Bobcats topple turnover-prone Jacks 44-28

BOZEMAN — The suddenly top-seeded Montana State Bobcats advanced to the FCS semifinals Friday, and it was a bit of a slugfest that turned on turnovers. 

Adam Jones ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a scoring pass in the Bobcats’ 44-28 win over Stephen F. Austin, while Justin Lamson was his usual steady self with 246 yards on 20 of 26 passing.  

There was enough scoring to keep 19,807 fans inside Bobcat Stadium until the end. 

Montana State (12-2), at No. 2 the top seed because of No. 1 North Dakota State’s loss last week, never trailed while winning its 12th straight game. The Bobcats will host either No. 3 Montana or No. 11 seed South Dakota next Saturday, at either 2 or 5:30 p.m. Mountain. 

The Grizzlies and Coyotes battle Saturday in Missoula. 

Stephen F. Austin (11-3), which had won 11 straight, fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter; quarterback Sam Vidlak fumbled on the Jacks’ first possession, and MSU’s Caden Dowler intercepted a pass that should have been caught on their second. 

Those turnovers led to Jones’ first two TDs, on a 1-yard scoring run and a 21-yard reception, to cap drives of 65 and 57 yards. 

In the second quarter SFA made an end zone interception of a Lamson pass, but it mattered little: MSU forced a punt and drove to a 47-yard Myles Sansted field goal for a 17-0 lead. 

The gap grew to 24-0 after Vidlak, the former Griz quarterback and current Southland offensive MVP, fumbled again on a hit from Kenneth Eiden IV. The play was reviewed and upheld; Carson Williams had returned the ball 27 yards to the SFA 5-yard line, and Lamson hit Luvins Valcin for a 3-yard TD. 

Vidlak recovered from there, leading a TD drive in the final 1:41 of the first half. He hit Clayton Wayland for 11 yards and the score and found Wayland again with a two-point PAT pass. 

The Lumberjacks cut the gap to 24-14 with a 70-yard drive coming out of the half, capped by Jaylan Jenkins’ 5-yard run.  

To that point MSU had rushed for just 27 yards, but from there the Bobcats picked up 227 and that’s as close as SFA got. 

“I would say this,” Bobcat coach Brent Vigen said. “We were at not quite to 200 yards passing and that’s the ebb and flow there. What they were doing as far as selling out stopping the run game allowed us opportunities to throw the ball. Ultimately we did find a way to break through the second half.” 

Another Sansted field goal pushed MSU’s lead to 27-14; Lamson’s 5-yard scoring run made it 34-14 at 3:04 of the third quarter. The junior QB threw for 188 yards in the first half and was 3 of 6 passing after that. 

Jenkins added a 6-yard scoring run before the third quarter ended, but MSU went up 41-24 on Jones’ 16-yard run at 14:36 of the fourth quarter. It was set up by Julius Davis’ 64-yard run; Davis cruised into the end zone but was called for taunting, and the personal foul moved the ball back to the SFA 20. 

And so it went. Gavin Rutherford had a 3-yard scoring run with 10:05 left in the game for SFA, but MSU held on while getting a third Sansted field goal. 

Vidlak was 26 of 43 passing for 242 yards and was sacked five times; Kylon Harris caught 11 passes for 85 yards. Jenkins rushed for 44 yards while Jerrell Wimbley led SFA with 75 yards on 11 carries. 

Jones, in addition to his 114 rushing yards on nine carries, had five catches for 46 yards. His TD catch and run came on a third-and-20 call. 

“Winning third down is important, so you hate to see yourself in a  third-and-20 like that,” Vigen said. “But it was a huge play. It was a check down so it was a good, timely pass by Justin and a great finish by Adam.” 

Davis rushed for 96 yards on 17 carries and Lamson ran for 16 yards on 12 carries. 

Dowler led MSU with eight tackles and picked up his sixth pick, all in the last five games. Eiden had three sacks; Zac Crews had 1.5 sacks and forced Vidlak’s first fumble. 

One possible cause for concern: The Cats were penalties 12 times for 100 yards. The total included six false starts in a game where the Lumberjack D-linemen were obviously mimicking signals – and were flagged for it, twice. 

“I know we had a few procedure penalties and they had a couple delay of games,” Vigen said. “They got called for it twice and we got called way too many times.” 

The Lumberjacks had seven penalties, a few that were very untimely. In the end MSU had too much. 

“They’ve got a terrific ballclub,” SFA coach Colby Carthel said. “We didn’t play our best game tonight and that’s because of the Montana State Bobcats. That’s also on me and our staff. We didn’t quite have them ready to play at the level we’re used to playing.  

“That’s the only thing that’s really disappointing about tonight, because it was a beautiful ballgame; it could have been a great one.”