MISSOULA, Mont. _ The Montana Grizzlies continued their playoff stranglehold on Southland Conference teams on Saturday afternoon, handing the University of Central Arkansas Bears a 41-14 loss in second-round action in front of a crowd of 22,005 at a frigid Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The No. 5 Grizzlies (10-2) won their eighth straight game this season and improved their playoff record against SLC teams to 13-0. No. 15 UCA (9-4) suffered its first loss since Sept. 24 and saw it's eight-game winning streak end in its first venture into the FCS Playoffs. The Bears were coming off a 34-14 victory over Tennessee Tech in last week’s first round. Montana had a bye as the fifth seed.
The Bears helped the Grizzlies early with three first-quarter turnovers. The Bears entered the game with a +13 turnover margin, second best in the Southland Conference. But two fumbles and an interception put the Bears in a hole they could not get out of against the playoff veterans from Montana. The Grizzlies were making their 21st appearance in the playoffs and have two national championships to show for it.
“You just can’t spot a good football 17 points on the road, and that’s what we did,’ said UCA head coach Clint Conque. “It wasn’t the nerves, it wasn’t the cold, it wasn’t the crowd. We just didn’t secure the football. They were flying around and they put the hat on the football a couple of times, and a couple of times we just dropped it. That’s very uncharacteristic of our football team.
“This is a great Montana program with a great tradition. I just wish we could have come out and played a little bit better, a little bit more focused. We were ready to play, but might have been a little bit too amped up to play.’
The Grizzlies turned the three early turnovers into 17 points and never looked back. After a nice UCA defensive stand on the game’s first possession, Brody McKnight started the scoring for Montana with a 31-yard field goal after UCA punt returner Jesse Grandy was ruled to have touched a punt that Montana recovered at the UCA 27.
Quarterback Jordan Johnson hit Jabin Sambrano with an 8-yard touchdown pass with 6:40 left in the first quarter and Peter Nguyen added a 2-yard scoring run for a 17-0 lead with 1:10 left in the period.
“Grandy’s fumble was the first gaffe we had,’ said Conque. “We had two turnovers on the plus side of the field that set Montana up with short fields. You can’t do that against a good team on the road. We went out there and defended as hard as we could but we had to play a lot of snaps in the first half. That big offensive line of theirs kind of wore us down.’
The Grizzlies pushed the lead to 24-0 midway through the second quarter on an 11-yard run by Jordan Canada and settled for a 31-0 halftime lead after Johnson hit Sambrano from 22 yards out. The Bears managed just 73 total yards of offense in the first half while the Grizzlies rolled up 277. UCA had only 17 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Montana made it 38-0 early in the second half with a 10-play, 70-yard drive, capped by Canada’s 12-yard touchdown run around right end. The Bears had a drive going at midfield but tight end Thomas Hart fumbled after a reception and the Grizzlies recovered at the 50. UCA senior safety Jerrel McKnight intercepted his second pass of the game at the UCA 14 to squelch that drive by Montana and UCA finally got on the scoreboard.
Senior quarterback Nathan Dick his junior receiver Jesse Grandy in stride for a 44-yard touchdown pass with 4:54 left in the third period to make it 38-7. After McKnight added another field goal for the Grizzlies, Dick threw an 8-yard scoring pass to freshman receiver Al Lasker with 1:58 left to play.
Dick, a first-team All-SLC quarterback, completed 26 of 40 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns in his final game. He completed passes to 11 different receivers. The Bears were limited to just 25 yards on 14 rushes and had 290 yards of total offense. The Grizzlies finished with 415 yards, with Nyugen getting 79 on the ground and Canada adding 58 yards and two touchdowns.
Montana ran 87 offensive plays to just 54 for UCA. Senior linebacker Frank Newsome led the UCA defense with a career-high 16 tackles, while Jestin Love and Jermayne Lett had 11 each and Seth Allison and Jessie Sims finished with 10 apiece. Matt Hornbuckle had 2.5 tackles for loss and McKnight had his third and fourth interceptions of the season.
“I was extremely proud of the way our football team competed,’ said Conque. “I thought we were well prepared, our coaches had our young men ready to go. Quite frankly, I think that may have worked against us a little bit in the first half. You just can’t spot a really good football team three turnovers and 17 points. We kind of dug ourselves a hole and then we missed a few things.
“I certainly don’t think the moment was too big for these young men. I think we were just a little too amped up and made too many mistakes against a really good football team.’
