For the first time to Frisco go the Montana Grizzlies, who needed two overtimes to get past North Dakota State 31-29 in a wild FCS semifinal game Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Corbin Walker’s interception of a two-point pass sealed the win for the Grizzlies (13-1), who will play unbeaten defending champion South Dakota State on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas. It will be their first FCS title-game appearance since the 2008-09 seasons. Both of those games were in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“Obviously we’re thrilled to get that win, and thrilled to be playing in the national championship in a couple of weeks,” Grizzlies coach Bobby Hauck said. “That’s how you should finish up a game like that: Both teams fighting their tails off. You can’t quantify this, but it’s one of the greatest games in the history of our stadium. It was just a privilege to be a part of that game.”

The win was equal parts sturdy red-zone defense, an offense that pushed Eli Gillman into the paint twice and, of course, special teams.

Junior Bergen’s 47-yard punt return for a score was a pivotal play with 11:22 left in the game. Or it was, until Nico Ramos missed the ensuing extra point, leaving Montana ahead 16-9. That set the stage — shades of two weeks ago at Montana State —  for an NDSU drive that covered 81 yards and ended with Cam Miller’s 9-yard touchdown to Eli Green with 51 seconds left in regulation. 

It was Bergen who provided the two-point margin after Gillman scored from 13 yards out in the second OT. He took a pitch, ran right, weathered his facemask getting tugged by an NDSU defender and fired a pass that somehow got to Keelan White.

“I saw the guy come off the edge and he grabbed my facemask,” said Bergen, who caught a touchdown pass in the first overtime. “And I happened to look up and saw Keelan and thought, ‘Well, it’s a free play anyway, I might as well give it a shot.’ I threw it as hard as I could.

“I’m not sure what happened, I just saw the crowd go crazy.”

“We made eye contact and he just chucked it at me,” White added. “It went over one guy and got tipped and just ended up in my hands. It was all reaction.”

The Bison (11-4) answered with three straight runs, the last a 2-yard scoring jaunt by TK Marshall. Then the hard-running squad went “swinging gate” on the point-after and the Grizzlies got pressure on an option pass by receiver RaJa Nelson. It went nowhere, or rather to Walker, sending many of the 26,544 fans onto the field in celebration.

It didn’t look good in the first overtime, when backup quarterback Cole Payton tore off a 25-yard scoring run on the first snap.

But Montana countered, Clifton McDowell finding Bergen wide open on the right sideline. The junior was met at the goal line but got inside the pylon for the 22-yard TD. Ramos’ extra-point kick tied it at 23-all. From there, teams had to go for two if they scored TDs.

While McDowell was steady, throwing for 160 yards on 16 of 30 passing, Bergen was spectacular. He had 155 all-purpose yards, including that punt return. On the play, he fielded a short kick, stutter-stepped, broke left and found his wall of blockers. Sawyer Racanelli blew up a Bison at the 10, Bergen turned back to the field at the 5 and tumbled in for the score.

“Junior’s terrific,” Hauck said. “He’s a great football player. He can throw it, he can catch it, he can run it.”

Until overtime NDSU led just once, 3-0, getting a Griffin Closa field goal on its first drive.

Montana jumped in front 7-3 with a 16-play, 87-yard drive, capped by Gillan’s 3-yard run midway through the second quarter. McDowell’s scrambling, 31-yard pass to White and his 9-yard run down to the Bison 2 were key plays. 

Grant Glasgow drilled a 46-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead that Crosa cut to 10-6 at the half.

It was 10-9 when Bergen got loose on that punt.

“If you’d told me going into this we’d allow 16 points in regulation and not win, I would’ve said you were crazy,” Bison coach Matt Entz said. “This is the third time I’ve been able to coach here and it was as electric as it’s ever been. Couldn’t be more excited for Missoula and the fan base; the way they show up and participate is pretty unique. Caused issues a few times tonight.”