we were able to run 50 plays and we had them gassed,” Stitt said. “He hasn’t had a 100-yard game in his career. He’s scored a bunch of touchdowns but no 100-yard games. It’s also huge for our offensive line to block for a 100-yard rusher.”
Za’Quan Summers, who finished with 76 of PSU’s 295 rushing yards, ripped off a 28-yard touchdown run to cut the Griz lead to 27-20. A minute and a half later, Jensen hit junior Keenan Curran for a 60-yard touchdown to push the lead to two touchdowns again. Jensen completed 23-of-38 passes for 284 yards and a touchdown.
Montana plays at Idaho State next Saturday. The Bengals, led by former UM offensive coordinator Rob Phenicie, posted a 38-34 home win over Cal Poly on Saturday.
