Montana routs Utah Tech on the road

Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies dominated from the opening kick against Utah Tech on Saturday night in St. George, Utah, scoring the first 43 points of the game on their way to a 43-13 victory. The win improves Montana to 2-0 on the season.

It was a complete team performance for the Grizzlies. The defense forced four turnovers, the offense controlled the tempo with the rushing attack and totaled 397 yards, and Junior Bergen returned a punt for a touchdown as all three phases were clicking for Montana.

The final stats don't tell a full story of just how much Montana controlled the game. The Grizzlies led 36-0 at the half and 43-0 at the end of the third quarter. Outside of a pair of late touchdowns when the result was already locked in, Montana's defense didn't allow much.

"I thought our guys played hard. I think that can be mostly a given," head coach Bobby Hauck said following the game. "I think you'd be hard-pressed to ever see us not play with a fury and a fierceness so that was good. We were up 43-0 at the end of the third, 36-0 at half. I think we played everybody that traveled."

The Grizzlies indeed were able to give plenty of game time to the entire traveling roster in the second half. The biggest plays of the game all went in favor of Montana, as the Grizzlies were highly efficient on third down offensively while holding the Trailblazers to just 5-for-18 in third down conversions. Montana also stopped Utah Tech on downs twice to go along with three interceptions and a forced fumble.

Nick Ostmo returned to action and had the performance of the day, running it 12 times for 118 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 9.8 yards per carry. He also hauled in a pair of receptions for 27 more yards.

"Nick (Ostmo) was really good tonight and it's good to have him back," Hauck said. "He missed a lot of training camp with some health issues and it was good to see him back. I think he felt pretty good tonight, it sure looked like it."