That includes Cole Bergquist, the senior quarterback whose bruised shoulder left his playing status for Saturday's game in doubt. But he started, and with the game in doubt he went to Marc Mariani with four straight passes for the win.
The last, a 9-yarder, beat a UC Davis blitz and cornerback Marcus North for the game-winning points.
“It's awesome,” said Bergquist, who left early in last week's 46-10 win over Southern Utah, but took every offensive snap Saturday. “If we didn't go down and score on that last possession - or that second-to-last possession - we would've lost that game. It was do or die.”
The Grizzlies did, especially Mariani. The junior from Havre found himself in single coverage and caught passes of 6 and 33 yards ahead of his TD. The latter was picturesque, the junior leaping over North on second-and-4 from the Davis 42.
“The safety was cheating over, and they were just trying to play Marc one-on-one,” said Bergquist. “And obviously you can't do that very well. I put the ball in the place where it was either him or nobody, and he went up and made the play.”
Two plays later North was singled up with Mariani again. “Same result,” said Bergquist.
“We were ready to go,” said Mariani, who had seven catches for 98 yards. “I think those are moments that really define a team, and I think we came together. We were ready to roll, we were calm, and the results were good.”
Bergquist threw for 255 yards, including a 26-yard strike to Mike Ferriter as the Griz (3-0) went up 13-0 less than five minutes into the game.
He looked markedly better than he had in practice earlier in the week.
“If the game had been on Wednesday, I probably wouldn't have played,” offered Bergquist, who was hurt on back-to-back runs against Southern Utah. “I had some X-rays and a CAT scan, and didn't have any fractures, so they just figured it was a bruise. You can play with a bruise. It might hurt, but people play hurt all the time. It's football.”
Compared to last week's scoreless first quarter, Saturday's was a lightning bolt. Bergquist marched the Griz 67 yards on their first possession, with Ferriter making a diving catch of a 27-yard strike along the way. That set up sophomore Chase Reynolds' first collegiate touchdown, a 4-yard run, at 11:59 of the first.
Montana's defense forced a three-and-out, and on fourth down Griz safety Houston Stockton flew in from the left to block a punt by Brett Dickinson.
On the next play Ferriter beat corner Jeremy Scott and hauled in his TD.
From there the Aggies rallied, putting together scoring drives in 15 and 11 plays, netting a field goal and a 1-yard Brandon Tucker scoring run. In between, Purdue transfer Brody McKnight hit his first college field goal, from 46 yards, to put the Griz up 16-3.
After Tucker's TD made it 16-10, Montana's offense stalled. The Griz punted, but the ensuing UC Davis possession went awry on third-and-4.
A Greg Denham pass meant for Bakari Smith was off-line, and the receiver could only tip it. It glanced off linebacker Tyler Corwin's facemask and over to Griz corner Trumaine Johnson.
The freshman took his third interception in two games 53 yards, down to the Davis 5. Two plays later, Thomas Brooks-Fletcher scored from 3 yards out for a 23-10 halftime lead.
The game was far from over - a Griz PAT had been blocked, and UC Davis' John Faletoese blocked another fourth-quarter field goal by McKnight - but that turnover was big.
“Familiar ground for us,” said veteran Aggies' coach Bob Biggs, whose club lost its first two games by scores of 13-10 and 24-21. “That's the third time we've lost by less than a touchdown.
“The storm got us initially, but then we weathered it. I'm really, really proud of the way we fought back and played in the second half.”
Denham, who completed 31 of 38 passes for 251 yards, guided methodical scoring drives of 17 and eight plays, resulting in two fourth-quarter TDs. The Aggies held the ball for nearly 12 minutes of the third quarter, and went up 24-23 on Denham's 8-yard strike to Smith with 6:36 left.
Bergquist began the go-ahead drive with a 9-yard run, and after Brooks-Fletcher converted a first down, the Griz went no-huddle and scored quickly.
Then they had to hold.
“We knew that it was just time to get out there, and we had to have a stop,” said junior defensive end Jace Palmer.
Palmer made a key stop, sacking Denham for a 9-yard loss. Eventually the game came down to a fourth-and-2 pass that Fisher knocked away.
Montana took over with 1:58 left, picked up two first downs - two more Bergquist passes - and ran out the clock.
“Twenty-four straight (wins) in the regular season is exciting,” said UM coach Bobby Hauck. “We had a chance a few minutes prior to put it away and got a field goal blocked. What's rewarding is to not be able to play great and beat a pretty good football team.”
UC Davis 3 7 0 14 - 24
Montana 13 10 0 6 - 29
First quarter
UM - Chase Reynolds 4 run (Brody McKnight kick), 11:59.
Drive - 7 plays, 67 yards, 3:01 time of possession.
Key play - On third-and-8, Cole Bergquist hits a diving Mike Ferriter for 28 yards and a first down at the Aggie 13-yard line.
UM - Mike Ferriter 26 pass from Cole Bergquist (kick blocked), 10:16.
Drive - 1 play, 26 yards, :05 time of possession.
Key play - Griz safety Houston Stockton blocks a punt by the Aggies' Brett Dickson, setting UM up at the UC Davis 26.
