Bergen’s heroics leads Griz in win over TSU

Saturday, November 30

Missoula, Mont.

8:15 PM

Montana

9-4 , 5-3

Tennessee State

9-4 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tennessee St.

Montana

12/1/2024 12:49:00 AM | Football

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By: Montana Sports Information

There is just nothing quite like the magic of Junior Bergen in the playoffs. The senior specialist for Montana tied the FCS record for punt return touchdowns on Saturday night inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium, scoring twice to lead Montana to a 41-27 victory over Tennessee State.

Bergen brought his career total up to eight with a pair of second-half scores that were the difference-maker for Montana in the first-round win. He now has five special teams scores in the previous three home playoff games, four of them coming on punt returns.

Bergen scored on a kickoff and punt return score against Furman in last year's quarterfinal, and a punt return in the semifinal win over NDSU. It's his fifth career punt return touchdown in the playoffs.

The big plays helped Montana overcome three fumbles on the day. They outgained the Tigers 369-277 behind a huge discrepancy in the rushing category. Montana carried the ball for 254 yards and held Tennessee State to negative 19 rushing yards.

"Playoff wins are hard to get and so we're excited to get it," head coach Bobby Hauck said. "The people that were here were loud and had a good time. We found ways make it a little more interesting than we needed to, but that seems to be the way of the '24 Grizzlies."

It's the second time this season that Montana has held an opponent to negative rushing yards, and the fewest yards by an opponent since Montana held Mississippi Valley State to -61 yards rushing in 2016.

"Minus 19 yards rushing is going to be a successful formula generally speaking," Hauck said. "(TSU QB Draylen) Ellis kept fighting though. He was a tough kid, and the Tennessee State folks should be proud of him because he really hung in there. He got hit a bunch, but he hit some passes. We had immense pressure on him, and I thought our guys did a good job defensively."

Gallery: (12-20-2024) FB: vs Tennessee State (11.30.24)

The Griz defense forced five sacks and eight total tackles for loss. Riley Wilson led Montana in both categories with 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

Montana then leaned on Eli Gillman and the rushing attack for the win. Gillman had a season-high 20 carries and turned it into 136 yards and two touchdowns. He moved into the top five in career rushing touchdowns with 28, went over 1,000 yards on the season and over 2,000 career yards on the night.

Freshman Malae Fonoti also had eight runs for 46 yards, averaging nearly six yards per carry.

Logan Fife started and played most of the game at quarterback, rushing eight times for 34 yards while throwing for 97 yards. Stevie Rocker Jr. also had five carries for 30 yards.

Bergen will garner the special teams attention, but Ty Morrison also went 4-of-5 kicking field goals and recorded a new career-long with a 50-yard field goal in the first half. Morrison also had a pooch kick that was recovered by Montana.

The coverage team was also excellent, forcing Tennessee State to start four drives inside their own 20-yard line.

"The special teams coach earned his keep tonight. I was really, really proud of our special teams guys in particular," Hauck said. "The two punt return touchdowns were obviously big, but that was a terrific kickoff return and punt return team that we played and we smashed them pretty good so I was enthused by that."

Hauck improves to 18-11 all-time in 1-AA/FCS Postseason history, moving into a tie for third all-time with John Stiegelmeier (SDSU) and Chris Klieman (NDSU). It's the ninth straight home playoff win for Montana dating all the way back to 2013.

Montana stuck first in the contest. The teams traded three-and-outs on their first drives, but a short punt gave the Griz the ball near midfield. Fife connected on two passes, including a 23-yarder to Sawyer Racanelli to get into field goal range.

Ty Morrison connected from 39-yards out to make it 3-0 Montana just over five minutes into the game.

Tennessee State answered on the final drive of the first quarter, using 10 plays to go 57 yards. They were stalled out and settled for a 37-yard field goal to tie the game with just three seconds left in the first.

Fonoti was a difference-maker on his first drive, carrying it five times for 36 yards. It led Montana into Tiger territory, but the Grizzlies were forced to settle for a 39-yard field that the Hellgate Canyon wind blew wide right.

The next Montana drive saw Hauck roll the dice facing a 4th-and-1 from the Montana 42-yard line. The Griz went for it, flipping a quick pitch out left to Gillman for a big conversion. On his next run, Gillman went over 2,000 yards in his career and moved the chains again with a pick-up of 12 yards.

The star back finished off the drive, running four straight times for 30 yards and a touchdown. Gillman also went over 1,000 yards on the drive to become the first Grizzly since Knight in 2019 to run for 1K in a season.

With that last rush, @eli_gillman has passed the 1,000 rushing yard mark for the season and the 2,000 rushing yard mark on his career! 👏#GoGriz pic.twitter.com/5xwoLeLOSR
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) December 1, 2024

Riley Wilson had a 13-yard sack of TSU quarterback Draylen Ellis on the next drive that forced the Tigers to punt from deep within their own territory. The punt sailed wide and out of bounds, giving UM the ball back just 36 yards away from the end zone.

Fife picked up 15 yards on the ground on the first play, and had another 13-yard rush on the drive, but penalties backed the Griz up. It led to a 31-yard field goal from Morrison that made it 13-3 Montana.

It looked like that would be the halftime score as the Grizzlies kicked off with just 10 seconds remaining. Morrison floated a kickoff between levels of the kick return, and Montana rushed to recover the ball at the TSU 33-yard line.

Morrison then drilled his third field goal of the half, making his career-long with a 50-yarder that made it 16-3 at halftime. It's the first 50-yarder by a Montana kicker since Kevin Macias in the 2021 Brawl of the Wild.

