Cat-Griz Report: Grizzlies pull off improbable upset of NAU

MISSOULA (AP) — The last time Makena Simis played quarterback for Montana, he threw for a school-record six touchdowns. That was two years ago. Simis was called on again to take snaps for the Grizzlies Saturday, this time heavier and stronger, and used his size to scrap for yards against Northern Arizona.

"It's weird how things come full circle," Simis said. "But I just wanted to embrace it and really just be there to get the ball to the guys who needed to make plays and, when I was asked to make plays with my feet, what I wanted to do was not hold the team back."

Simis had 101 yards rushing on 19 carries and Jerry Louie-McGee had a 48-yard punt return for a touchdown to help Montana beat No. 18 Northern Arizona 17-15 on Saturday to snap the Lumberjacks' six-game win streak.

"Upon contact I don't think I got knocked back once today," Simis said. "I was always falling forward. Just to use that in my favor when our game plan is to use the quarterback run, just pound them with the run game, I think that's big."

Simis, a redshirt senior, moved from quarterback to receiver after the 2015 season but came into the week as the backup quarterback. He entered the game after the first drive and was 6-of-15 passing for 44 yards with one interception.

Northern Arizona's Stone Smartt scampered around the edge, dove and touched the pylon for a 2-yard touchdown that made it 17-15 with 50 seconds left. On the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt, he rolled right and had a wide open receiver in the back of the end zone, but threw behind his target.

Montana (6-3, 4-2 Big Sky Conference) recovered the onside kick to seal it.

In the first quarter, Smartt replaced quarterback Case Cookus, who was ejected for targeting on a block downfield.

"You can talk about them losing their starting quarterback early, which is one of those things, because we were on number four," Montana head coach Bob Stitt said. "These things happen, and I like our number four."

The Montana defense had seven sacks and, after Cookus left, allowed just 278 total yards. Northern Arizona (6-3, 5-1) came in averaging nearly 461 yards, and more than 35 points, per game.

"It was gritty, gutsy, shows the character of our football team," Stitt said. "It wasn't pretty at all, but it feels so good."

Just as Northern Arizona threatened to score on back-to-back drives, star quarterback Cookus lowered a shoulder into Montana linebacker James Banks on the near end of a wide receiver reverse. The referees confirmed the targeting call, and Cookus was ejected, furiously taunting the Missoula crowd of 20,000 as he left. Cookus' departure had a noticeable effect on the NAU offense. The 'Jacks ran the ball 52 times, compared to its average of 34 attempts per game this season, for 179 yards.

"For us, losing Case Cookus that early in the game was an awful lot to come off of," NAU coach Jerome Souers said. "Stone Smartt, the true freshman, he's a very talented young man. We have high hopes for him and he's improving every week, but it might've been an awful lot to ask of him to come in and perform the way that we needed him to."

The Grizzlies were without their first- and second-string quarterbacks, and the pass-happy Griz struggled to do much through the air. Simis, the starting H-receiver on opening day, replaced third-string QB Caleb Hill on Montana's second possession to be the Grizzlies' fourth quarterback of the season.

"The offense is going to feel the confidence from the quarterback," Stitt said. "I didn't feel like he (Hill) came out and did that, and we weren't going to wait. This guy's done it for us before, and Caleb's a good quarterback, but we've got have a quarterback we can ride, and Makena was something else. Have a 100-yard day and not play the position for a couple years -- I don't know how many performances can match what this guy did."

Montana's quarterback problem will be its biggest challenge as the Grizzlies try to squeeze into the FCS playoff picture and avoid a late-season unraveling. Jensen could return next week against Northern Colorado after a concussion took him out of last week's game against Weber State.

"We knew Gresch wasn't going to go early, and we were hoping that he'd be OK, but you can't rush something like that," Stitt said. "It was really full speed ahead with these guys (Hill and Simis) and the game plan. We didn't have to change a lot of our stuff...Makena's been running these plays for a long time."

The Griz remain at home to host Northern Colorado this Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Kennesaw State 16, Bobcats 14

BOZEMAN (AP) — Justin Thompson kicked three field goals, the last one a 37-yarder with 1:55 to play, and No. 25 Kennesaw State won its eighth straight game, 16-14 over Montana State Saturday in the coldest game in Owls' history.

"Third year program going across the country and finding a way to make it happen, this is a big win for us," Owls coach Brian Bohannon said. "I told the guys we had to score. I wanted to go for it on fourth-and-1, but took the field goal."

Thompson's kick capped off a 20-play, 78-yard drive that consumed 10:03. The Owls converted on fourth down twice during the drive.

Taylor Henkle intercepted Chris Murray at the KSU 33 with 1:16 to play to seal the win. The Owls have had at least one interception each game this season.

Game-time temperature was 23 degrees, 31 degrees colder than any game played by the third-year program.

Kennesaw State (8-1) scored on a 2-yard run to cap an 89-yard drive on the Owls' first possession.

"That was a heckuva drive," Bohannon said. "We converted some what I would call arduous first downs."

Montana State (4-5) came right back with a long touchdown drive of its own on its first possession, Murray scoring on a 7-yard run, but the game slowed considerably after that.

Thompson had a 35-yard field goal nine seconds before the half to put the Owls up.

Murray opened the second half with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Mitch Herbert for the Bobcats but Thompson followed with a 40-yard field goal.

Kennesaw, the FCS rushing leader at 329 yards a game, ran for 346, led by Chandler with 149 on 34 carries. Jake McKenzie added 116 on 20.

Chandler passed for 55 yards and Murray 110 as the two combined to go 9 of 30.

The Bobcats will now head to Northern Arizona for their final road game of the season.