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Griz rock Wildcats; T-Birds shock Bobcats

Cat-Griz Report

MISSOULA (AP) — Jordan Canada rushed for a career-high 189 yards and two touchdowns as Montana throttled lowly Weber State 42-6 on Saturday.

The Grizzlies (9-2, 5-2 Big Sky) piled up 461 yards of total offense, with John Nguyen, Marlon Miles and Shay Smithwick-Hann each rushing for a TD. Cam Warren caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Johnson to put Montana on the scoreboard in the first quarter with a lead it would never relinquish.

"I'm so tired of everybody saying we don't run the ball and can't run the ball," Montana head coach Mick Delaney said. "Watch today's game, that's all I'm going to say."

Weber State (1-10, 0-7 BSC) had six turnovers, including three interceptions from quarterback Austin Chipoletti. The only Wildcat scoring came from kicker Shaun McClain, who hit two field goals for the Wildcats, including a 48-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to cut the Grizzlies lead, 14-6.

"The turnover thing has been killing us and we've got to keep overcoming that demon," Weber State head coach Jody Sears said.

Johnson sat out the second half because of an illness. Smithwick-Hann replaced him in the second half.

Canada opened the third quarter for No. 7 Montana with an 80-yard TD run.

"The offensive line gave me a beautiful seam, and I don't know what the defense was doing, but they weren't ahead of me or anywhere close," Canada said.

The Grizzlies added three more touchdowns after that and held Weber State to just four yards in the second half. Weber also turned the ball over six times on the Grizzles’ senior day.

"It's kind of been a thorn in our side, our execution offensively, and sustaining drives," Sears said.

Zack Wagenmann had four sacks and nine tackles to lead Montana's defense. Jordan Tripp recorded one fumble recovery and interception for the Grizzlies.

Chipoletti finished the game 18-of-36 for 185 yards passing and zero touchdowns. The last time the Wildcats won in Missoula, was 1987.

Montana has likely clinched an FCS playoff berth, but the Griz still have to deal with the 2013 Brawl of the Wild. Montana and Montana State will face off Saturday at 12:07 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman.

Southern Utah 22, Bobcats 14

BOZEMAN (AP) — QB Aaron Cantu ran for two touchdowns Saturday night to give Southern Utah enough of a lead to hold off a late rally by Montana State and win 22-14.

Cantu threw for just 88 yards and only ran for six, but was able to score two of Southern Utah's three touchdowns, both off 1-yard rushes. Chris Robinson scored the other touchdown for the Thunderbirds (8-3, 5-2 Big Sky) with a 5-yard rush in the final minute before the half.

The No. 8 Bobcats (7-4, 5-2), who were held to 87 yards rushing, didn't score until the fourth quarter. Chad Newell ran for a 13-yard TD five minutes into the fourth and DeNarius McGhee ran in from the 1 with 2:47 remaining. McGhee finished 20 of 29 for a game-high 196 yards passing, but had only completed 4 of 9 passes for four yards by the end of the third quarter.

MSU was befuddled all night by SUU’s league-leading defense, and injuries to Cody Kirk, who was held to just 45 yards, and Shawn Johnson, who rushed for 42, limited the struggling MSU offense, while McGhee threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.

“The start set us back because we lost our confidence in every respect about what we could call that would work,” MSU head coach Rob Ash said. “We didn’t need to do that. We needed to stay the course. We didn’t.”

The Bobcats’ playoff hopes took a huge hit with Saturday’s home loss. MSU will likely need to beat Montana in this Saturday’s Brawl of the Wild, and hope that Northern Arizona beats SUU on the same day to ensure an FCS playoff berth.

 

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