UCD - FG Sean Kelley 36, 1:24.
Drive - 15 plays, 53 yards, 8:45 time of possession.
Key plays - UC Davis quarterback Greg Denham hits Brandon Rice for 14 yards on third-and-11 and Chris Carter for 4 yards on fourth-and-3 to keep the drive alive.
Second quarter
UM - FG McKnight 46, 10:51.
Drive - 13 plays, 42 yards, 5:26 time of possession.
Key plays - Bergquist passes to Marc Mariani for 19 yards on third-and-long, and on third-and-5 hits Steven Pfahler for 6 yards down to the UC Davis 18.
UCD - Brandon Tucker 1 run (Kelley kick), 4:43.
Drive - 11 plays, 70 yards, 6:02 time of possession.
Key plays - Denham completes third-down passes to Chris Miller and Bakari Grant, the latter setting up first-and-goal at UM's 1-yard line.
UM - Thomas Brooks-Fletcher 3 run (McKnight kick), 1:12.
Drive - 2 plays, 5 yards, :56 time of possession.
Key play - Griz cornerback Trumaine Johnson intercepts a deflected pass and returns it 53 yards, down to the UC Davis 5.
Fourth quarter
UCD - Denham 1 run (Kelley kick), 14:51.
Drive - 17 plays, 91 yards, 9:11 time of possession.
Key plays - Denham converts three third downs in the marathon drive, the last being third-and-goal from UM's 1.
UCD - Bakari Grant 7 pass from Denham (Kelley kick), 6:36.
Drive - 8 plays, 81 yards, 4:11 time of possession.
Key plays - Two more third-down conversion passes by Denham, plus a 23-yard dark to Chris Carter to move the ball the Griz 13.
UM - Mariani 9 pass from Bergquist (pass failed), 3:36.
Drive - 8 plays, 72 yards, 2:53 time of possession.
Key plays - Bergquist's 12-yard pass to Klaboe moves the ball past midfield, and Mariani's leaping grab of a 33-yard pass sets up his game-winning TD.
Team stats
UCD UM
First downs 21 18
Rushing 6 6
Passing 14 11
Penalty 1 1
Third down efficiency 8-15 7-11
Fourth down efficiency 1-2 0-0
Total yards 336 321
Plays 69 55
Average gain 4.9 5.8
Rushes-yards 31-85 26-66
Average per carry 2.7 2.5
Yards passing 251 255
Comp-Att-Int 31-38-1 19-29-0
Sacks by-yards lost 1-6 3-21
Return yards 2 73
Punts 1-2 2-20
Interceptions 0-0 1-53
Fumbles 0-0 0-0
Kickoff returns 6-120 5-109
Punting 3-28.3 2-41.0
Penalties-yards 5-50 5-60
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Time of possession 36:27 23:33
UCD
Rushing
No.-yards
Brandon Tucker 21-81
Chris Carter 1-9
Corbin Cutshaw 2-8
Greg Denham 7-(-13)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
Greg Denham 31 38 1 251
Receiving
No.-yards
Brandon Tucker 9-34
Chris Carter 7-68
Brandon Rice 5-58
Bakari Grant 5-43
Dean Rogers 3-36
Chris Miller 2-12
Tackles
U A T
Nero Evero 3 5 8
Mike Morales 2 5 7
Tyler Pringle 3 3 6
Mike Healey 1 5 6
M. Congdon 3 2 5
E.J. Brown 2 3 5
Dozie Amajoyi 0 5 5
Kenneth Brown 2 1 3
Brock Butler 1 2 3
Jeremy Scott 2 0 2
John Faletoese 1 1 2
Justin Fibich 1 1 2
Steven Wulff 0 2 2
P. Shelton 1 0 1
Sacks by-yards lost
Faletoese 1-6.
Fumbles forced-recovered
None.
Interceptions-return yards
None.
Missed field goals
None.
UM
Rushing
No.-yards
Thomas Brooks-Fletcher 12-38
Cole Bergquist 5-12
Chase Reynolds 5-12
Rob Schulte 3-8
Team 1-(-4)
Passing
Comp Att Int Yds
Cole Bergquist 19 29 0 255
Receiving
No.-yards
Marc Mariani 7-98
Mike Ferriter 4-83
Steve Pfahler 3-25
Rob Schulte 2-14
Tyler Palmer 1-14
Kevin Klaboe 1-12
Jabin Sambrano 1-9
Tackles
U A T
Shawn Lebsock 3 9 12
Tyler Corwin 3 9 12
Colt Anderson 3 7 10
Shann Schillinger 2 7 9
Jace Palmer 4 2 6
Brandon Fisher 3 2 5
Trumaine Johnson 2 3 5
Mike Stadnyk 1 4 5
Andrew Swink 1 4 5
Severin Campbell 2 2 4
Tyler Pelluer 1 3 4
Austin Mullins 0 4 4
Sacks by-yards lost
J. Palmer 1.5-13, M.Stadnyk 1-6, Carlson 0.5-2.
Fumbles forced-recovered
None.
Interceptions-return yards
Johnson 1-53.
Missed field goals
McKnight 34 (BK).
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