Cats claw Coyotes, go back to Frisco

Playing in his final home game, Tommy Mellott cemented his status as one of the alltime great Bobcats, leading Montana State to a 31-17 win over South Dakota in an FCS semifinal game on Saturday.

Mellott, a senior from Butte, scored two touchdowns and threw for a third as top-seeded MSU (15-0) advances to the FCS Championship in Frisco, Texas, on Jan. 6 against North Dakota State, a replay of the 2021 championship game won by the Bison 38-10.

On an unseasonably warm afternoon with a game-time temperature of 49 degrees, the Bobcats capped their opening, 65-yard drive with a 34-yard pass from Mellott to a wide open Taco Dowler as the 20,557 fans were just settling into their seats. It marked Mellott's 29th career scoring toss and leaves him one touchdown pass behind Kelly Bradley who led MSU to the national championship in 1984.

USD (11-3) answered with a 55-yard scoot by Travis Theis, one of two Coyotes who ran for over 1,000 yards this season. It was Theis' 40th score of his career.

But Mellott came right back with a 5-yard scoring run up the middle behind blocks from Titan Fleischmann, Lonyatta Alexander and Ryan King as the first quarter ended 14-7 in favor of MSU.

On the first play of the second quarter, Charles Pierre, USD's other 1,000 yard rusher, went 45 yards to tie the game. It was Pierre's first touch of the game.

The Bobcats answered with a 12-play drive finished off by Scottre Humphrey's 1-yard plunge behind linemen JT Reed and Cole Sain. It was Humphrey's 15th score of the season. He and Adam Jones have each exceeded 1,000 rushing yards this season.

A 28-yard field goal by Myles Sansted gave the Bobcats a 24-14 halftime lead.

Midway through the third quarter, Mellott muffed a snap, picked the ball up off the ground, saw a huge hole created by Connor Moore, Marcus Wehr and Burke Mastel, and scampered 41 yards to make it 31-14. That run gave Mellott 14 touchdowns on the season and was his 42nd scoring run of the senior's career. Cody Kirk remains the alltime touchdown leader with 47.

USD battled back part way, but huge fourth down stops, the first by Tayden Gray and the second by Simeon Woodard, kept the Coyotes out of the end zone. All they could muster in the second half was a 46-yard field goal by Will Leyland.

Mellott ran for 125 yards and passed for another 134. His favorite target was Dowler who hauled in four passes for 94 yards. Ty McCullouch caught three passes. Jones ran for 66 yards and Humphrey added another 35. Overall MSU totaled 356 yards while USD produced 371 but couldn't reach the end zone often enough. Theis, a senior, led USD with 110 yards on the ground and another 80 on pass catches.

Brody Grebe sparked the Bobcat defense with a quarterback sack and a fumble recovery, the game's only turnover. Kenneth Eiden also recorded a sack. Dru Polidore and McCade O'Reilly were in on seven tackles each.