Griz break through in Ogden for 37-20 win

OGDEN, Utah — The Montana Grizzlies got the Ogden monkey off their back Saturday, riding a strong first half to a 38-17 Big Sky Conference football win over the Weber State Wildcats to stay undefeated at 9-0.  

On the day after Halloween, No. 3 Montana (5-0 in the Big Sky) snapped a three-game losing streak at Stewart Stadium for its first victory in Ogden since 2012 and second since 2006. 

The No. 3 Griz scored 31 points in the first half and led 21-3 after the first quarter. The scoring slowed in the second half but put up 522 yards of offense held the Wildcat to 114 rushing yards. 

“Winning is hard, losing is easy. All you have to do is give in,” Griz coach Bobby Hauck said. “Our guys came and took this game. We started fast. It's never academic, but our guys were not going to give in enough to let Weber get back into it. 

“I told them it’s a sign of a championship team when you're up by three touchdowns at halftime and the head coach is just ripping you. It was good. When you look at what's going on around FCS football right now, be advised. Good teams can get beat.” 

There were a number of FCS upsets Saturday: No. 4 South Dakota State dropped its second straight, losing 24-12 to Indiana State; No. 6 UC Davis, No. 8 North Dakota and No. 14 Lamar also fell. 

Quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns for the Griz; he has 15 TD passes and three interceptions in his last seven games. 

Blake Bohannon had a breakout game, logging a career high 131 yards and a touchdown on just three catches. He had 78 yards after catch.  

Eli Gillman crossed the 100-yard barrier for the fifth time this season with 122 on 12 carries, including a first-half touchdown. The junior became the fourth player in UM history to cross 3,000 career rushing yards; he now has 3,102 including 965 this season. 

“I thought the offense did a really good job, obviously, early. Everything was working in the first quarter, and we got out to a 28-3 lead, and we kind of pulled it in a little bit,” Hauck said. “We did get a chance to play everybody. Sometimes that's invaluable. That'll be a great film for our down-the-line guys where they didn't execute as well as the starters. 

“I just think it was great on offense. Our quarterback was good, as usual. Our running game was terrific early on.” 

Montana also got a fumble recovery from Micah Harper — on Weber State’s first snap — and an interception from Kade Boyd. Clay Oven led UM in tackles with six and seven other Grizzlies at least four. Hayden Schwartz logged the only sack of the day.  

Griz safety Diezel Wilkinson forced the Wildcat fumble to set UM up at the Weber 35-yard line. Two plays later Brooks Davis sped around the right end on a reverse for 12 yards to put the Grizzlies up 7-0 after less than two minutes of play.  

After a 14-play Wildcat drive to a field goal, Ah Yat showed off his arm and connected with Bohannon on a 62-yard post route on the third down to put UM up 14-3. It was Bohannon’s first touchdown catch of the season. 

 Another stop for the Grizzly defense set up another scoring drive. This time Montana kept it on the ground, with Gillman and Stevie Rocker, Jr. marching UM 64 yards on seven plays. Ah Yat waltzed in from 2 yards out to put the Griz up 21-3 as time expired on the first period.  

On their next drive the Griz went 84 yards on just four plays. Davis broke off most of those yards with a 61-yard reception along the right sideline, setting up Gillman’s 14-yard TD on the next play for a 28-3 lead early in the second quarter. 

Ty Morrison hit a 33-yard field goal to close the first half and put UM up 31-10; Evan Shafer caught a 9-yard bullet from Ah Yat for the final Griz TD and a 38-17 lead in the fourth quarter.  

Jayleen Record caught eight passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats (3-6, 1-4 in league). He caught one TD each from Dijon Jennings and Kingston Tisdell. 

Montana returns home to face Eastern Washington in Missoula on Nov. 8, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.