MISSOULA, Montana — During Montana’s first 6-0 start since 2009, the Grizzlies proved their best quarter was the fourth quarter.
So when UM blitzed to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter against a seemingly overmatched non-conference visitor from 2,419 miles away, most of the 26,000+ fans on hand to take in a completely unorthodox mid-October non-conference game probably thought, “perfect, let’s go tailgate!”.
And while a late offensive explosion by the host Grizzlies helped slam the door on Sacred Heart, anyone that did go tailgating after Montana’s hot start missed a spirited effort from the visiting and FCS Independent Pioneers.
The Griz flexed their muscles and showed their superiority in the beginning and at the end of Saturday’s 43-21 victory, but the Pioneers certainly showed that they are on their way to at least being competitive when they join the Coastal Athletic Association next season after spending 32 previous years ahead of last season in the partial-scholarship Northeast Conference.
A dominant start led to a 22-0 first quarter lead on the week that Montana was scheduled to take its bye, at least according to the Big Sky Conference, so when Jack Snyder hit Dean Hangey for a 14-yard touchdown pass on a fourth and long — the second 4th-down conversation of the 16-play, 88-yard scoring drive — with 6:46 left to suddenly cut Montana’s lead to 29-21, no one could be blamed for being perplexed.
But Keali’i Ah Yat continued to surge, hitting Michael Wortham on the same wheel route concept that resulted in a 43-yard touchdown in the first quarter, for a 51 yard fourth quarter score to push the lead to 36-21, the stop-and-go, yet still fast-break Grizzlies raced to the finish yet again.
Ah Yat threw five touchdowns, including three in the first 14 minutes and two more in the final six minutes, to help lift the Griz to a 43-21 win over Sacred Heart on a Saturday afternoon that served as the bye week for the other two top teams (Montana State, UC Davis) in the Big Sky Conference.
“Getting a win by a convincing score against a good team like that that had a lot of fight was a good thing for us,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck said. “We were the only team in the Big Sky this week that had an opponent with a winning record and those guys showed why they’ve been able to win five games this year.
“I thought they played hard throughout. I thought they played hard even when they were down 22-0 early. And I was impressed with how they stuck with it in that game, because there was a lot of teams that wouldn’t have. Good job by our guys getting our 7th win. I love how our guys are. I love how they prepared this week. I like how we came out of the gate to start the game. And I’m fired up about our team.”
Montana needed strong second-half performances to pull away from Central Washington (42-17 after trailing 17-14), Idaho State (42-38 after trailing 31-14) and Cal Poly (28-9 after trailing 9-0 at half) during its best start in more than a decade. UM also needed a 10-point final nine minutes to emerge with a 24-23 win over No. 9 North Dakota that keeps looking better, particularly after UND’s 38-19 drubbing of Southern Illinois on Saturday.
So when the Griz jolted to their best start of the season outside of a 35-7 first-half advantage earned against Indiana State in a 63-20 victory, most probably assumed a turning point. And when UM took a 29-7 lead into the halftime locker room, cruise control….right?
The Pioneers, though, showed East-Coast grit. And slithery quarterback Jack Snyder lived up to his billing as a gamer in keeping Sacred Heart in the game.
SHU’s offensive and defensive lines did more than hold their own, particularly after Montana’s first quarter onslaught, to hang around on a Garden City afternoon that evolved from a foggy, about freezing morning into a picturesque autumn day where temperatures lingered in the high 50s and the sun shone over the Missoula Valley.
Sacred Heart marched up and down the field on multiple occasions for the first 25 minutes of the second half, including a 10-play, 75-yard drive to cut the lead to 29-14 out of the halftime locker room. And Snyder, who finished 20-of-26 for 214 yards and two touchdowns, engineered SHU’s last touchdown drive, an 88-yard march that included two 4th-down conversions, including a Snyder fourth-down scramble and another Snyder fourth-down TD completion to close the contest to a one-score game.
“We dug ourselves a hole but I’m proud of the way the kids battled back,” SHU 14th-year head coach Mark Nofri said following his team falling to 5-3 this season. “As a head coach, all you can ask for is your players playing hard and playing for four quarters.”
“The University of Montana is pretty dang good and I think they have a pretty good shot at winning a national championship.”
The Griz started like a team that wanted to make a statement heading into next Friday’s national television ESPN showdown at Sacramento State. Then the second and third quarters felt like a slumber.
But the strong start seemed like a piece of progress. Pair that with an explosive finish that included a 51-yard touchdown pass to Wortham on what looked like the same play Wortham scored on in the first quarter, combined with a 49-yard touchdown pass to Korbin Hendrix (the first of the Arizona State transfer’s Griz career) and Montana had impressive bookends around its sleepy middle two quarters.
“A lot of eyes on the run game, obviously, and when teams are doing that, you have to make them defend the pass, you have to make them defend depth and if you don’t, you are going uphill most of the game,” Hauck said. “Good job by (Ah Yat), good job by the guys completing the plays in the end-zone and good calls by the offensive staff.”
Ah Yat continued his stellar sophomore season after a frustrating year last season when he had to split time with the since-transferred Logan Fife and never found his way.
Ever since the comeback against UND, Ah Yat has been lights out. And on Saturday, he had one of the best games of his career. He completed 27-of-33 passes for 349 yards and his five touchdowns more than doubled his career high. He also smashed in a 3-yard touchdown run to give UM its 29-7 halftime lead and now brings a boat load of momentum into the second half of his sophomore season.
“Executing what we prepared for all week,” Ah Yat said. “I thought we had a great week of preparation. I thought our guys executed well and we started off fast.
Ah Yat’s two long shots helped extend the margin. A consistently pressuring Griz defense also helped seal the deal. Montana came into the game with six total sacks in its six wins. UM rolled up four sacks Saturday, including three in the final 20 minutes and two by Hunter Peck.
“I just think it went into our preparation this week,” Peck said. “We prepared well and we prepared with a level of intensity that’s pleasing to us. At the end of the day, our coaches put us in the spot to make those plays and everyone on the field was doing their job at that time.”
When Missouri State elected to move to the FBS, in turn cancelling the game that was supposed to be Montana’s Week 1 matchup this season, UM made the unorthodox decision to take a bye the first week of 2025 and play a non-conference on its Big Sky scheduled bye week this week.
Despite the mid-game dips, Montana found a way to surge to the finish for the seventh week in a row, marking just the sixth time in school history that UM has won seven games in a row to start a season.
The Griz will hope the start, or the finish, or both are replicable trends next week as Montana plays at Sac State in the last Big Sky matchup between the foes. The Hornets have declared their exit from the Big Sky Conference and will move to FCS independent status, like Sacred Heart, next season with designs on earning FBS status.
“This team just goes and plays and takes wins,” Hauck said. “That’s what they do.”
