It happened so quickly, it was almost like the Montana football team’s game-winning drive Saturday didn’t last 16 plays.
But that drive, spanning 76 yards in 3 minutes, 52 seconds, culminated with Dan Carpenter’s 21-yard field goal with five seconds remaining. The late heroics gave the second-ranked Grizzlies a crucial 10-9 nonconference win over visiting No. 6 Cal Poly in Missoula, Mont., in front of 22,853 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“It seems like a blur,” Cal Poly defensive end Adam Torosian said. “It was unbelievable what happened. We just played every play and they wound up on our goal line. They caught us in a couple schemes, they did a nice draw. It all just happened.”
The defense for Cal Poly (6-3, 2-1 Great West Football Conference) played well enough to win, however. The Mustangs held the Grizzlies (8-1, 6-0 Big Sky Conference) to 290 yards of total offense – 61.9 below their average entering – and rang up seven sacks and 14 tackles for losses.
“We were getting three-and-outs all over the place,” said linebacker Jason Relyea, who had eight tackles.
Buck Buchanan Award candidate linebacker Kyle Shotwell added, “I think we played really solid. In a game like that, it comes down to who’s going to make a big play. It’s cool when you play the No. 2 team in the country to one point.”
On the other side of the ball, Cal Poly sophomore quarterback Matt Brennan played one of his best games of the season. He was 14 of 27 for 207 yards without a touchdown or interception, spreading the ball around to five different receivers.
Sophomore wideout Ramses Barden caught six passes for 123 yards, including a beautiful one-handed catch down the left sideline for a first down.
But despite all that, Cal Poly was 5 for 17 on third-down conversion attempts and forced to kick three field goals. Senior kicker Nick Coromelas converted all three from 30, 35 and 47 yards out. He is now 9 for 11 in the last five games.
The key play in Montana’s final drive was Josh Swogger’s 14-yard pass to Ryan Bagley on a fourth-and-13. Later in the drive, Reggie Bradshaw ripped off a 15-yard run on third-and-10 to set up a first-and-goal for the Grizzlies, who milked the clock all the way down to nine seconds before Carpenter trotted out for the chip-shot field goal.
“It’s still a little surreal,” said Torosian, who had five tackles and two sacks.
Relyea said of the final drive, “I had no idea there were 16 plays. It happened rather quickly. We didn’t make a play when we needed to on defense.”
The Mustangs led 6-0 at halftime.
Cal Poly sophomore tailback James Noble carried 23 times for 61 yards, missing the 100-yard mark for just the fifth time in 19 career starts.
Montana alternated quarterbacks successfully. Swogger completed 12 of 30 passes for 161 yards and one touchdown with one interception and his backup, Cole Bergquist, was 4 of 8 for 39 yards without a touchdown or pick.
“I wouldn’t say it was strange, it was more unexpected,” Relyea said of the Grizzlies switching quarterbacks back and forth. “We knew what (Bergquist) was capable of. It wasn’t too big a deal.”
Shotwell agreed, adding that the Mustangs facing Bergquist last year meant the switch Saturday was not a shock.
“That was the guy we played against last year,” Shotwell said, adding that Bergquist’s biggest strength was mobility. “He gave it a different dimension.”
Eric Allen caught five passes for 87 yards for the Grizzlies, who edged Cal Poly in time of possession with a mark of 30:24.
Shotwell – who also had a sack – and Andre Thomas had 10 and nine tackles, respectively, for Cal Poly. Mark Restelli and Justen Peek added two and 1.5 sacks, respectively, for the Mustangs.
Montana averaged 2.4 yards per rush and Cal Poly averaged 2.3. The Grizzlies punted 10 times and the Mustangs nine.
All things considered, the touted matchup of two of the top six teams in The Sports Network’s Division I-AA poll and two of the top eight in I-AA.org’s Gridiron Power Index lived up to its billing as the division’s game of the week.
Cal Poly’s last three games have been decided by a combined four points. Its last seven have been decided by 10 or fewer points.