Griz offense back on the ball in rout of UNC

Last weekend in Missoula was autumn like locals had been anticipating: It was brisk, intermittent rain was mixed with snow and hail, and the Montana Grizzlies were kicking ass.

The No. 3 Grizzlies’ (7-0, 4-0 Big Sky Conference) offense appeared to click the best it has all season against Northern Colorado Saturday, posting 623 yards in the 52-7 win.

Junior quarterback Cole Bergquist completed 26-of-35 passes for 292 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. The performance – highlighted by career highs in completions, yards and touchdowns – earned Bergquist Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors for the third time this season.

His offensive cohort, senior running back Lex Hilliard, had a memorable day of his own. The Kalispell product rushed for 112 yards, his second-highest total of the season. But it was his two touchdowns that were most newsworthy. The second of them, a 49-yard sprint, was the 44th of his career, moving him past Yohance Humphrey into sole possession of Montana’s career rushing touchdown record.

Senior Ryan Bagley, who alone outperformed the Bears’ entire corps of wideouts, led the Montana receivers. Bagley tallied 10 catches for 110 yards, career highs of his own. The six Bears with catches accrued 109 yards.

The offensive exhibition was a vast turnaround from the recent weeks. Oct. 13 at Sacramento State, the Grizzlies managed just 173 yards of offense. The week before that, against Eastern Washington, the Griz had 289 yards, but the Eagles nearly doubled that with 565 yards of their own.

“We came out this week and the offense knew we had to improve. We did today,” Bergquist said. “We had some big plays.”

Perhaps the biggest of them came in the second quarter when Bergquist hit a streaking Marc Mariani for a 27-yard touchdown strike.

Mariani reached with his right hand, snaring the pass one-handed, cradling it against his helmet as he fell out of the back of the end zone to keep the ball from being jarred loose.

“I threw it kind of us-or-nobody and he made a great play on it,” Bergquist said. “One-handed catch, can’t ask for anything better than that.”

It was sophomore Mariani’s first career touchdown catch. 

Northern Colorado’s (0-8, 0-4) offense might not have had such a stagnant day – it totaled 228, with just the one touchdown to show for the effort – if not for the sensational performance by Montana’s defense, notably that of senior defensive end Kroy Biermann.

The Buck Buchanan Award candidate seemingly had a hand in every play – or at least all the big ones. He was responsible for three sacks – one of which forced a fumble – and blocked a field goal attempt.

“I just told myself that I was going to come out fast and come out strong,” Biermann said. “I didn’t know how much playing time I was going to get, I knew our coaches were going to put some of the other guys in.”

Biermann’s big plays all came in the first half, and Griz head coach Bobby Hauck said he played sparingly in the second half.

The Grizzlies weren’t flawless, however. Bergquist was knocked out of the game midway through the first quarter. His backup, freshman Andrew Selle, promptly fumbled his first snap.

On the Grizzlies’ next series, Bergquist was back in the game. But on the drive’s sixth play, he lobbed a pass right to UNC defensive back Max Hewitt who returned it 73 yards to Montana’s 8-yard-line.

The Grizzlies’ ensuing defensive stand may have been its most defining. It forced a false start, a sack (Biermann), and an incompletion, leading to Biermann’s blocked field goal.

“Our defense has a lot of pride,” Hauck said. “Defensive coaches do a nice job. They play hard, they take it personally when people move the ball on them and it shows.”

The Bears’ lone score came early in the fourth quarter when Montana had mostly backups in the game. Even then, the touchdown came on a fourth-and-one 31-yard bullet to tight end Clint Wright.

“It’s fairly obvious we played the No. 3 team in the country today,” Bears head coach Scott Downing said. “Montana came out and played well and did everything I thought they could do. We had our opportunities, we didn’t cash in on them.”

The Griz travel to Flagstaff, Ariz., this week to play Northern Arizona (5-3, 4-1) Saturday at 3:05 p.m. Hauck said the win over Northern Colorado was a good win, but shouldn’t be seen as a warning for the remaining opponents on Montana’s schedule.

“I’m not too much into the, ‘This is a statement game’ type deal,” he said. “We just go play, sometimes things go better than others, (Saturday) they went pretty well.”