Griz drop come-from-behind heartbreaker to Eagles

Saturday, October 2

Cheney, Wash.

8:30 PM (MT)

Montana

3-1 , 1-1

Eastern Washington

5-0 , 2-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Montana

Eastern Wash.

10/3/2021 2:16:00 AM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The top six matchup between No. 4 Montana and No. 6 Eastern Washington lived up to the hype on Saturday night, coming down to the final play of the game. The Grizzlies defense held the high-flying Eastern Washington offense in check for three quarters, but an scoring explosion in the fourth quarter led to a 34-28 Eagles win in Cheney.

Montana led for a majority of the game, including being up 21-10 entering the fourth quarter. Eastern Washington never went away, however, scoring 24 points in the fourth and forcing two interceptions from Montana to seal the upset win. The loss was the first of the season for Montana, who had started 3-0 for the first time since 2013.

Eastern Washington improved to 5-0 with the win and won their 19th straight game on the red turf at Roos Field, where the Grizzlies have still yet to win.

"We are pretty disappointed," head coach Bobby Hauck said following the game. "We just didn't find a way to win that game and we probably could have."

The Grizzly defense held an offense that had scored 50+ points in three straight games to its lowest point total this season, but it wouldn't prove to be enough. Preseason Big Sky Offensive MVP Eric Barriere threw for 422 yards, but couldn't escape the Grizzly defensive front for much of the game.

Montana's defense put up big stats, sacking Barriere five times and finishing the game with 10 tackles for loss. Robby Hauck was active in the defensive backfield recording a team-high 13 tackles, while Jace Lewis had 10 tackles, a sack and 2.5 TFLs.

The defense also forced the Eagles into some mistakes, picking off Barriere twice. Justin Ford ended the first half with an interception, while Marcus Welnel picked up his third of the season, but it didn't prove to be enough for the Grizzlies.

"Barriere is a good player, there's no doubt about it. We had his number at times and he had our number at times, it was that kind of night," Hauck said. "I thought he played pretty well. He was under duress a lot, we got to him but we didn't do it enough."

The play of the game came from Malik Flowers, who returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and kept Montana in it late. It was the fifth career kickoff return touchdown for Flowers, setting Montana's program record and putting him one shy of the Big Sky record.

The Grizzly offense managed just three scores, but saw a big day from freshman running back Xavier Harris. He ran 18 times for a career-high 124 yards, averaging nearly seven yards per carry and scoring the first touchdown of the game for the Grizzlies.

Cam Humphrey threw for a pair of scores, finding Samuel Akem for the receiver's 25th career touchdown. He also found tight end Joey Elwell for a score.

Unfortunately for Montana, two interceptions in the fourth quarter would prove costly. The Eagles picked off Humphrey in the end zone when the Grizzlies had a chance to retake the lead and again later in the quarter. The two turnovers were converted into 10 Eagle points, and shifted the momentum of the game.

"When we look at it tomorrow or tonight we're going to see a lot of missed opportunities by us," Hauck said. "We just didn't play well enough. We had opportunities to get the win and some of those critical plays they made and we didn't. Good for them and not good enough by us."

Gallery: (10-3-2021) FB:: vs EWU 10.2.21

Humphrey finished his night 14-of-26 for 150 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. He also ran the ball 12 times for 39 yards.

The Eagles opened the game with an 85-yard drive, helped along by a 51 yard pass, to take an early 7-0 lead.

After a couple of slow drives, Montana finally got things going on offense late in the first quarter. A big pass to Akem put the Grizzlies into Eagle territory, Humphrey and the Montana offense faced a fourth down. They elected to go for it, giving it to Harris who bounced outside and picked up the first. Four plays later, the Griz went for it again. They were stopped this time, but only by way of a facemask tackle, which set up 1st and goal from the three.

A quick pitch out wide to Harris fooled the defense and the freshman running back strolled in untouched, tying the game at 7-all with just 42 seconds left in the quarter. The Grizzly drive lasted over six and a half minutes, getting some much-needed rest to the defense.

The running game burst open on Montana's next drive as Harris found a hole up the middle and used the speed to outpace the Eagle defense for a 44-yard gain. Humphrey then looked to his favorite red zone target in Akem. The big receiver won a 1-on-1 matchup, hauling in a back-shoulder fade to give Montana a 14-7 lead.

Eastern Washington made it deep into Grizzly territory on the following drive, but the Montana defense stepped up big. Marcus Welnel broke through the line untouched and sacked Barriere for an 11-yard loss that forced a punt. The Eagles then settled for a field goal on the next drive to cut Montana's lead to 14-10.

Malik Flowers had a nice return out of the locker rooms for the second week in a row, and Harris busted another long run - this time 28 yards - to get the Grizzlies into the red zone. Humphrey then connected with Elwell for his second passing touchdown of the day and the second of Elwell's career. The opening drive score gave Montana a 21-10 lead.

The Griz defense forced a three-and-out on the first possession and then forced the first turnover of the game on the following drive. Welnel rushed into the backfield initially, but dropped back and batted Barriere's pass to himself for his third interception this season.

Eastern Washington wouldn't be denied on the next drive, converting two fourth down attempts and scoring early in the fourth quarter. The Eagles went for two and couldn't convert, leaving them trailing 21-16.

Barriere found Talolo Limu-Jones behind the Grizzly defense on the next drive for a 58-yard gain, setting up an easy touchdown run. Barriere scored the two-point conversion on the ground to give Eastern Washington the 24-21 lead.

Humphrey started the next drive by scampering for a first down on the ground then connected on two straight passes to move the Grizzlies deep into EWU territory. Humphrey tried to go back to Akem in the end zone, but an underthrown ball was intercepted to give the ball back to the Eagles.

The turnover led to more points for Eastern Washington, as they drove down the field quickly to take a 31-21 lead with just under 10 minutes to play.

Just when it looked like Montana may be out of the game, that man did it again. Flowers caught the kickoff at the one, cut inside then back out and raced away to score his second touchdown in the past two weeks on kickoff returns.

The huge special teams' play cut the lead to just three with 9:27 remaining. The Grizzly defense then forced a three-and-out, with Jacob McGourin wrapping Barriere up in the backfield on a huge third down stop that gave the ball back to the offense.

Eastern Washington denied the Grizzlies, picking off another Humphrey pass that was intended for Akem. The interception gave the ball back to the Eagles in Grizzly territory. The Eagles went for it on fourth and seven with under three minutes remaining, and Barriere escaped the pressure and rushed for a first down.

The Grizzlies held Eastern to a field goal, setting up the offense with one final chance trailing 34-28 with 1:21 remaining. Humphrey found Akem for a big gain then Mitch Roberts for 16 more yards. The quarterback then kept it himself, running for 13 yards but sustaining an injury at the end of the run.

Kris Brown then entered at quarterback. The freshman hit on two passes to give the Grizzlies a chance from the 13-yard line with four seconds remaining. He escaped the pocket and threw a desperation pass into the end zone, but it was knocked down by the defense to end the game.

The Grizzlies still have plenty to play for this season, starting next week with a home game against Dixie State. They stay in Missoula the following week and return to Big Sky play with a matchup against Sacramento State.

"Everything is out there," Hauck said of their goals for the season. "It's a disappointment, certainly, to not find a way to win it, but it's a long season and we need to rally back from this and get the next one, that's for sure."