Gustafson, Louie-McGee break records in 42-41 loss

Saturday, September 24

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

1:00 PM (MT)

Montana

2-1 , 0-1

Cal Poly

3-1 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana

Cal Poly

9/24/2016 6:08:00 PM | Football

Box Score PDF Final Stats

By: Montana Sports Information

Despite record breaking performances from Brady Gustafson and Jerry Louie-McGee, the Montana Grizzlies fell on the road to the Cal Poly Mustangs in the Big Sky opener for both teams.

Brady Gustafson broke Dave Dickenson's record for completions in a game with 47, while Louie-McGee broke a Grizzly record and matched the Big Sky's all-time single game record with 21 catches.

"Brady came back and did a nice job, he really ran the game plan the way we wanted him to and made some big throws," head coach Bob Stitt said. "We had a lot of guys helping him out, the receivers did a nice job and it's unfortunate we couldn't pull out the win."

The No. 6 Grizzlies (2-1/0-1 BSC) were efficient offensively all day, racking up 485 total yards of offense on 84 plays. Montana went to the air for 418 of the yards, while Cal Poly focused on rushing the ball. The Mustangs ran for 274 of their 431 yards of total offense.

This is the third straight season Cal Poly have defeated Montana, and the second straight year they handed Montana its first defeat of the season.

In the end, two Montana turnovers deep within their own territory proved too much to overcome.

"They are just a good team," Stitt said of Cal Poly. "It isn't anything that our guys weren't ready to play, because they were ready to play, it's just two good football teams playing and one of them won by one point. They had one more point than we did and I'm proud of the way the team played."

Montana came out of the gates hot, scoring on their first three drives to open up a 17-7 lead. Cal Poly answered with a touchdown, and then the disaster struck for the Griz.

The Mustangs tipped Gustafson's pass at the line and intercepted it on Montana 13-yard line. Kyle Lewis ran for a touchdown on Cal Poly's first offensive play to retake the lead 21-17. On Montana's next possession, Gustafson fumbled on his own 26-yard line. Two plays later, the Mustangs were in the end zone again and ahead 28-17.

The Griz closed the half out strong, marching down the field for a 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to get within four heading into the locker rooms.

The first punt of the game for the Grizzlies didn't come until the first drive of the second half, when Cal Poly found an answer for the Grizzly offense. It didn't last long, however, as Jeremy Calhoun capped Montana's next drive with a touchdown run from two yards out to give Montana the 31-28 lead.

On their final drive of the third quarter, Cal Poly retook the lead 35-31 with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Dano Graves to Joe Protheroe.

Montana came right back, scoring on their first drive of the fourth. Jeremy Calhoun scored his third touchdown of the game from 29 yards out. The Griz kicked a field goal on their next possession to move ahead 41-35.

The lead wouldn't last. Cal Poly received the ball with 8:11 on the clock and drove 75 yards in just under four minutes to take the one-point lead.

On the final drive of the game for Montana, Gustafson broke Dickenson's record on a 30-yard completion to John Nguyen that brought the Grizzlies up to the Cal Poly 31-yard line. The drive would move no further in three plays, and attempted a 48-yard field goal to take the lead with 1:55 remaining.

Freshman kicker Tim Semenza, who was 2-for-2 on field goals with a long of 33 and 5-for-5 on extra points, missed wide right. The Griz stopped Cal Poly on the next drive, but had just one second when they got the ball back. A desperation play failed, and Cal Poly won 42-41.

"I'm so proud of how those guys came out and played, we put them in a couple of bad situations in the first half, but I'm proud of the team and how we gave ourselves a chance to win the game," Stitt said. "We didn't win the game, but we gave ourselves a chance."

Louie-McGee caught the Big Sky record 21 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned five kickoffs for 114 yards.

"The way they were lining up we knew we would have a shot to throw it to Jerry a lot, and we got him the ball and he did some nice things with it," Stitt said.

Justin Calhoun caught eight passes for 63 yards and Keenan Curran had 62 yards on five grabs. The Grizzlies had nine different receivers catch at least one pass from Gustafson who, in addition to the 47 completions, also had 418 yards and two touchdowns.

On the ground, Jeremy Calhoun had a great game after not playing against Northern Iowa. He ran the ball 11 times for 63 yards and three scores.

Cal Poly had four different players run for at least 40 yards, led by Joe Protheroe's 90 yards. Kyle Lewis, Kori Garcia and Graves all ran for a touchdown, while Graves also threw three touchdown passes. He finished the game with six completions for 157 yards.

The Grizzlies return home next week after spending nearly a month away from Washington-Grizzly Stadium. They will face Southern Utah in the homecoming game.

"It will be great just to play again," Stitt said. "We need to get back on the field now because our kids are going to be hurting. The thing I'm proud of is, our team is coming to play on the road, we are going to battle. This is a good football team and we went toe to toe with them. We've got to get healed up and get ready for that home stand."