Happy Homecoming, indeed. The Montana football team welcomed a crowd of over 26,000 fans into Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday afternoon, putting together a big second half to send them home happy with a 31-20 win over Northern Arizona.
The No. 24 Lumberjacks had the advantage through three quarters, but No. 14 Montana outscored NAU 28-7 in the second stanza and put up the final 21 points of the game to improve to 5-2 and head into the bye week with momentum.
It’s the fifth straight Homecoming win for the Grizzlies, and they improved to 34-4 inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium in homecoming games. Head coach Bobby Hauck also improves to 12-1 in his tenure on Homecoming.
“The guys were happy. We made plays, and it was really about the defense today,” Hauck said. “We cooperated on that big play, but other than that our defense was so good. We were down 7-0 out of the shoot off the turnover, and we just held on, stuffed them, and the offense came out in the second half.”
Photo courtesy of Grizzly Athletics
Montana outgained the Lumberjacks 357-306 in total yardage and were much better on the critical downs as they went 6-of-12 on third down while holding NAU to just three third down conversions.
The game didn’t start Montana’s way as it allowed a defensive touchdown on the first offensive drive of the game with a returned fumble. UM also gave up an 88-yard score in the second half, but outside of those two big plays Montana held the Lumberjacks to just two scores on the other eight drives. Northern Arizona only made it to the red zone twice, and the Griz held them to field goals both times.
It’s the third-fewest passing yards allowed by the Griz defense all season, and the fewest total yards allowed outside of Morehead State. The 88-yard gain greatly swayed the stats in the second half, as Northern Arizona gained only 96 yards on the other 23 plays in the period.
“We’ve got a really physical and competitive group. When you’ve got that, you’ve got a chance,” Hauck said. “I really thought that I put them in some compromising positions a week ago, and that was a decision made, but we didn’t hold up so I liked our plan better in terms of putting them in some better situations. They were good. It was a fairly conservative plan, and our guys really executed.”
Riley Wilson led the defensive unit with nine tackles and added a big sack that helped force Northern Arizona into a field goal in the first half. Ronald Jackson Jr. was second on the team with eight tackles, including the forced fumble that iced the game late. Ryder Meyer and Ryan Tirrell each finished with seven tackles as well.
“When guys had opportunities to make plays, they made them,” Hauck said. “Our guys owned up to what wasn’t a great performance last week and in the fourth quarter at Eastern Washington, and they played great, they were nails today, and I’m proud of them.”
The offense showed off its balance yet again with Logan Fife throwing for 199 yards and a touchdown while Montana’s two lead running backs combined for 150 yards on the ground. Eli Gillman had 76 yards on 14 carries, and Nick Ostmo went for 74 yards on 15 runs.
They were held out of the end zone, as all three of Montana’s rushing touchdowns came courtesy of Fife. He entered the game with just one rushing touchdown as a Grizzly but tripled that number with three scores from inside the two-yard line.
Junior Bergen had Montana’s only receiving touchdown on the day. He had four catches for 46 yards total. Keelan White led the Griz in catches with five for 53 yards, and Sawyer Racanelli had the most yards with 65.
Montana held the total yards advantage in both halves, but drastically improved in the second half as they increased their total from 129 in the opening half hour to 228 in the final 30 minutes.
“We started getting into some stuff where we could not throw hot off the guy off the edge and then we had some run game,” Hauck said. “We were persistent with it, and I said this morning that we had to accept the fact in some of those heavy fronts that we have a chance for a 70-yard gain, but if we get two we have to be happy and stick with it.”
The Griz defense forced a three-and-out on the first drive of the game, but Fife was sacked on a fourth down attempt and fumbled. The Lumberjacks scooped and scored to take the early 7-0 lead.
On the second drive, Montana was able to get points on the board by going 77 yards in 10 plays. Gillman carried it four times for 19 yards, but the Griz were stopped in the red zone and settled for a 21-yard field goal.
