The Montana State offense doesn’t tip its hand from week-to-week and that was never more apparent than last week’s 40-0 win over league rival Weber State that saw senior tight end Treyton Pickering haul in two touchdowns for the first time in his career.
The scores were mirrors of each other as they occurred in the same end zone but on opposite sides of the field. The first post-corner route to the right-hand side of the end-zone was from 29 yards out and included a perfectly thrown pass by senior quarterback Sean Chambers. And the second was from the 24 yards out on the opposite side, again including a perfectly thrown spiral by Chambers to the streaking and hulking Pickering.
“We had a motion in from the tight end,” Pickering said on Monday following the Bobcats wrapping up morning practice. “I think it really all came down to the line and the tight ends – Derryk (Snell) and Lonny (Ryan Lonergan) blocking down there. Sean (Chambers) had all kinds of time to throw the perfect ball and all I had to do was reach out and grab it. It was super well designed. Coach (Brent) Vigen had a play he brought down from Wyoming. It all really worked well with our scheme.”
Pickering’s first touchdown was big because it was the first score of the game. Although the Bobcats ended up decimating a Wildcat squad previously ranked in the Top 10, the end of first quarter finished with a 0-0 tie. The Bobcats went three-and-out on their first possession, then had a good drive negated by a missed field goal the second time they had the ball. The third time was the charm, however, as MSU drove 94 yards to finally find paydirt early in the second quarter.
Pickering started the drive by taking a short pass in the flat and running for a 30-yard gain. That play seemed to ignite the run game as MSU had carries for 8, 15, and 12 yards before Chambers and Pickering connected for the score.
The second touchdown was no less significant as it seemed to all but put the game out of reach at 26-0 with just 13:22 left to play.
The score followed a stop on a fake punt by the Wildcats deep in their own territory. After McCade O’Reilly and Zac Crews tackled WSU punter Jack Burgess, MSU went for the jugular on the first play and Chambers had no problem getting the ball to the wide- open Pickering.
“It was just using a lot of what Sean’s really good at,” Pickering said of MSU’s game plan against Weber State. “Playing to his strengths. Getting him moving around, get him flowing around and making the defense guess a little bit.”
Pickering isn’t just a one trick pony for the Bobcats. He can block as well as catch passes, while also being in on punt and kickoff return teams.
“Treyton Pickering is an upside tight end smashing a six technique, but two plays later he’s spread out to boundary number one catching a go ball,” MSU tight ends coach Tyler Walker said using football jargon to explain how Pickering can take on and block the defensive player lined up over the tight end, and then where he’s lined up to catch a ball over his shoulder. “It’s a personnel matchup and the more athletic you are and the more things you can do, the better you’re going to be at this position nowadays.”
“My mentality is just to focus on the ground game,” Pickering said. “Just be physical and have a really good presence and be in tune with the offensive line and know what they’re doing. They’ve done a great job being able to communicate so that everyone’s on the same track. Then when our name’s called in the tight end room to go out and run routes to just be keyed into what we need to do whether its man or zone.”
Pickering is currently focused on MSU’s homecoming game against Portland State.
“Offensively, we’re getting in the film room and seeing what (the Vikings) do and ways of attacking them,” he said. “Really honing in on what plays we’re going to run on them and just running them to perfection in practice. Get honed in on the details.”
The Vikings have scored 150 points the last two weeks, so should MSU get into a shootout,it may need to lean on Pickering again to get things going or pull away.
Pickering hails from Sunburst, a tiny oil town just south of the Canadian border on I-15 with a population of 333. He joins a long list of football players from similarly small towns around Montana to find success at the college and sometimes pro level at Montana State.
“Treyton has been really consistent and the nature of our first three games, he wasn’t targeted a bunch but we will have to find ways within the game plan to highlight Treyton and Derryk,” MSU head coach Brent Vigen said. “Both of Treyton’s touchdowns against Weber were on his ability to lose his defender.”
The list of Bobcat All-Americans who prepped at small high schools includes: Tony Welzenbach of Wolf Point and Gary Gustafson during the 1960s; Westby’s Les Leninger, Bill Schmidt of Sheridan, Don Samuelson and Cut Bank’s Butch Danmberger in the 1970s; Mark Fellows of Choteau, Doug Kimball of Chester and Joe Bignell of Avon/Deer Lodge from MSU’s 1984 national championship team; Plevna’s Ty O’Connor in the 1990s; Ryan Elliott of Fort Benton in the early 2000.
Plus, it’s worth mentioning the Siewing brothers Kazz and Kruiz of Saco in the 2010s. And MSU junior defensive end Brody Grebe, a product of Melstone, Montana, is also contributing to the small-town cause.
The Bobcats and Vikings face off this Saturday at Bobcat Stadium with kickoff set for 2.
