With big plays, Griz topple North Dakota 24-23
Montana Sports Information
The FCS Game of the Week lived up to the billing and then some.
No. 5 Montana clawed back in the fourth quarter to take a thrilling 24-23 win over No. 16 North Dakota in front of a sold-out crowd of 26,492 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Saturday.
With ice in his veins, sophomore quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat led a two-minute drill to perfection, freshman Brooks Davis caught the go-ahead touchdown pass, and a last-ditch scoring effort from UND was stymied by sophomore Kyon Loud to cap a wild final period as UM took a win in a playoff-like atmosphere.
Down nine points with just over four minutes left to play, UM kicker Ty Morrison slotted a 42-yard field goal to cut the Fighting Hawks' lead to 17-23.
The defense followed it up with a three-and-out stand, and with 2:40 left on the clock Ah Yat went to work. With defenders in his face, he calmly completed passes to Stevie Rocker Jr., Blake Bohannon, and crucial third and 19 conversion to tight end Josh Gale that put the Griz in scoring position.
On the next play, Ah Yat hit Davis streaking to the endzone on a corner fade from 28-yards out to tie the game 23-all, and Morrison would seal the win on the PAT to move the Griz to 2-0 on the season.
"North Dakota, I've been saying it all week, they have a really, really, good football team. They were dialed in, ready to go. They're going to have a good season. I have a high regard for their team and the job they do," said head coach Bobby Hauck.
"But I'm proud of our team. It took a lot of guts to get that win. I thought our guys did a really nice job staying with it, being focused throughout the game, and up or down it doesn't matter we just played the same. I thought we did a good job of that."
In his best showing as a Grizzly to date, Ah Yat threw for a career-high 300 yards on another career-best 25 completions. Perhaps most importantly he also bounced back from a pair of first-half interceptions to throw two touchdowns.
With two TD catches in just his second game, Davis also had a breakout effort with the redshirt freshman speedster totaling 90 yards on five grabs with a pair of second half scores that helped the Griz fight back from a 16-7 deficit at the break.
With Loud and a defensive unit that returned zero starters from a year ago, the youth on Montana's roster came through in a big way to get the win.
"My main thought on this game is that we have a lot of inexperience on our football team," added Hauck.
"We're probably not ready to win a game of that magnitude, but we did. I think as we get into the latter part of this season, if we can keep finding ways to win, we're going to have a terrific football team."