Call it what you want: A reprieve, a laugher, or maybe Career Day. But in their 52-7 win over the winless Bears, the third-ranked Griz definitely had a good time.
"I think our team had fun," said fifth-year coach Bobby Hauck, whose Griz are 7-0. "Our major point of emphasis this weekend was to go out and have some fun. Ignore anybody who doesnpit like the way wepire doing things, and go have fun and enjoy each other, and thatpis what we did."
Rising above those numbers, perhaps, was sophomore receiver Marc Marianipis first career TD, a sensational one-handed grab of a 27-yard pass from Bergquist. The leaping catch made it 21-0, ignited the sellout crowd at Washington-Grizzly Stadium and assured the Bears they were in for a long day.
"Itpis fairly obvious we played the No. 3 team in the country today," Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing said. "Montana came out and played well, did everything I thought they could do."
The Grizzlies' offense had only a couple hiccups, both in the first quarter. One came when Bergquist was shaken up at the end of a 13-yard run on a hit by D.J. Craft and left the game. Backup Andrew Selle fumbled away the next snap, at the Bearspi 18-yard line.
On Montanapis next series Bergquist was intercepted, with Northern Coloradopis Max Hewitt jumping an "out" pattern and heading for paydirt. Bergquist gave chase and eventually Griz center Colin Dow made the tackle at UMpis 8-yard line after a 73-yard return.
The tide turned back when UNC tackle Eric Christensen false-started on first down and Kroy Biermann made a sack on second down. Chris Clark broke up a third-down pass and then Biermann swatted down a 33-yard field goal attempt by Zak Bigelow.
"The first play of that defensive series was us chasing him (Hewitt) down with effort on offense," Hauck said. "That was big. And our defense has a lot of pride."
Colt Anderson recovered the ball for Montana. That kept the score 7-0 early in the second quarter and set up a 62-yard Grizzly drive. The lead grew to 14-0 when Bergquist hit Bagley for 12 yards and a TD.
The Bearspi next possession saw Biermann get flagged for a personal foul, get yanked from the game and immediately make his third sack upon his return two plays later. The visitors punted and Bergquist piloted an 82-yard drive, sparked by Tyson Johnsonpis 22-yard run out of punt formation.
If Bergquist was shaky in the first quarter, he was steady from there. On third-and-8 he checked down his receivers and fired a pass toward Mariani, in one-on-one coverage with UNCpis Myles Hayes.
Mariani reached up with his right hand and brought the ball down against his helmet, then to his chest just inside the end line.
"He was my backside read, my fourth read," said Bergquist, who also threw a 15-yard TD strike to Mike Ferriter in the first quarter and a 2-yarder to Bagley in the third. "I saw that he got on top of that safety, so I threw it kind of us-or-nobody and he made a great play on it."
"I really got lucky on that one," said Mariani, a former walk-on. "I couldnpit get it with both (hands), so I put my hand up and I was bobbling a little bit and I knew I had to control it. I used the closest thing to it, which was my head, I guess."
By halftime the score was 28-0, after the Griz took advantage of a short Rafael Mendoza punt and drove 50 yards. Hilliard scored from 1 yard out with 1:36 left in the half.
The lead grew to 31-0 on Dan Carpenterpis 50-yard field goal at 9:20 of the third quarter; Bagleypis second TD made it 38-0 at the 4:08 mark.
The thinning crowd saw a couple more highlights in the fourth quarter. One was when Hilliard took a handoff, cruised through a hole between left guard Cody Balogh and tackle Levi Horn, cut left and raced 39 yards to the end zone.
"They had a great push on that one," said Hilliard, who looked to be at full strength after a sore shoulder limited him the past few games. "There was a little gap in there and I kind of hit the gas. I think it was Ty Palmer that made a block down there and I just ran around him, and off to the races we went."
Eventually Selle threw his first career touchdown pass, a shovel to Greg Coleman, with 8:02 left. In between Northern Colorado got on the board with a 31-yard pass from Dominic Breazeale to tight end Clint Wright.
"I was a little disgruntled when we gave our shutout up, especially when we told them what was coming," Hauck said. "But thatpis the way it goes. Sevenpis OK."Seven points allowed and seven wins. This one was emphatic, if not a message that the Griz have found fifth gear. Northern Arizona, UMpis next foe, isnpit to be confused with Northern Colorado, which has been outscored by nearly 300 points this season.
"Ipim not too much into that, aThis is a statement game type of thing,pi " Hauck said. "We just go play. Some days things go better than others. Today things went pretty well."
N. Colorado 0 0 0 7 <> 7
Montana 7 21 10 14 <> 52
First quarter
UM <> Mike Ferriter 15 pass from Cole Bergquist (Dan Carpenter kick), 11:03
Drive <> 2 plays, 15 yards, time of possession :45
Key play <> UM defensive tackle Craig Mettler intercepts a pass batted by teammate Kelly Kain and returns it 32 yards.
Second quarter
UM <> Ryan Bagley 12 pass from Bergquist (Carpenter kick), 12:25
Drive <> 9 plays, 62 yards, time of possession 2:23
Key play <> Bergquistpis 17-yard scramble sets up first-and-goal.
UM <> Marc Mariani 27 pass from Bergquist (Carpenter kick), 5:35
Drive <> 9 plays, 82 yards, time of possession 3:32
Key plays <> Tyson Johnson runs 22 yards out of punt formation and Thomas Brooks-Fletcher carries for 12 yards on back-to-back snaps.
