ST. GEORGE, UTAH — If you could etch the perfect way Bobby Hauck wants to completely seize control of a football game, the Montana Grizzlies might have done it about 10 minutes into the second quarter on Saturday night.
In a contest billed as one of the biggest home games in the brief Division I history of Utah Tech, Montana took control for good by flipping the field and slamming the door on the host Trailblazers.
With Montana leading 22-0, Griz punter Travis Benham boomed a 60-yard punt that Ronald Jackson downed inside the one-yard line.
That in itself had to make Hauck, one of the top special teams coaches in the country, happy as a clam.
Then the Griz kept Hauck’s ideal operation going as the Montana defense forced a 3-and-out. On the ensuing Utah Tech punt, Hauck drew up a perfectly scripted sideline return that Junior Bergen executed beautifully, dancing his way in and out of oncoming would-be tacklers on his way to a 47-yard touchdown return.
Montana never looked back, cruising to a 43-13 win at Greater Zion Stadium on Saturday night.
“It’s pretty nice when you can get some plays in the kicking game and usually we feel that if we can pin them back there and get the three-and-out, we can get some points however you are going to get them,” Hauck said after his 118th win as the head coach at UM. “Another special teams touchdown, this has kind of become unique and the kids in there are doing a really nice job year in and year out, taking control and making stuff happen. That was a really good sequence.”
Bergen now has three punt-return touchdowns in his career. Hauck coached special teams units between his time as the head coach at Montana from 2003 until 2009, his time as the head coach at UNLV from 2010 until 2015 and his three-year stint as the special teams coordinator at San Diego State, with all but one season including at least one punt return and at least one kick return for a touchdown.
Hauck has coached a long list of some of the greatest return men in the history of the Big Sky Conference and the FCS during his time at Montana, a group that includes names like Tuff Harris, Jefferson Heidelberger, Levander Segars, Marc Mariani, Malik Flowers and now Bergen, who was a preseason All-American punt returner entering his junior year.
“Our special teams units are detailed in their work,” Hauck said. “They are disciplined and they are detailed in their work and they make those plays they get in important.”
Hauck has an unwavering reputation as one of the best special teams coaches in the country. Over his 12 seasons as the head coach at his alma mater, the Griz have always been strong in the kicking game, but have been at their best when they are opportunistic, particularly when forcing turnovers and turning those into touchdowns.
Montana did that with great efficiency Saturday, turning Trevin Gradney’s interception on the opening drive of the game into a seven-play, 43-yard drive capped by Nick Ostmo’s four-yard touchdown.
The Griz also turned Nash Fouch’s fourth career interception into an eight-play, 53-yard drive capped by Eli Gillman’s two-yard touchdown.
“Takeaways are big in every football game and obviously, this game is no exception,” Hauck said. “It’s nice when you can get the ball and go down the field. It’s different when you get them on their end, which gives us a big advantage as well.”
In between the takeaways, Ostmo, a 220-pound senior from Portland, rumbled for a 46-yard touchdown as Montana built a 36-0 lead by halftime.
“The guys did a nice job coming down here, to go on the road, in the heat, and pretty much have a dominating performance,” Hauck said. “Until late in the game, I thought we were pretty on it in all three phases. I liked the effort level, I liked the attention to detail and I appreciated Utah Tech playing hard until the end to give our guys a test. It was a good football game for us.”
Montana was not able to capitalize on every opportunity despite its dominant evening. Kobe Tracy, one of two quarterbacks employed by Utah Tech head coach Paul Peterson, hit Jaivian Lofton for a 50-yard gain up the UT sideline midway through the third quarter.
Gradney, a Billings West product in his first year as a starter, ripped the ball out of Lofton’s hands and Ryan Tirrell, a Missoula Loyola product who’s also in his first year as a starter, recovered it.
The Griz moved the ball 44 yards to the Trailblazer 16, only to see Grant Glasgow, a redshirt freshman who transferred from Kansas in the off-season, miss a 33-yard field goal.
Still, the Montana defense played well enough to earn Hauck’s praise. Riley Wilson and Matai Mata’afa each had sacks. Senior captain Trajon Cotton joined Gradney and Fouch with interceptions. Gradney has now forced three turnovers in two games.
“I honestly didn’t think it was going to come to me,” Gradney said of his interception, the second in as many games to begin his junior season. “I jammed him out of bounds, then I reached up and it was right there.
“You saw the neighbors (Montana State) play them last week and I think everyone was comparing us to them, whatever. But we had a different mentality. Playing a night game on the road, we knew they were going to come out with some fiery things. We wanted to be us and build our brand of football, for sure.”
Ostmo has battled injuries during his Griz career. When he’s been healthy, the bulldozing back has been hard to stop. Saturday was no exception as he rumbled for 118 yards on just 12 carries and a pair of scores.
“I just tried to pick up off of what we’ve done all fall camp,” said Ostmo, who missed a lot of the August session with an injury that limited him to just a single carry in the opener last week. “I just tried to get in there the best I can.
“Every game, we want to emphasize being physical up front and knocking people off the ball and not letting one person take us down. The offense as a whole emphasized that this week.”
Montana’s offensive line has been a point of emphasis since Hauck returned to UM ahead of the 2018 season. Entering this year, the Griz have one of the most veteran groups in the Big Sky, anchored by senior center A.J. Forbes, senior left guard Hunter Mayginnes and senior left tackle Chris Walker.
On Saturday, the unit showed off its newfound depth, rotating Journey Grimsrud and Liam Brown at right guard and Brandon Casey with Cannon Panfiloff at right tackle.
“It was hot out and we decided we were going to play guys,” Hauck said. “It’s no more complex than that.”
Montana had a quarterback competition all summer between senior Clifton McDowell, a transfer from Central Arkansas who started on Saturday, and Sam Vidlak, a Boise State transfer who started Montana’s opener, a 35-20 win over Butler last week in Missoula.
Saturday, McDowell took every snap of the first half and Vidlak did not come in until the game was well in hand. McDowell finished 7-of-10 passing for 94 yards and rushed for 26 yards on a night UM piled up 262 of its 397 yards of offense on the ground.
“We planned to start (McDowell) for as long as we had a plan in place for this game,” Hauck said. “We planned to start him in this game. I thought he did a good job.”
Eli Gillman’s second touchdown of the game put Montana ahead 36-0 with 30 seconds left in the first half. Vidlak’s one-yard touchdown strike to tight end Evan Shafer (the first of the transfer TE’s Griz career) gave the visitors a 43-0 lead with 28 seconds left in the third quarter.
The rest of the action was about getting the 70 Griz players who made the trip south to the desert some action.
“We hoped to play a bunch of guys, which is mission accomplished,” Hauck said. “College football plays in games are invaluable. These guys work really hard, all of them. It’s not just the starters work harder than everybody else. Everybody in that locker room works the same.
“They work their tails off and you get a chance to get them in a game and you give them a chance to play, it’s a big deal to them and their coaches and it’s great to have them in the game.”
