MISSOULA — With Montana firmly in control of its non-conference matchup with Mississippi Valley State, head coach Bob Stitt was given an extended opportunity to watch his backup quarterbacks operate what has become a scoring machine.
But as junior Reese Phillips was ready to take command of the offense, one of the referees forced Phillips off the field and Stitt had to insert senior Chad Chalich back into the game.
“Reese left his mouth piece on the sideline so they made him leave,” Stitt said. “Chad had to go in for one play.”
Phillips’ brain lapse was about the only thing that didn’t go to script for Montana in a 67-7 win that was the school’s most lopsided victory since a 73-2 pasting of Western State in 2010. Montana’s offense scored on seven consecutive possessions, while its defense turned in one of the most dominant performances in school history.
UM defensive end Ryan Johnson (97) with a heated pass rush vs. MVSU
“It was a total team effort today,” said Stitt after 10th-ranked Montana improved to 4-1 with a home date against Big Sky foe Sacramento State looming next Saturday. “We came with the same intensity that we played with up to this point. You worry about the intensity when you come into games like this that you’re heavily favored.”
For the second consecutive week, Montana used an avalanche of points to turn a deficit into a resounding victory. Not even the oddsmakers in Las Vegas, who pinned the points spread at 52.5, could accurately predict the severity with which Montana would vanquish the Delta Devils of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
By the time the fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium began to clear out late in the second quarter, Montana senior quarterback Brady Gustafson had completed 17 passes in a row, four touchdown passes among them, and the defense had stopped an MVSU offense that marched down the field to score on its first drive of the game.
And by the time the stadium completely emptied, Mississippi Valley State had negative 61 yards rushing and Montana had reeled off 67 unanswered points.
“It’s exactly what we wanted,” Stitt said. “When people expect you to beat a team by 50-some points you oughta go out and beat them by 50-something points and do it the right way. What we talked about was we didn’t want to walk off the field with a victory shaking our head and saying, ‘Wow, that was sloppy.’ We wanted to be proud of our performance when we walked off. I think every one of our guys who got on the field feels pretty darn good about the way they played.”
Given the luxury of an insurmountable lead, Stitt and his coaches used 59 players in the rout. Gustafson led one final touchdown drive in the third that put Montana ahead 50-7 with 11:28 remaining. Not long after the score, Montana’s defensive starters came off the field, too.
UM running back Jeremy Calhoun (8) gets up field vs. MVSU
Despite the prevalence of backups on the field, Montana never lost its grip on its lead. In fact, both sides of the ball did their part to extend it.
Chalich, a senior, scored on a two-yard run, Phillips led a drive that ended in a field goal and Donald Bedell, a seldom used defensive end and former transfer from Rutgers, jumped on a loose ball in the end zone to give the Grizzlies their final margin of victory.
The celebration that followed Bedell’s first touchdown in maroon and silver contrasted the defense’s early emotions after Mississippi Valley State used two big pass plays to set up Austin Bray’s 3-yard touchdown run that stunned the 24,607 fans in attendance and gave the Delta Devils their only lead, 7-0.
Montana’s offense then sputtered, turning the ball over when Gustafson was blindsided by Patrick Harbin. The force of the hit jarred the ball loose and Bryant Jones recovered it at the Montana 19-yard line.
Just when it looked like MVSU was going to put the Grizzlies in a double-digit hole, UM senior defensive end Caleb Kidder got a hand on a screen pass that landed in junior linebacker Connor Strahm’s hands. The linebacker evaded Bray on his way to a 78-yard score that erased Montana’s deficit and gave it the life it needed.
“That’s when it stopped for us right then and there,” Mississippi Valley State coach Rick Comegy said. “I think after that the momentum changed and once the momentum changed we couldn’t seem to get it back.”
UM linebacker Connor Strahm (10) picks off a tipped pass vs. MVSU
Added Montana sophomore outside linebacker Josh Buss, who led the way with nine tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss, “That was a big impact. It was a great play by him. We practiced that all week, he read it perfectly; he was executing his job. He went out there and kind of showed off his speed after putting on a few LBs (pounds) in the last few years. It was a great momentum shifter.”
It was all Montana needed.
Mississippi Valley State went three and out on its next drive and the Grizzlies offense was off and running. The Grizzlies needed just six plays for Gustafson to march them down to the 8-yard line where he tossed a jump ball for freshman receiver Colin Bingham, who wrestled the ball away from a defender for his first touchdown at his hometown school.
What followed were successive scoring drives of nine plays, one play, 11 plays, five plays, four plays and eight plays that turned a tie ball game into a 43-point Montana advantage.
Gustafson hit eight different receivers in the spurt as he expertly spread the ball around and kept the MVSU defense from exerting any kind of control. His three other scoring passes came on a 44-yard strike to sophomore Keenan Curran, a 4-yard toss to junior James Homan and a 4-yard pass to Curran that sent Montana to the locker room with a 43-7 lead.
UM linebacker Josh Buss (42) and safety Josh Sandry (13) tackles MVSU wide receiver Joshua Banks (13)
“As soon as you get done with one play you get to the next one and focus on the next play,” said Gustafson, who finished 21-of-26 for 251 and threw four touchdowns for the second consecutive week. “I just attribute it to the offensive line getting it done up front and the wideouts snatching everything.”
While the offense was scoring at will, the defense was clamping down on the outmanned MVSU offense. The Delta Devils rolled up 111 yards in the opening quarter, but managed just 37 the rest of the way. All of those yards came through the air as Montana sacked MVSU’s quarterback’s five times holding the Delta Devils rushing total to a Montana school record low -61.
“We executed the game plan,” Buss said. “We went out there and flew around and everybody was doing their job. When everyone is doing their jobs and executing coach (Jason) Semore’s game plan then it turns out to be good.”
Photos by Jason Bacaj – Skyline Sports. All Rights Reserved.