UM <> Lex Hilliard 1 run (Carpenter kick), 1:36
Drive <> 6 plays, 50 yards, time of possession 1:47
Key play <> Bergquist hits Mike Ferriter on a check-down route for a 23-yard gain to UNCpis 7.
Third quarter
UM <> Carpenter 50 FG, 9:20
Drive <> 10 plays, 10 yards, time of possession 3:30
Key play <> John Eddy and Martin Awachie team up on UNCpis only sack of Bergquist, for a loss of 7 yards on third down.
UM <> Bagley 2 pass from Bergquist (Carpenter kick), 4:08
Drive <> 10 plays, 69 yards, time of possession 4:16
Key plays <> Hilliardpis 18-yard run and Bergquistpis 28-yard pass to Bagley both come on third-and-2; the latter sets up first-and-goal.
Fourth quarter
UM <> Hilliard 39 run (Carpenter kick), 13:55
Drive <> 3 plays, 65 yards, time of possession 1:05
Key plays <> UMpis Chris Clark forces a Tyrone Wilson fumble that Torrey Thomas recovers for the Griz; Pfahler then takes a tight end screen 16 yards.
UNC <> Clint Wright 31 pass from Dominic Breazeale (Zak Bigelow kick), 9:59
Drive <> 9 plays, 80 yards, time of possession 3:56
Key play <> Andy Muns runs 20 yards to near midfield.
UM <> Greg Coleman 8 pass from Andrew Selle (Carpenter kick), 8:02
Drive <> 7 plays, 66 yards, time of possession 1:54
Key plays <> Backup QB Andrew Selle hits Tyler Palmer for 31 yards on third-and-8; Coleman rumbles 13 yards on the next play.
First downs UNC10 UM 32
Rushing UNC6 UM 15
Passing UNC3 UM 17
Penalty UNC1 UM 0
Third down efficiency UNC5-16 UM 11-16
Fourth down efficiency UNC1-1 UM 2-2
Total yards UNC228 UM 623
Plays UNC59 90
Average gain UNC3.9 UM 6.9
Rushes-yards UNC32-119 UM 50-272
Average per carry UNC3.7 UM 5.4
Yards passing UNC109 UM 351
Comp-Att-Int UNC13-27-1 UM 30-40-1
Sacks by-yards lost UNC1-7 UM 3-16
Return yards UNC73 UM 53
Punts UNC0-0 UM 5-21
Interceptions UNC1-73 UM 1-32
Fumbles UNC0-0 UM 0-0
Kickoff returns UNC6-96 UM 2-40
Punting UNC8-36.9 UM 1-26.0
Penalties-yardsUNC 8-45 UM 5-55
Fumbles-lost UNC2-1 UM 5-2
Time of possession UNC27:18 UM 32:42
Northern ColoradoRushing
No.-yards
Tyrone Wilson 9-50
David Woods 9-35
Andy Muns 1-20
Dan Freismuth 1-0
Dominic Breazeale 7-(-4)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
D. Breazeale 13 25 1 109
Ryan Chesla 0 2 0 0
Receiving
No.-yards
Clint Wright 3-46
Brandon Smith 3-19
Andy Birkel 2-21
Ryan Chesla 2-11
Cory Fauver 2-3
Jeff Vaden 1-9
Tackles
Unassisted-assisted-total
U A T
Cristian Sarmento 9 8 17
Joe Kenney 6 4 10
Max Hewitt 3 7 10
Myles Hayes 6 3 9
D.J. Craft 3 6 9
Ryan Lutz 1 6 7
John Eddy 1 5 6
Stephen Michon 1 4 5
Martin Awachie 0 5 5
Matt King 0 5 5
C.J. Stemo 4 0 4
Eric Brown 2 2 4
Sacks by-yards lost
John Eddy 0.5-4, Martin Awachie 0.5-3.
Fumbles forced-recovered
Myles Hayes 1-0, Joe Kenney 0-1, John Eddy 0-1.
Interceptions-return yards
Max Hewitt 1-73.
Missed field goals
Zak Bigelow 33, blocked.
MontanaRushing
No.-yards
Lex Hilliard 19-112
Cole Bergquist 8-50
Greg Coleman 4-27
T. Brooks-Fletcher 6-26
Brandon Utterback 3-24
Tyson Johnson 1-22
Andrew Schmidt 6-12
Team 1-(-1)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
Cole Bergquist 26 35 1 292
Andrew Selle 4 5 0 59
Receiving
No.-yards
Ryan Bagley 10-110
Mike Ferriter 5-65
Eric Allen 4-28
Marc Mariani 2-38
Steve Pfahler 2-26
Tyler Palmer 1-31
T. Brooks-Fletcher 1-13
Rob Schulte 1-12
Matt Troxel 1-10
Rob Overton 1-9
Greg Coleman 1-8
Lex Hilliard 1-1
Tackles
Unassisted-assisted-total
U A T
Shann Schillinger 2 5 7
Kroy Biermann 2 4 6
Van Cooper Jr. 2 3 5
Tyler Corwin 2 3 5
Kyle Ryan 1 4 5
Loren Utterback 0 5 5
Sacks by-yards lost
Kroy Biermann 3-16.
Fumbles forced-recovered
Kroy Biermann 1-0, Chris Clark 1-0, Torrey Thomas 0-1.
Interceptions-return yards
Craig Mettler 1-32.
Missed field goals
None.
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