Before there was a trip to Frisco, Texas, there were three voyages to Chattanooga, Tenn.

This is for me, personally. The Montana Grizzlies made five trips to “Chatty” for FCS title games, with mixed results. A close loss in 2000, a win in 2001, and three more losses in 2004 and 2008-09. 

It’s the last three that I went to, and the 2004 game stands out not because James Madison trailed 21-17 and won 31-21, but because the recently re-sodded turf at Finley Stadium came up in pizza pan-sized chunks.

The 2008 game was kind of a dud; the Grizzlies pulled off an amazing win at James Madison the week before and barely got back to Missoula before they were back on a charter to Tennessee. Richmond caught them flat and won 24-7.

The next season the Griz were unbeaten and taking on Villanova six days after vanquishing Appalachian State in snowy Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Montana led 14-3 in this one, then didn’t score again until the Wildcats were up 23-14. The final was 23-21.

There were some gaudy statistics. Craig Ochs threw for a career-high 371 yards in the 2004 loss. Marc Mariani had 172 yards receiving in 2008 and 178 in 2009. Incredibly, he didn’t catch a pass after halftime in either game (he wasn’t thrown to in 2009). 

Add in that it was kind of hard to get to Chattanooga from here, and there’s not much to remember. Well, there’s this: On one of those trips I was outside an all-night diner — maybe the City Cafe? — and saw one of my Missoula friends stumble out completely covered in food. 

Two mornings later our crew of sports writers and photographers hit the same cafe. Upon hearing our hard Rs our waitress said, “Oh, are y’all from Montana?” She shook her head. “Y’all party too much.”

What you should fondly remember is how hot all the 2004 and ‘08 teams got leading up to the game. The 2008 team is a favorite because so many seniors had graduated off the 2007 squad — which didn’t lose until the first round of the playoffs — that there was little thought of a title run. 

Chase Reynolds, Mariani and Cole Bergquist thought a lot about it, apparently. 

This first trip to Frisco is Montana’s first shot at a national championship since 2009. Bobby Hauck, their coach from 2003-09, has got the Griz back in the finale, and he likens this team to that 2008 squad.

Not many give the Griz a snowball’s chance in Hades on Sunday — the unbeaten South Dakota State Jackrabbits are 10.5-point favorites last we checked. Not many figured the ‘08 version could beat an unbeaten JMU team in Harrisonburg, Virginia, either. 

Sad news came Wednesday that “Papa Bear,” as some called Don Read, passed away at age 90. I’m old enough to have been on the UM student newspaper staff in the falls of 1985 and 1986. One season with surly Larry Donovan, and one with “let me diagram this passing formation for you” Don Read. 

What a difference Read made. Donovan was a driving force behind getting Washington-Grizzly Stadium built on campus; Read began the process of repeated expansion. It helped that he guided the Griz to that first championship, in 1995.

Hauck had his first graduate assistant’s job under Read, and it’s too bad the architect of “Air Read,” whose list of goals on his office wall included the line, “Special teams will win at least one game each season,” won’t be in Frisco in person.

But if I could talk to him today, I bet he’d say: You better take the points.

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.