Second-ranked Griz send T-Birds flying south

All last week, Southern Utah head football coach Wes Meier maintained his team would improve by facing the best teams in the country.

After his Thunderbirds had been handed a 37-17 loss by the Montana Grizzlies Saturday in Washington-Grizzly Stadium, he was convinced Missoula was the right place to start.

Following the game, Meier lauded the Griz as an “excellent” and “great” team. 

He certainly saw all aspects of it. If running back Lex Hilliard, in his first game back after injury, wasn’t plowing over the T-Birds’ defense en route to 109 rushing yards, the Grizzlies’ shut-down defense was killing another SUU drive, or senior kicker Dan Carpenter was connecting on one of his three 40-plus-yard field goals.
The second-ranked Griz got help from all the expected characters. Hilliard’s return was highly anticipated and his 12th career 100-yard rushing game was for Griz fans a welcome contribution. Junior Cole Bergquist, in his first career start not dictated by injury, was efficient, throwing for 150 yards on 15-of-22 passing. Receivers Eric Allen, Ryan Bagley and Mike Ferriter had 43, 25 and 32 receiving yards respectively.
The team was also aided by some pleasant surprises. Sophomore Marc Mariani set up the game’s first score with a 53-yard return of the game’s opening kickoff, and linebacker Shann Schillinger proved key to the win by having a hand in two late Southern Utah turnovers [an interception and a recovered fumble]. Carpenter, not an obscure figure to Griz fans, still impressed. Despite the NCAA moving kickoffs back five yards to the 30-yard line, Carpenter consistently buried his kickoffs into the end zone, effectively ruining any hopes the T-Birds had of long returns.
Despite the final score, the game wasn’t a blowout. The T-Birds were in position for a comeback until the string of late turnovers sealed their fate. SUU trailed only 20-9 until the Griz began its fourth quarter onslaught with little more than nine minutes remaining in the game.
Montana outscored SUU 17-8 the rest of the way. Carpenter connected on a pair of 41-yard field goals and the Griz picked up touchdowns on Bergquist’s first career rushing touchdown and one more on a Bergquist-to-Allen strike.
The Griz appeared to set the tone early in the game, punching in on a one-yard run by Hilliard, which capped a drive that started in Southern Utah territory after the stellar return by Mariani.
“I thought he was going to get it in the end zone,” said UM head coach Bobby Hauck of Mariani’s twisting-and-dancing return. “It didn’t quite happen that way, but it set up the score.”
Hauck said he was pleased to have Hilliard back with the team after a ruptured Achilles forced him to miss all of the 2006 season, and expressed excitement at the thought of what the Walter Payton Award candidate could do the rest of the year.
“I think Lex’s best football this year is ahead of him,” Hauck said, saying that Hilliard seemed a “little rusty.”
“Most of the game I was trying to catch my breath,” Hilliard said.
Saturday marked the first time he had been hit at full speed since Montana’s playoff loss to Cal Poly in 2005.
The Griz scored again mid-way through the second quarter on a pass to Allen whom made the leaping catch in double coverage.
Southern Utah’s only points of the first half came on a safety when its blitzing defense recovered a fumbled snap in the endzone.
The halftime score could have been tighter if not for an impressive play by junior safety Colt Anderson in the end zone on the T-Birds’ ensuing drive.
Southern Utah senior quarterback Wes Marshall had seemingly hit his stride, having completed a pair of deep passes – one for 43 yards and the other for 14 yards – to junior receiver Craig Gritton. From the 9-yard line, Marshall lofted one to the right side of the end zone where Anderson managed to track it down, catch it, and stay in bounds long enough to drag his feet.
The play was made more impressive by the fact Anderson was ill before the game, and it was questionable leading up to kickoff whether he would play. It ensured that Montana’s margin would not be cut into further until the second half. Fresh out of the locker room, Marshall executed a clock-eating, workmanlike 14-play, 78-yard drive, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Johnny Sanchez.
Hauck countered by sending in freshman quarterback Jeff Larson whom, through a series of runs and option plays, guided the Griz downfield. The drive was punctuated by a 42-yard field goal by Carpenter.
“I’ve always said one of the things we wanted to do was put together a schedule that really was a big challenge and we did that,” Meier said. “We started off with a great Montana team. I felt like we did a pretty good job.”
On top of Montana, the T-Birds will play eight other teams ranked in the top-25 in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Griz will pick up on Saturday against Division II Fort Lewis (Colo.) College in their second of five consecutive home games.