Griz Growl Again: Montana 54, Montana State 35

BOZEMAN (AP) - Kendrick Van Ackeren and the Montana Grizzlies' defense heard all the hype about the Bobcat offense entering Saturday's showdown with rival Montana State here. The No. 17 Grizzlies used it as fuel for their fire.

Van Ackeren, Montana's standout senor outside linebacker, piled up 13 tackles, a sack and an interception, Brady Gustafson threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns and Montana converted Montana State turnovers into touchdowns on four straight possessions Saturday to defeat its rival for the third straight season, 54-35.

Montana State entered the 115th meeting between two bitter rivals with the top scoring offense in the conference. MSU junior quarterback Dakota Prukop is one of the leading candidates for the Offensive MVP of the Big Sky Conference. None of that mattered to a Montana defense that played with physicality and authority as the Grizzlies seized momentum early before hanging on for in one of the most storied rivalries in the West.

"Coming into this game, we heard about them being No. 1 and we knew it was going to be a challenge, but we embraced the challenge," Van Ackeren said. "Our main focus was just to do our jobs and we did them well."

Jamaal Jones caught two touchdown passes, Ellis Henderson hauled in a 50-yard score following an interception and Montana scored 31 straight points to take a 37-14 lead at halftime in front of 20,507 at Bobcat Stadium.

The Grizzlies (7-4, 6-2 Big Sky Conference) won for the 72nd time in 115 meetings in the Brawl of the Wild and earned a berth in the FCS playoffs for the 21st time since 1993.

Gustafson completed 23 of 39 passes with an interception and Jones had nine catches for 132 yards and three scores. John Nguyen ran for 134 yards and Jeremy Calhoun rushed for two short touchdowns.

Dakota Prukop was 21 of 39 for 313 yards and three touchdowns, two to Beau Sandland, who caught seven passes for 163 yards for the Bobcats. Montana State (6-5, 3-5) finished with a losing record for the first time since 2001.

"We just stopped ourselves," Prukop said. "That's been the story of this season. Any time we are not executing on offense, it's because of ourselves."

Montana State struck first as Prukop hit Sandland for a 46-yard touchdown on the first Bobcat possession. Two possessions later, Montana turned Van Ackeren's interception into an eight-play drive capped by Jones' first touchdown from 8 yards out.

Montana sacked MSU punter Trevor Bolton and turned it into Calhoun's first touchdown from eight yards out to take a 17-7 lead with a minute left in the first quarter.

Van Ackeren chased Prukop down in the backfield on a fourth-down scramble to force a turnover on downs. Gustafson hit Jones for a 54-yard touchdown on the next play. UM again forced a turnover on downs and Gustafson again struck quickly, hitting Henderson for a 50-yard bomb four plays later to put UM up 31-7 with 7:36 to play in the first half.

"We had the mentality to keep our foot on the gas," Gustafson said. "The defense is out there creating really, really nice plays, creating opportunities for us and we had to capitalize."

Montana added two Daniel Sullivan field goals before halftime to take a 37-14 advantage into halftime before the Bobcats came storming back. Trace Timmer intercepted Gustafson to set up a short touchdown drive capped by Chad Newell's 4-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 37-22. Montana answered with a 10-play drive aided by a questionable roughing the punter penalty and capped by Calhoun's second score.

Prukop threw touchdown passes to Sandland and Brandon Brown in the fourth quarter as MSU cut the lead to 44-35. But Jones' third touchdown sealed Montana's 30th win over Montana State since the two teams joined the Big Sky Conference in 1963.

"I've coached for 30 years and I never dreamed I would coach in a rivalry like this," Stitt said. "There's nothing better in the country than this rivalry."

The season came to a close for Montana State, which was oringinally picked to win the Big Sky back in the summer. And though it wasn't the season the Bobcats would have liked to have had, head coach Rob Ash was nothing but proud of his team after the game.

"I told them I loved them," he said. "I told them that I really appreciated their effort. Because we battled back. We were behind so often, so much this year, and we never quit in a game. We always battled back. I loved that about this team."

Meanwhile, in Stitt's first year, Montana marches on, into the playoffs for the third straight season. On Sunday, the Griz found out they'll host a familiar foe in the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, this Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Montana was one of three teams to reach the playoffs from the Big Sky. League champion Southern Utah will travel to Sam Houston State Saturday, while Portland State received the No. 6 seed in the playoff bracket and will have a bye.

Should the Griz beat SDSU in Missoula, Montana would travel to Fargo, North Dakota the following weekend for a rematch with North Dakota State.

Note: Havre Daily News sports editor George Ferguson contributed to this story.

Montana 17 20 7 10 - 54

Montana St. 7 7 8 13 - 35

First Quarter

MtSt - Sandland 46 pass from Prukop (Daly kick), 11:36.

Mont - FG Sullivan 44, 6:11.

Mont - Ja.Jones 8 pass from Gustafson (Sullivan kick), 3:21.

Mont - Je.Calhoun 11 run (Sullivan kick), 1:00.

Second Quarter

Mont - Ja.Jones 54 pass from Gustafson (Sullivan kick), 12:49.

Mont - Henderson 49 pass from Gustafson (Sullivan kick), 7:36.

MtSt - Prukop 2 run (Daly kick), 4:05.

Mont - FG Sullivan 32, 2:07.

Mont - FG Sullivan 24, :22.

Third Quarter

MtSt - Newell 4 run (Barth pass from Newell), 9:34.

Mont - Je.Calhoun 10 run (Sullivan kick), 3:43.

Fourth Quarter

MtSt - Brown 11 pass from Prukop (Daly kick), 12:04.

MtSt - Sandland 22 pass from Prukop (kick failed), 9:25.

Mont - Ja.Jones 17 pass from Gustafson (Sullivan kick), 6:20.

Mont - FG Sullivan 35, :40.

A - 20,507.

UM MSU

First downs 25 23

Rushes-yards 48-184 37-190

Passing 353 313

Comp-Att-Int 23-39-1 22-40-1

Return Yards 23 19

Punts-Avg. 5-39.8 5-42.6

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1

Penalties-Yards 8-99 13-120

Time of Possession 28:16 31:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Montana, Nguyen 27-134, Je.Calhoun 17-45, Gustafson 4-5. Montana St., Newell 11-92, Prukop 17-47, J.Gates 3-33, Brekke 5-32, Team 1-(minus 14).

PASSING - Montana, Gustafson 23-39-1-353. Montana St., Prukop 21-39-1-313, Griebel 1-1-0-0.

RECEIVING - Montana, Ja.Jones 9-132, Horner 5-58, Henderson 3-91,Roberts 3-48, Curran 1-15, Nguyen 1-7, Je.Calhoun 1-2. Montana St.,Sandland 7-163, Griebel 4-35, Newell 3-42, Brekke 2-13, Barth 2-8, Sullivan 1-22, Herbert 1-19, Brown 1-11, Prukop 1-0.