No. 1 Griz hold off Eagles
Carpenter kicks game winner with 26 seconds left in 24-23 Montana win
MISSOULA - Wow. Wow. Wow. What a game.
The Eastern Washington University football team came into Washington-Grizzly Stadium on Saturday and attacked top-ranked Montana's weakness at cornerback to come back from a 14-0 deficit. Then the Eagles and Grizzlies exchanged leads four times in the second half. Finally, UM All-American kicker Dan Carpenter booted a game-winning 34-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the game to lift the Griz to a 24-23 Big Sky Conference victory.
The Eagles dominated most of the game. They rushed for more yards than the Griz. They passed for a lot more yards than the Griz. They held the ball on offense for six more minutes and finished with a whopping 451-181 total yards advantage. They even held the Griz offense to 2-for-14 on third-down conversions.
"I don't care much for stats," EWU coach Paul Wulff said. "The only one that matters is the one that showed us down by one."
EWU sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols threw the ball 59 times for 451 yards (the most against the Griz in Washington-Grizzly Stadium since 1996) and two blown-coverage touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver Aaron Boyce caught a WGS-record 17 passes for 232 yards. But it wasn't enough as the Grizzlies rallied from a 23-21 deficit with 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining with a nine-play, 45-yard game-winning drive.
UM senior receiver Ryan Bagley of Great Falls made the play of the game on that drive with a 27-yard catch on fourth down-and-10 from Montana's 38-yard line with 1:57 left to play. UM quarterback Cole Bergquist nearly overthrew Bagley on the wide-open fade route up the visiting sideline.
"He threw it out there and I saw it and I was like, 'Oh man, I better go get this one,'" Bagley said. "I can't believe I did it."
It was Bagley's only other catch in the game besides his wide-open 26-yard, bobbling touchdown catch on the game's opening drive.
"I saw Bags put a move on the corner and he was open," Bergquist said. "I just laid it out there and almost overthrew him. He made an excellent diving catch to save me and to get us what we needed."
Bergquist started that drive with three straight incompletions. After Bagley's catch on the Eagles' 35-yard line, Bergquist found Mike Ferriter on a 12-yard hitch. Two plays later, Bergquist rolled out to his right and found Ferriter, again, this time on a 7-yard out, which he slide out of bounds while catching.
It set up Carpenter's game winner that holder Clint Stapp saved after a high snap.
"The play of the day may have been Stapp's," UM coach Bobby Hauck said. "Bagley's catch was pretty huge, too. He made me right in going for it on fourth-and-10 with all three timeouts. It may not have been the smartest, but it worked out."
Carpenter said the kick ranked up there in his career moments.
"As far as game-winning field goals, I've only kicked two," he said. "The other one was against Cal Poly last year. I definitely would probably rank this one at the top. This was a big one for me. I missed one earlier in the game (his first of the year) and I was struggling in my mind. Even on the sideline I didn't feel like I was hitting the ball real well. I didn't hit it (the game-winner) well, but it snuck in.
"I don't know why I'm answering questions. You should have Stapp out here because that was one of the better holds I've ever seen. The snap was high and Clint just did an amazing job taking it and putting it down right where I wanted it."
EWU kicker Felipe Macias capped a 10-play, 44-yard drive with a 39-yard field goal with 2:20 left to give the Eagles a 23-21 lead. UM free safety Torrey Thomas of Dillon made the big play on defense by stopping Nichols a half-yard short of a first down on a third-down-and-3 scramble before the field goal. UM defensive tackle Craig Mettler batted down Nichols' second-down pass.
That go-ahead drive followed a three-and-out by the Grizzlies that gave way to the first boo birds of the season at WGS.
The Griz got the ball for that drive after Macias missed a 44-yard field, which was moved back 5 yards because of a delay of game penalty. Macias made the 39-yarder the penalty was whistled on.
"We got it off," Wulff said. "I was watching the clock and watching the hands of our snapper. Honestly, I thought we got it off. A lot of people did. Boy, that was a big play. That's all I can say."
The Griz took a 14-0 lead with 2:16 left before halftime when Ferriter hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass. Ferriter finished with a team-high six catches for 65 yards.
The Eagles passing game got on track immediately after the Ferriter touchdown. Nichols engineered an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that receiver Brynsen Brown capped with a 21-yard score on a underneath, drag route that left him untouched while going into the end zone with 27 seconds left before the half.
On the ensuing kickoff, Marcia kicked it high and short and UM junior Rob Schulte wasn't able to handle it. EWU freshman Will Edge hit Schulte to cause a fumble and teammate Nicholas Ramos recovered it on UM's 30-yard line. Three plays later, Marcias hit a 32-yard field goal as time expired to cut EWU's deficit to 14-10.
"It was a shame to play pretty dang good defense the whole first half and then give up those two scores," Hauck said. "It was a miscommunication on the kickoff return. (At halftime) we talked about answering the challenge with our offense and we did that twice in the second half when it really counted."
UM senior running back Lex Hilliard started the game and rushed for 72 yards on 15 carries while playing in UM's every fourth drive in the first half. He scored his 41st career rushing touchdown with 6:17 left in the third quarter, after EWU took a 20-14 lead, on a 1-yard run. It gave the Griz a 21-20 lead.
No. 1 Montana is now 2-0 in conference play and 5-0 overall. It has its first road game of the season Saturday at Sacramento State.
Eastern Washington fell to 1-2 in conference and 3-2 overall.
E. Washington 0 10 10 3 - 23
Montana 7 7 7 3 - 24
First Quarter
Mont-Bagley 26 pass from Bergquist (Johnson kick), 12:18.
Second Quarter
Mont-Ferriter 20 pass from Bergquist (Carpenter kick), 2:16.
EWas-Brown 21 pass from Nichols (Macias kick), :27.
EWas-FG Macias 32, :00.
Third Quarter
EWas-Boyce 37 pass from Nichols (Macias kick), 13:29.
EWas-FG Macias 42, 9:02.
Mont-Hilliard 1 run (Carpenter kick), 6:17.
Fourth Quarter
EWas-FG Macias 39, 2:20.
Mont-FG Carpenter 34, :26.
A-23,226.
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EWas Mont
First downs 25 14
Rushes-yards 29-114 30-108
Passing 451 181
Comp-Att-Int 37-59-0 16-32-0
Return Yards 13 19
Punts-Avg. 6-35.0 9-42.2
Fumbles-Lost 5-2 1-1
Penalties-Yards 14-127 10-113
Time of Possession 33:05 26:55
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-E. Washington, Morris 10-49, Alexander 8-32, Nichols 9-27, Ramos 1-7, Eller 1-(minus 1). Montana, Hilliard 15-70, Bergquist 10-38, Brooks-Fletcher 2-2, Coleman 2-1, Allen 1-(minus 3).
PASSING-E. Washington, Nichols 37-59-0-451. Montana, Bergquist 16-32-0-181.
RECEIVING-E. Washington, Boyce 17-232, Eller 8-77, Brown 6-94, Ramos 1-13, Gant 1-10, Morris 1-10, Robbins 1-8, Martin 1-4, McAndrews 1-3. Montana, Ferriter 7-92, Coleman 2-7, Hilliard 2-0, Bagley 1-26, Allen 1-24, Schillinger 1-16, Schulte 1-12, Klaboe 1-4.