After a back-and-forth first half, the Montana Grizzlies wrestled down the Missouri State Bears 29-24 in a black out night game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday.
The first half was low-scoring for both teams, finishing up only 12-10 with Montana on top. The Grizzlies got the ball first, but couldn’t make anything happen and were forced to punt it away.
The early drives showed some first game woes for Montana including multiple dropped catches, a muffed punt return for a turnover, and a fumble that luckily it was able to keep possession of.
Sophomore Keali’i Ah Yat started at quarterback for the Grizzlies and was nine for 19 on the day with 90 passing yards.
Missouri State scored first with an early rushing touchdown by standout senior running back Jacardia Wright, putting it up seven. Wright ended the day 76 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, along with 6 catches for 69 yards.
The Griz answered the Bears with a 37-yard rushing touchdown by redshirt sophomore and last year’s Big Sky Freshman of the Year Eli Gillman, but missed the extra point to tie. Gillman ran for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 carries.
Missouri State started the second quarter with a field goal kicked by Yusef Obeid, and that was the theme for the rest of the half, with Montana’s Ty Morrison kicking a field goal shortly after.
Montana’s Ryder Meyer picked off senior quarterback Jacob Clark in the middle of the second quarter, but Montana could not convert and had to punt that possession away.
The Griz kicked another field goal at the end of the half to give Montana its first lead of the game, 12-10.
The Bears came out of halftime hungry and ran the ball down the field in six plays for a touchdown capped by running back Jayden Becks.
Montana switched quarterbacks for the second half and put in redshirt junior transfer from Fresno State, Logan Fife. Fife went five for seven on the day with 90 yards and a touchdown.
The rest of the third quarter was slow until the Grizzlies converted a 4th down & 1 into a 34-yard touchdown for senior running back Xavier Harris. The 3rd quarter ended Montana 19, Missouri State 17.
Griz fans were loud as usual, which was especially evident in the four false starts Missouri State had, including one to start the 4th quarter. It was the 7th highest attendance in Washington-Grizzly Stadium with a count of 26,482. Missouri State Head Coach Ryan Beard said the team had been practicing with crowd noise to get used to it.
“You can’t have 13 penalties for 112 yards against four for 49,” Beard said. “You’re not going to beat great football teams like that, but I think once we clean those things up we can become a great football team.”
Gillman was extremely helpful in the 4th quarter as Montana relied heavily on its run game. He ran for another touchdown with around 10 minutes left in the game to put Montana up 26-17.
Missouri State quickly responded, though, with a one-minute drive resulting in a touchdown by Jmariyae Robinson to tighten the score to 24-26 with just under five minutes remaining.
The Grizzlies ran Gillman multiple times to drain the clock until it was within field goal range.
“I know my guys up front are gonna do their jobs, so I just go into the game thinking ‘I gotta do mine,’” Gillman said. “If everyone does their 1/11th, then the play is going to work out in our favor.”
Morrison made a 38-yard field goal to put Montana up 29-24.
Missouri State got the ball back with 1:38 left on the clock, but Montana’s defense was not messing around. After giving up just five yards on first down, the Griz sacked Missouri State’s quarterback, Clark, twice in a row. Clark was 23 for 39 on the day with one interception, but a total of 257 passing yards.
On fourth down, Clark was forced to scramble for a loss of three and possession of the ball.
Fife took a knee to end the game with a win for Montana, 29-24.
Montana travels to North Dakota for next week’s game, and Missouri State will be going to Ball State.
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