Northern Arizona went three-and-out again the following drive, but a roughing the kicker penalty moved the chains for them. The Lumberjacks took advantage, driving all the way to the Montana one yard line.
Griz nation and the north end zone stepped up, helping to force a Lumberjack false start to push them back. Then Riley Wilson came untouched off the edge for a big sack that forced an NAU field goal. It was Wilson’s second sack of the year and brought him over 10 in his Grizzly career.
Montana was outgaining Northern Arizona by over 50 yards at the time, but a couple of big plays gave the visitors the 10-3 advantage. Montana was forced to punt on its final three drives of the half, and the Lumberjacks added a late field goal to take the 13-3 lead into the break.
It was a slow and steady first half as the teams combined for just 253 yards of total offense
Montana had the first chance of the second half and got the offense rolling with its first touchdown drive of the afternoon. Fife had consecutive 11-yard passes and Ostmo broke a big gain up the middle for 20 yards to get into NAU territory.
The Griz then faced a third and long but got tricky to convert and keep the drive going. Fife hit Bergen on a quick screen, and the receiver pitched it to Ostmo out of the backfield. The running back took it around the end for 15 yards and a first down.
They ground it down to the one, and then Fife kept on a QB sneak to score Montana’s first touchdown and cut the lead to 13-10.
Northern Arizona then scored an 88-yard touchdown on the first play of the next drive to extend the lead back up to 20-10 with 9:56 remaining in the third.
Gillman had a patient run on Montana’s next drive, waiting behind the line on the left side before reversing field and picking up 19 yards. Fife found White for a 14-yard gain on the next play to get the Grizzlies back in the red zone.
Fife scored his second rushing touchdown of the day a few plays later, faking a handoff to Gillman and walking in to once again cut into the NAU lead.
Northern Arizona made it into Griz territory on the next drive, but a 47-yard field goal hooked wide left. The teams traded punts, giving it back to Montana with 10 minutes remaining in the game chasing their first lead.
The ground game picked up a first down and then a few penalties from NAU helped the Griz advance deep into Lumberjack territory. Gillman had a tough run up the gut, breaking several tackles on his way to an 11-yard gain to get the Griz into the red zone.
On the next play, Fife lobbed a ball over the top to Bergen for a touchdown to give Montana its first lead of the day at 24-20 with just over six minutes to play.
Northern Arizona took over at the 25-yard line on the next drive, and Montana’s defense rose to the occasion late in the game. The Lumberjacks took a deep shot on the first play, but it was broken up by Trevin Gradney. Back-to-back runs then left them with 4th-and-2.
They elected to go for it late in the game, and the pass fell incomplete to give it back to Montana in Northern Arizona territory with under five minutes to play.
“I thought when they went for it on fourth down in their own end and didn’t punt it away and try to stop us, they had lost confidence in their defense’s ability to hold up and then we just ground them down,” Hauck said.
Fontes delivered the highlight of the day a few plays later, catching a screen pass and hurdling over a Lumberjack on his way to a 19-yard gain that gave Montana 1st-and-goal from the five.
Fife then found pay dirt on the ground for the third time to seal the win, keeping it on a read option play and scoring from two yards out to increase the lead to 31-20 with less than two minutes to play.
“He did a good job with the read stuff, including on the last play there,” Hauck said “This was kind of a grind it game on our quarterbacks on terms of what we asked them to do with the protections and seeing things. I was proud of Logan, I thought he made a step in his evolution as a quarterback in terms of game management, checking, and all the things we asked him to do.”
The defense iced it on the next drive as Ronald Jackson Jr. delivered a big hit that forced a fumble. Jaxon Lee dove on top of it, and the Griz were able to kneel out the rest of the clock for a 31-20 win.
Montana has a bye next week before playing the next two games on the road. They return to action on Oct. 26 at Northern Colorado and then play at Cal Poly on Nov. 2. The next game inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium will be against another ranked opponent in UC Davis on Nov. 9 on ESPN2.