Griz get two pick-6 TDs, shut out Bears 40-0
MISSOULA — For an idea how poorly it went for winless Northern Colorado Saturday, the Montana Grizzlies had more yards in interception returns than the Bears had in receptions.
Jaxon Lee took one interception 48 yards for one pick-6 and Braxton Hill took another 34 yards to the paint in No. 5 Montana’s 40-0 shellacking of the Bears at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Eli Gillman had 105 yards and two touchdowns for the Grizzlies; 63 yards and both scores came after halftime.
But Lee’s was and probably still is the key play: The Grizzlies scuffled through a scoreless first quarter, punting twice ahead of Grant Glasgow’s second missed field goal at 12:59 of the second.
Then Lee, a Drummond native who graduated from Missoula Sentinel, picked off an underthrown pass by Jacob Sirmon, shook a tackle and ran to paydirt.
That and an encouraging debut from freshman quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat — he threw a 21-yard scoring pass to Junior Bergen for a 14-0 lead late in the first half — sparked the Grizzlies.
The son of Griz quarterback Brian Ah Yat was 9 of 13 passing for 89 yards.
“He’s been the number two guy for about four weeks, and we’ve kind of intended to play him each of the last three weeks and it hasn’t been opportune to do that,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. “Being able to play him a significant amount was really good for our team and good for his development.”
Clifton McDowell started at QB and threw for 81 yards and ran for 78 for Montana, which at 7-1 overall and 4-1 in league games moved into a tie with Idaho and Montana State atop the Big Sky Conference standings. The No. 2 Bobcats fell at Idaho Saturday, 24-21.
McDowell’s 20-yard scoring pass to Sawyer Racanelli — Racanelli’s first career TD — made it 33-0 at 10:16 of the fourth quarter.
Yet a defense that piled up six sacks and held the Bears (0-8, 0-5 in the Big Sky) to 94 yards stole the headlines. Lee, Hill and Riley Wilson all had six tackles from their linebacker spots to lead the team. Wilson had three sacks for 25 yards in losses.
“It’s such a great day by our defense,” Hauck said. “It’s hard to shut people out in modern day college football. To hold them under 100 yards of total offense, it was a really, really good performance — and obviously that’s an understatement — by our defense.”
It’s the first shutout of the season for the Griz, and the third shutout by Montana’s defense since the start of 2022. The Grizzlies also blanked UNC 35-0 in 2021.
“The 31 carries for 18 yards. … That’s a special, special day in terms of the annals of Grizzly defense,” Hauck said. “We play defense here, and we play good defense.”
Sirmon, the son of David Sirmon, who played on the Grizzlies’ 1995 FCS title team, was 6 of 20 passing for just 43 yards. He was relieved by Hank Gibbs but then returned when Gibbs left the game with an apparent head injury.
Nick Ostmo added 87 rushing yards on 13 carries for the Griz.
No. Colo. 0 0 0 0 - 0
Montana 0 14 12 14 - 40
Second Quarter
UM — Lee 48 interception return (Nic Ramos kick), 11:58
UM — Bergein 21 pass from Ah Yat (Ramos kick), 1:25
Third Quarter
UM — Gilman 6 run (kick failed), 9:08
UM — Hill 34 interception return (pass failed), 8:17
Fourth Quarter
UM — Racanelli 20 pass from McDowell (Ramos kick), 10:16
UM — Gilman 4 run (Ramos kick), 5:00
A — 25,463
NC UM
First downs 7 25
Total Net Yards 94 455
Rushes-yards 31-18 51-285
Passing 76 170
Punt Returns 0-0 4-38
Kickoff Returns 2-57 0-0
Interceptions Ret. 1-0 2-82
Comp-Att-Int 7-23-2 16-29-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 6-40 3-18
Punts 10-43.9 4-43.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-10 9-90
Penalties-Yards 5-68 6-80
Time of Possession 33:09 26:51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—No. Colorado, Afari 17-46, Hornbeak 7-16, Gibbs 3-minus 19, Sirmon 4-minus 25. Montana, Gillman 14-106, Ostmo 13-86, McDowell 18-78, Ah Yat 2-12, Harris 2-7, Team 2-minus 4.
PASSING—No. Colorado, Sirmon 6-20-2-43, Gibbs 1-3-0-33. Montana, McDowell 7-14-0-81, Ah Yat 9-13-0-89, Benham 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING—No. Colorado, Robson 2-40, Robertson 1-11, Arrington 1-8, Munroe 1-6, Clements 1-6, Hellbig 1-5. Montana, Fontes 5-66, Ostmo 3-17, Sikmpson 2-23, Bergin 1-212, Racanelli 1-20, Harris 1-11, Shafer 1-9, White 1-4, Gillman 1-minus 1.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Montana, Glasgow 44 and 45.