MISSOULA, Mont., Sept. 13 ? Southern Utah held third-ranked Montana scoreless for the first one and a half quarters, but the Grizzlies broke loose for 17 points in less than 2:30 in the second period to break open a 0-0 game, then went on to record a 46-10 victory over visiting Southern Utah Saturday afternoon.
Southern Utah had an outstanding effort on defense and special teams early in the game, getting an interception and blocking a pair of field goal attempts to keep Montana off the scoreboard for the first 21:53. SUU was able to get a hand on another field goal attempt at the 8:07 mark of the second period, but Russell Schey's 30 yard attempt somehow cleared the crossbar to give the Grizzlies a 3-0 advantage.
That play sparked the Griz, as the defense forced two turnovers, a pair of Trumaine Johnson interceptions, within a minute of game time. Quarterback Cole Bergquist was able to find Marc Mariani for scores following both pics. The first touchdown came on a crossing pattern in the back of the end zone at the 6:51 mark, and Bergquist found Mariani streaking down the right side for a 66-yard score on the second.
Mariani had a big hand in giving the Grizzlies a 23-0 halftime lead as well, taking a punt 35 yards up the left sideline with under a minute to play to set up a15-yard Andrew Selle-to-Jabin Sambrano touchdown pass.
SUU held the upper hand at the end of the first period, as the Thunderbirds had 55 yards of offense to 45 for the Grizzlies through the first 15 minutes. Aided by the turnovers, the Grizzlies were able to pile up 186 yards of offense in the second period, however, while SUU had just 24, 12 on the ground and 12 through the air.
Montana then scored on its first possession of the second half to keep the momentum in the third period and led 39-0 before SUU got its first score of the game on a 19-yard pass from Cody Stone to Tysson Poots early in the fourth quarter.
Poots, who came into the game averaging eight catches a game, was held without a reception until the 4:36 mark of the third period. He still led the team with four catches for 52 yards, however.
“Montana is a very good football team,” SUU Coach Ed Lamb said. “They played a fantastic football game, they were able to take advantage of every mistake we made. In order to come in here and compete with a team like that we have to stay out of the penalty situation and we didn't ? we had 13 penalties ? we didn't win in special teams, which our number-one goal every week. That led to poor field position, which got us to the point where we couldn't even think about offense and defense.”
Montana finished with 332 passing and 165 rushing yards while the Thunderbirds had 204 yards of offense, 151 through the air. One positive was running backDeckar Alexander, who rushed for 86 yards on 26 carries, a season-high for the thunderbirds, who finished with 53 rushing yards after the Grizzlies recorded six sacks, five on Stone and another on Brett Parry late in the fourth quarter.
Linebacker D.J. Senter had 17 tackles, seven solo, with a sack, an interception and a tackle for loss. The 17 tackles were a career-best and a team season-high. Colin Pretlow also had an interception for the Thunderbirds, while Austin Curtis and Chad Westwood each blocked kicks.
-- SUU --
