Griz gouge Bobcats

Hilliard rushes for 120 yards, two TDs

MISSOULA - Back-to-back-to-back?

Not even close.

More like back to normal.

Seventh-ranked Montana ate up a patchwork Montana State secondary through the air and ran over a slumping defensive front seven for a 38-22 win Saturday in the 104th Brawl of the Wild at Washington Grizzly Stadium, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Bobcats and winning a share of the Big Sky Conference championship. Before MSU won the last two 'Cat-Griz games, Montana won 16 straight.

The Griz finished tied with Eastern Washington at 6-1 in league play, but since Montana beat the Eagles in Cheney earlier this year, UM gets the conference's automatic playoff berth and a likely home game next week. The official announcement will be made today.

It is the Grizzlies' record seventh consecutive Big Sky title (outright or shared) and 10th in 12 years. They have also made the playoffs for 12 straight years, a Division I-AA record.

"I felt like we were in control from the first play on," UM coach Bobby Hauck said. "I'm hoping this has the potential to give us two home (playoff) games."

Montana opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Craig Ochs to Jefferson Heidelberger on its second possession. The Bobcats answered right back with a 38-yard TD from Travis Lulay to Rick Gatewood on a fake punt, and it looked like the potential shootout many had anticipated between these two potent offenses was at hand.

But the Griz defense shut down MSU's running game and Bobcat receivers again developed a case of the drops to disrupt the passing game, and Montana State would pick up just three more points the rest of the half.

Montana's offense kept rolling, though, as former Flathead standout Lex Hilliard returned to action after an infection from a spider bite sidelined him for all but a handful of plays the week before. Hilliard had 66 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, giving the Griz a 21-10 lead at the break.

"I expected to play as much as I did," Hilliard said. "But I depend on the line for how I play."

Hilliard finished with 120 yards on 25 carries, and the Griz netted 244 yards on the ground as a team.

The Bobcats got the ball to start the second half and immediately showed signs of life, putting together a 16-play, 85-yard drive capped by Justin Domineck's 2-yard run to pull within 21-16.

But the MSU defense just wasn't equal to the task, playing zone for the first time all year because of injuries and inexperience in the secondary.

Montana answered with a field goal and touchdown on its next two drives, and any thought of yet another Bobcat comeback was squelched.

"They threw the ball against our zone like we don't know how to play zone," MSU coach Mike Kramer said. "And we don't. In three games we've had our guts ripped out on defense.

"This one's going to be tough to sit with for a long time."

Unable to run the ball effectively - MSU had just 43 yards on the ground - the Bobcats again turned to Lulay's arm. And while the junior had good numbers (27-of-56, 386 yards and a touchdown), Montana had an effective game plan to limit the damage he could do.

"They just played real well defensively," Lulay said. "I saw more pressure today than I'd seen in a while.

"It wasn't necessarily the running game that wasn't going. We weren't in sync offensively at all."

Several times the Griz batted Lulay's passes down at the line of scrimmage. That, coupled with the dropped throws prevented MSU from getting into any kind of rhythm in the passing game.

"We mixed it up what we were doing up front," Hauck said. "In general I thought our defense was well-played today."

While the defense was disrupting the Bobcats' offense, Ochs led a balanced Montana offense - 244 yards rushing, 280 passing, including two touchdowns to Heidelberger.

"When we're able to run the ball, we're a very difficult offense to stop," Ochs said. "Offensively we have the attitude we need to score every drive.

"I think you're seeing a mature team that's coming together at the right time."

When backup running back J.R. Waller scored on a nifty 33-yard run to make it 38-16 with 9:18 left to play, all that was left was the celebrating.

"They've had our number two years in a row," said Heidelberger, who finished with nine catches for 131 yards. "The last thing you want to do is go out (as a senior) losing to those guys."

For the Bobcats, it was a stunning end to a crushing free fall to close the season. Two weeks ago, MSU was at Sacramento State undefeated in Big Sky play. But a bad loss to the Hornets, an overtime loss to Eastern Washington and this defeat to the Griz has Montana State dumbfounded.

"I'm shocked right now," said Gatewood, who had a 'Cat-Griz game-record 235 yards receiving on 13 catches. "Six-and-five doesn't show how good we are as a football team."

As Montana State wonders what might have been, the Griz know another postseason is at hand. When the official announcement comes this morning, Montana will probably be hosting Cal Poly-SLO next Saturday.

GRIZZLIES 38, BOBCATS 22

Montana St. 7 3 6 6 -22

Montana 14 7 10 7 -38

First Quarter

UM-Heidelberger 15 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick), 9:13

MSU-Gatewood 38 pass from Lulay (Cochrane kick), 6:18

UM-Hilliard 1 run (Carpenter kick), 3:54

Second Quarter

UM-Hilliard 5 run (Carpenter kick), 6:06

MSU-FG Cochrane 27, 00:19

Third Quarter

MSU-Domineck 2 run (kick blocked), 9:36

UM-FG Carpenter 22, 5:26

UM-Heidelberger 14 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick), 1:59

Fourth Quarter

UM-Waller 33 run (Carpenter kick), 9:18

MSU-Gatewood 2 run (run failed), 6:42

A-23,867.

MSU Mont

First downs 26 30

Rushes-yards 25-43 48-244

Passing 386 280

Comp-Att-Int 27-57-0 22-30-2

Return Yards 0 32

Punts-Avg. 5-36 2-39

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 5-41 6-60

Time of Possession 26:54 33:06

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-MSU, Domineck 12-38, Gatewood 2-4, Lulay 11-1. UM, Hilliard 25-120, Waller 5-61, Ochs 9-20, Hancock 2-18, J. Green 5-16, B. Green 1-0, Team 1-0.

PASSING-MSU, Lulay 27-56-0-386. UM, Ochs 22-29-1-280, Waller 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING-MSU, Gatewood 13-235, Wolf 5-54, Sullivan 3-48, Guinn 3-40, Domineck 3-9. UM, Heidelberger 9-131, Segars 8-106, Hancock 4-33, Palmer 1-10.