HARRISONBURG, Virginia — The first reality check for Montana came three drives and six-and-a-half minutes into the Grizzlies’ FCS quarterfinal against James Madison.
On a routine second-and-six play from the Dukes’ 18-yard line, the Griz sent all three linebackers after their three defensive linemen, all six chasing JMU quarterback Cole Johnson. Marcus Welnel twisted inside Patrick O’Connell, screaming into the A-gap. It was a play that Montana had run probably hundreds of times this season, the signature of the Grizzlies’ uniquely aggressive and dominant defense, almost certain to cause confusion on the offensive line and end with one or more Griz players meeting at the quarterback.
Only this time, James Madison running back Latrele Palmer stepped up and stoned Welnel in the hole. With time, Johnson found Devin Ravenel on a crossing route and Ravenel, who had burned TraJon Cotton to get open, beat Robby Hauck to the corner, turned upfield and stunted into the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown.
Montana’s second reality check came about four seconds of game time later.
On the kickoff after Ravenel’s touchdown, James Madison’s Camden Wise booted the ball to Montana’s Malik Flowers, whose two kick return touchdowns early in the season made him the most feared return man in the country. With teams desperate to keep the ball out of his hands, Flowers had the chance to return just one kick in Montana’s last seven games.
He gathered this one in at the 5-yard line outside of the left hashmarks – and made it about 15 yards before Skylar Martin leveled him with a huge hit.
From there, the rest of the game was pretty much one big reality check for Montana, which gave up 487 yards in a 28-6 loss that ended the Grizzlies’ season with a record of 10-3 and a second straight quarterfinal appearance.
“I really love this team, I think this is a great football team,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “Anytime you’re winning 10 games, it’s a fine year, and we’re back in business where we’re competing for it every year now.”
There were mitigating circumstances, sure.
Montana’s star receiver Sammy Akem left the game with a broken collarbone after making a 35-yard catch on the Griz offense’s third play of the game. The Griz scored on their first offensive possessions just a few plays in the last two weeks in resounding wins over Montana State (29-10) and Eastern Washington (57-41) to get to this point.
Starting senior quarterback Cam Humphrey joined his top target on the bench early in the second quarter after taking a big hit. Neither returned to the game.
Montana’s offense, which had made it across midfield on each of its first three drives, gained just 186 yards after Humphrey left the game, turning to redshirt freshman backup Kris Brown for the rest of the first half and JUCO transfer Robbie Patterson in the second.
“The attrition through the season was really evident tonight,” Hauck said. “We just didn’t have enough left in the tank to go get this win. It was a difficult situation. I thought our guys played their asses off and competed and played hard to the very end, as they always do.”
But it requires a mighty big spyglass to see a version of that game in which the Grizzlies might have had a chance, even absent Akem and Humphrey’s injuries.
Palmer drove home that point better than anyone. The redshirt sophomore running back, who entered the year behind All-American Percy Agyei-Obese on JMU’s depth chart, ran for 167 yards on just 19 carries. Not only was it the best single-game rushing performance Montana’s defense gave up all year – by over 50 yards – it was more than any team had managed against the Griz on the ground.
Palmer’s 50-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter gave the Dukes a 14-3 lead. It also put the Griz defense on its heels for the first time in a long time.
“We knew that they liked twisting their interior defensive linemen, so we pretty much took advantage of that,” Palmer said. “A lot of things can get messed up, a lot of holes might not be hit, so we just took advantage of their mistakes.”
Without Humphrey, that deficit was probably already insurmountable for Montana, but James Madison, after scoring on two quick-strike drives in the first half, ended things for good with an 11-play, 72-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that ended with Johnson lasering a 3-yard touchdown pass to Khris Thornton at the pylon.
Thornton had a hand in the Dukes’ fourth touchdown too, hauling in a 43-yard pass from Johnson two plays before Lorenzo Bryant Jr. cashed in a 9-yard touchdown run.
Montana, which had blitzed Eastern Washington in the third quarter a week before, gained just 42 yards in the third quarter Friday before the offense rebounded slightly in garbage time.
Kevin Macias made both of his field-goal tries, including a career-long 51-yarder, in his final game for Montana. The senior, who transferred in from Arizona State in fall camp, finished his short Griz career with a run of 19 straight made field goals.
Other than that, James Madison’s dominance was written all over the statistics.
Johnson completed 17 of 24 passes for 295 yards and two scores.
“I think they were kind of keying on the pass initially and were kind of more scared of the pass, and that really opened the run game and we took full advantage of that,” Johnson said.
Thornton (six catches for 82 yards) and Antwane Wells Jr. (five for 80) gave the Dukes two 80-yard receivers. Kelvin Azanama (13 tackles), Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey (12) and Sam Kidd (11) all finished with double-digit tackles for JMU, and Bryce Carter had 2.5 tackles for loss.
The Dukes kicked to Flowers all night, and the Grizzlies’ all-conference kick returner finished with 96 return yards on six tries, an average of 18 yards against his season average of over 30 coming into the game.
Patterson, a 5-foot-11 transfer from Saddleback Community College who entered the season third on Montana’s depth chart, was the Grizzlies’ most effective runner with 55 yards on 10 carries. Junior Bergen, a true freshman who’s bounced back and forth between receiver and running back, was their leading receiver with four catches for 45 yards. Akem, who left the game after three offensive snaps, was their second-leading receiver with one catch for 35 yards.
“We preach on defense, just getting to the ball, playing fast and having unlimited effort the whole game,” James Madison defensive lineman Mike Greene said. “It goes to show what our coaches put into it, we had some great calls today.”
Despite being ranked in the top five in the country for parts of the season after a historic season-opening win over Washington and snapping a four-game losing streak to rival Montana State, Montana’s season ended in the quarterfinals for the second straight year. UM has not advanced past this point since 2011.
James Madison advanced to the national semifinals for the fifth time in six years. The Dukes will play the winner of Saturday’s East Tennessee State at North Dakota State contest.
Photos by Blake Hempstead. All Rights Reserved.