The Griz outgained the Tigers 194-77 in the first half, and had the ball for five more minutes. Most of Montana's damage came on the ground with 116 rushing yards in the first half. The Grizzlies had four scoring drives in the first half on seven attempts, and forced three 3-and-outs from the Tigers.

The second quarter was dominated by Montana. The Griz had nine first downs and held Tennessee State to zero. The Montana defense limited the Tigers to just a single yard in the quarter, pushing them backwards on the ground for negative nine rushing yards.

Tennessee State had a big play to flip momentum early in the second half. After a punt on their first drive, they forced a fumble from Fife to get the ball in Griz territory. They hit on a 30-yard pass on the first play to get 1st-and-goal from the seven.

They went backwards on a pair of false starts, and had to settle for a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 16-6.

The Griz drove into Tigers territory on the next drive, but the struggles on third down continued. They were stopped, falling to 2-for-9 on the down at that point in the game, but once again rolled the dice and went for it on 4th-and-3.

Fife hit Grossman across the middle for an eight-yard gain and another Montana first down. Morrison would be brought out again, hitting a 30-yard field goal to improve to 4-for-5 on the day to extend the Griz lead to 19-6.

The Griz D caused havoc in the backfield again on the next drive. Pat Hayden forced an intentional grounding penalty for a loss of seven, and on the next play Noah Kaschmitter brought Ellis down for another loss of 13 yards.

It forced a punt deep within Tigers territory. It's always bad news for Montana opponents when they need to kick in playoff games inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

🏠 HOUSE CALL for @bergen_junior!

That's the 7️⃣th punt return TD of his career! #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/I7OwIyASLE
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) December 1, 2024

Bergen brought it in on his own 48-yard line at the right hash and immediately cut back left to force a man miss. He raced to the far sideline in front of the students section, needing to make only the punter miss. It wasn't a contest, as Bergen cut back right to waltz into the end zone to extend his Big Sky record with his 7th career punt return.

Bergen's big play made it 27-6, but Tennessee State answered with a pair of big plays. The first came on the very next kick return as they brought it all the way to the Montana 12-yard line. It set up a touchdown two plays later.

Then the Tigers defense forced another fumble from Fife, and the scooped it up and returned the ball down to the Grizzly 11-yard line. One play later, the Tigers were in the end zone again to cut the lead to 27-20 early in the fourth.

The big special teams plays kept coming, and this time it was Xavier Harris' turn to get involved. His 42-yard return set Montana up in Tennessee State territory, and Ah Yat entered at quarterback. The Griz kept it on the ground six straight times before a shovel pass from Ah Yat to Stevie Rocker Jr. set the Griz up with 1st-and-goal from the two.

The next handoff was mishandled, giving the ball back to the Tigers with a chance to score the game. They picked up two big gains before a snap went over the quarterbacks head. It set them up deep in their own territory yet again.

Instead of a game-changing drive for the Tigers, they were on the receiving end of another bludgeon from Bergen. This time the senior snagged the ball on a full sprint at his own 46-yard line. He didn't have much space to operate on the sideline, but he didn't need much, dodging tacklers on a patient return. He snuck the ball inside the pylon for his second return touchdown of the game to make it 34-20.

"The NCAA record holder, that will get your picture on the wall," Hauck said. "It goes back to the North Dakota State game last year where he trusts those guys, he knows where it's supposed to go, and when he's setting it up, you know we ran it to the short side, so he set it up a little bit and trusted those guys to make the blocks and they did. I think one guy got a hand on him, but those guys sustained blocks all the way down the field and convoyed him in."

BERGEN DOES IT AGAIN! 🤯@bergen_junior has now tied the @NCAA_FCS record for career punt returns with 8️⃣!!#GoGriz pic.twitter.com/f4N3EMkMGy
— Montana Griz Football (@MontanaGrizFB) December 1, 2024

Tennessee State drove for another score, going 75 yards in 11 plays to make it a one-score game yet again with 3:03 to play. They didn't go for an onside kick, instead kicking off to the Grizzlies and hoping for a stop.

Gillman denied them of that, taking a run on the second snap to the outside, patiently waiting behind his block, and then exploding when he found space. He threw a potential tackler to the ground on the left sideline, crossed the field, and took it across the goal line on a 59-yard score.

The 28th rushing touchdown of Gillman's career moved him into sole possession of fifth place on Montana's all-time list, passing Jeremy Calhoun and Marcus Knight. He also becomes just the sixth player in program history with 30 career overall touchdowns.

The Grizzlies put the finishing touch on the win on the next drive with another big defensive play. Henry Nuce pressured Ellis and forced an overthrow, and Trevin Gradney came up with an interception that allowed them to kneel out the clock and advance to the second round.

It sets up an FCS Championship Game rematch against No. 3 South Dakota State. The Grizzlies will travel to Brookings to take on the Jackrabbits at 12:00 p.m. (MT) on Dec. 7. South Dakota State finished 10-2 on the year with losses to Oklahoma State and #2 North Dakota State.

"We'll be looking forward to it. It's always interesting when you get to the playoffs because you don't really have a next game unless you come out on top, so you don't really think or worry about it too much," Hauck said. "We'll go home, get two hours of sleep, and be back in the office. South Dakota State's probably been working on us for six days already and they'll be ahead of us, but we'll get caught up and will be excited to go over there and play them.

"It's going to be a tall task because they're pretty dang good, but we'll see how it goes," Hauck finished. "I love our team and I want our season to continue so we're going to give a concerted effort to try to go get this win."