Ah Yat shines bright: Griz QB throws 4 TDs in win over South Dakota St.

FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 hours, 16 minutes AGO

Grizzlies quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat (8) throws a 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Deck in the third quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies running back Eli Gillman (10) scores a touchdown on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies wide receiver Drew Deck (2) catches a 29-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu (58) sacks South Dakota State quarterback Chase Mason (7) in the second quarter in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies wide receiver Michael Wortham (6) picks up yardage on a direct snap in the first quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies wide receiver Brooks Davis (3) picks up 13 yards on a run in the fourth quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Montana safety Terahiti Wolfe (0) celebrates with fellow defenders after an interception in the fourth quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies wide receiver Drew Deck (2) celebrates after a 29-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies wide receiver Michael Wortham (6) scores a touchdown on a 28-yard reception in the fourth quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Grizzlies linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu (58) celebrates after a second quarter sack of South Dakota State quarterback Chase Mason in the second round of the FCS Football Championship at Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 6. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

MISSOULA — Keali’i Ah Yat is on fire and the Brawl is old news.

Ah Yat, Montana’s sophomore quarterback, passed for 360 yards and four touchdowns, and the No. 3-seeded Grizzlies swamped South Dakota State 50-29 in an FCS second round playoff game Saturday.

Eli Gillman added 135 yards and two touchdowns rushing for the Griz (12-1), who vanquished the program that beat them the last two postseasons: The Jackrabbits (8-5) handed UM a 23-3 loss in the 2023 title game and bounced them 38-19 in the second round a year ago.

“I think we played well after the first seven or eight minutes,” said Montana coach Bobby Hauck, whose club will host South Dakota in a quarterfinal game next weekend. “I didn’t think we played particularly well the first half of the first quarter. And after that we played great.”

About that: The Grizzlies seemed poised to jump ahead early, when Diezel Washington hit SDSU quarterback Chase Mason, affecting a pass that was picked up by safety TJ Rausch.

Montana went high tempo on offense and reached first-and–goal on Ah Yat’s 10-yard pass to Blake Bohanon.

Then the Grizzlies failed on four plays from inside the 5–yard line, turning the ball over when Malae Fonoti was stopped for a 3-yard loss.

Faster than you could think, “Maybe Gillman gets the ball there,” Mason threw a 7-yard pass to Grahm Goering, who turned his crossing route into a 95-yard touchdown. SDSU led, 7-0.

From there, and despite Mason’s 1-yard TD that put the Jackrabbits up 14-6 with 1:13 left in the first quarter, it was Montana’s offense on display.

“We came into the last game 11-0 and didn’t feel like the ball bounced our way very much,” Hauck said of UM’s 31-28 setback to MSU on Nov. 22. “Ended up with a loss. Our team was fired up to get back into game week this week and it showed today.”

Ah Yat was masterful, shaking off a would-be sack and finding Stevie Rocker, Jr., up the left sideline for 44 yards; then finding him again for 5 yards on second-and-goal. The first cut SDSU’s lead to 7-6; the latter put the Griz up 22-14 with 6 seconds left in the half.

In between, Jo Silver hit a 31-yard field goal and Gillman — after gaining 6 yards on fourth-and-1 — had a 5-yard touchdown.

The teams traded punts to start the third quarter, and then Montana found another gear. Drew Deck’s diving grab of a 29-yard touchdown pass from Ah Yat made it 29-14 at 5:07 of the third quarter; Ah Yat put a perfect pass on Wortham for 28 yards and a 36-14 lead at 13:21 of the fourth.

Mason and James Basinger each had scoring runs in the fourth quarter, but Montana recovered the ensuing onside kicks — Ian Finch on one, Brooks Davis on the perfectly-kicked second — and took advantage of the short fields for TDs.

In the end Montana had rolled up 556 yards of offense and outrushed one of the Missouri Valley Conference bullies 195-61.

Mason returned from injury in a 41-3 win over New Hampshire last week and with him the Jackrabbits went 8-0. Meanwhile, SDSU was 0-8 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

In front of 18,197 fans, something had to give.

‘We were talking all week about staying on the gas,” said Mason, who was 19 of 36 passing for 356 yards, with two interceptions. “We let up a little bit, didn’t work out a couple of those possessions and then it was too late.”

Gillman scored from 11 yards out on a “Statue of Liberty” handoff to make it 43-22 with 4;54 left. With 1:20 remaining Fonoti skated into the end zone from 3 yards out to give the Griz the Fifty-Burger.

Both Goering and Alex Bullock went over 100 yards receiving for the Jacks, who had 417 yards of offense.

“They were up against it and fought their way into the playoffs,” Hauck said. “Certainly the quality of competition out there wasn’t reminiscent of many round of 16 games. That was two quality teams going after each other.”