Long diced up the University of Montana defense for 329 yards and two touchdowns, and Fuller caught 10 passes for 133 yards and ran for another score to lift Sam Houston State over the top-ranked Grizzlies 41-29 Saturday at Bowers Stadium.
It's one of the biggest wins in school history for the Bearkats (2-1), who hadn't beaten a team ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA in 19 seasons of trying. Saturday's win was just their 14th over a ranked opponent in 57 games. It was also their first win over Montana in three attempts.
"It was a blessed game," said Fuller. "We came out with some intensity. We kind of had a sour taste in our mouths from the last time when we left Missoula (a 38-14 loss last season). We thought we should've had those Grizzlies.
"Losing a critical game last week that was just a heartbreaker, that just gave us a little more fire in our eyes."
Sam Houston's defense, burned for two touchdowns late in a 33-31 loss to Southwest Missouri State last week, came up big early, blunting Montana's opening drive when Mark Hughes intercepted a Craig Ochs pass in the end zone.
From their 20, the Bearkats drove for their first touchdown in 10 plays, seven of them runs. Smith, who finished with 115 yards and two scores, scooted in from 11 yards and Sam Houston had the lead for good.
The big plays and long drives kept coming: A 9-yard run from Robert Garmon capped an 89-yard drive on the Bearkats' ensuing possession, making it 13-0 at 14:14 of the second quarter; then the Kats capitalized on a botched fake punt for a 16-yard scoring pass from Long to Vincent Cartwright, who broke four tackles on the way to the end zone.
That made it 20-0 with 7:14 left in the first half. The Grizzlies (2-1) managed another short drive, culminating in a 38-yard field goal from Dan Carpenter at the 1:58 mark.
Sam Houston led 20-3 at halftime, and erased almost all doubt of the outcome by taking the second half kickoff and driving 70 yards for another touchdown, this time on Fuller's 19-yard run on an end around.
"They're a good football team that played a great game, and they need to be given credit for that," said Bobby Hauck, who suffered his worst defeat in 16 games as Montana's head coach. "When you're playing a team at (their) home and they're playing at that level, you can't go out and lay and egg like we did."
The I-AA henhouse was crowded. Keeping the Grizzlies company were No. 3 Wofford, No. 5 Villanova, No. 7 Northern Illinois, No. 9 UMass, and No. 10 New Hampshire. All lost Saturday.
Which was small consolation for the Grizzlies.
"It's a good wakeup call," said Jefferson Heidelberger, who caught nine passes for 167 yards, including a 69-yard scoring strike from Ochs that cut the gap to 41-16 with 8:47 left in the game. "We know we're a good team, we know we belong near the top of the rankings. We'll be that team if we just stop those mistakes we made tonight. Mistake after mistake after mistake."
Grizzly punter Tyson Johnson was actually stopped on two fake punts, although on the first, he was set up for a big gain but for a shoddy block and a finger tip tackle. Sam Houston cashed them in for Cartwright's TD, plus a 27-yard Long pass that Jason Mathenia made a diving catch on in the end zone.
That made it 34-10 late in the third quarter.
Montana's lone touchdown to that point came on a short field, after Shane MacIntyre scooped up a Long fumble and returned it 10 yards to the SHSU 16. Lex Hilliard bulled in from 1 yard for the score, cutting the gap to 27-10.
"Dustin Dlouhy and Mike Potts just hit the quarterback and he coughed it up," MacIntyre said. "I just happened to be running in the right place at the right time."
The Bearkats missed a field goal on their next possession, but then regained the ball at Montana's 30 on the Grizzlies' second failed punt. Long's TD pass to Mathenia came on third-and-18.
"Their offense, they called a real good game today," MacIntyre said. "We'd do one thing and they'd just run a play we didn't want to see coming out of it, you know? We know they're a fast team. We just couldn't stop them."
Montana scored the last 19 points of the game to make the score respectable. After Heidelberger's long TD - Ochs was kicked in the calf on the play, and left the game - Montana forced an SHSU punt that turned jail-break, the snap sailing over punter Curtis Parks' head. The Grizzlies Ryan Bagley blasted Parks off the ball, and Kroy Biermann recovered in the end zone for a touchdown with 7:02 left.
With 1:37 remaining, back-up QB Jeff Disney capped an 8-play, 86-yard drive with a 5-yard dart to Tate Hancock.
It wasn't timely enough for the Griz, who return home to face Northern Colorado this coming Saturday. The film will show several near misses, from the end zone interception to a potential big-gainer to Bagley. Heidelberger had another highlight-reel catch ruled out of the end zone before Carpenter's field goal.
"We certainly didn't play our best game, and you know what, we're going to learn from this," said Ochs, who absorbed some big hits while throwing for 198 yards on 18-of-31 passing. "We're going to watch tape and get better from this. This team's going to get better."
"They just made plays and we didn't," said Hauck, now 11-5 as Montana's coach. "In all facets we just made too many mistakes. I wouldn't even say it was mistakes. We did not make plays. When we have the opportunity we need to make them."
Montana 0 3 7 19-29
Sam Houston St. 6 14 14 7-41
First Quarter
SHS-Smith 11 run (kick failed), 8:12.
Second Quarter
SHS-Garmon 9 run (Garner kick), 14:14.
SHS-Cartwright 17 pass from Long (Garner kick), 7:14.
Mon-FG Carpenter 38, 1:58.
Third Quarter
SHS-Fuller 19 run (Garner kick), 12:22.
Mon-Hilliard 1 run (Carpenter kick), 8:34.
SHS-Mathenia 27 pass from Long (Garner kick), 1:39.
Fourth Quarter
SHS-Smith 3 run (Garner kick), 9:28.
Mon-Heidelberger 69 pass from Ochs (pass failed), 8:47.
Mon-Bierman recovered fumble in end zone (pass failed), 7:02.
Mon-Hancock 5 pass from Disney (Carpenter kick), 1:37.
A-12,941.
UM SHS
First downs 19 30
Rushes-yards 25-78 42-183
Passing 274 329
Comp-Att-Int 24-39-1 26-33-0
Return Yards 10 0
Punts-Avg. 3-33 2-33
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 5-45 9-79
Time of Possession 26:06 33:54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Montana, Hilliard 7-30, Green 7-24, Ochs 6-15, Waller 2-5, Noel 1-2, Johnson 2-2. Sam Houston St., Smith 23-113, Garmon 8-40, Fuller 3-39, Allen 2-9, Long 4-2, Team 2-(-20).
PASSING-Montana, Ochs 18-31-1-198, Disney 6-8-0-76. Sam Houston St., Long 26-33-0-329.
RECEIVING-Montana, Heidelberger 9-167, Hilliard 5-42, Hancock 4-27, Talmage 3-15, Rodamer 2-9, Segars 1-14. Sam Houston St., Fuller 10-133, Cartwright 6-66, Mathenia 5-102, Garmon 2-6, Roberts 1-17, Campbell 1-4, Smith 1-1.
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