Grizzlies claw their way back
Griz Nation has been giddy all week talking about last Saturday’s football comeback for the ages.
The Montana Grizzlies’ opening-round playoff game against South Dakota State took fans from the depths of despair (on the losing end of a 48-21 score late in the third quarter) to the heights of exuberance (a 61-48 victory for the Griz).
There probably were more than a few normally diehard fans who left the game or turned off their TVs when South Dakota was up 27 points with less than 6 minutes left in the third period.
But they missed a sensational UM resurrection. Ignited by Marc Mariani’s 98-yard kickoff return, the Griz alternately squashed the Jackrabbits on defense and marched smartly to the end zone on offense — over and over.
In a span of 20 minutes, the Grizzlies put up 40 unanswered points and left both their opponents and their fans dazed (although the latter also were delirious with joy).
The win propels the Griz into the quarterfinals against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at Washington Grizzly Stadium. But the Lumberjacks from the Texas school — and any future Montana opponents — had better beware that no lead they might pile up, apparently, is too great for the determined Grizzlies to overcome.
Go Griz!
FLATHEAD VALLEY retailers enjoyed a boost in business on Black Friday, and part of it was thanks to a group of Canadian women who enjoy an annual shopping spree here on Thanksgiving weekend.
They were expected to leave with as much as $80,000 in purchases, and the group of 40-plus women will in all likelihood be back again next year. This, after all, is a tradition that dates back 10 years.
Meanwhile, retailers can also expect to see other Canadians this Christmas season as well. The Canadian dollar is as strong as ever, giving tourists from north of the border a positive shopping experience to go along with the pleasure of visiting Montana.
IT WAS ON Thanksgiving when the news came out that Dustin Frost was back at work for Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., after being severely injured in a boating crash on Flathead Lake this summer.
That was fitting for a remarkable recovery. Frost was in a coma for 10 days at Kalispell Regional Medical Center with a head injury after the crash. At the time, there was no telling if he would survive, and if he did, how long any recovery would take.
So it is fortunate indeed that he is back at work, full-time, within a matter of months. We join his family and friends in giving thanks, and hope that he and other victims of the boating accident will see no long-term health problems.