Griz beat North Dakota in come-from-behind thriller

Saturday, September 13

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

2-0 , 0-0

North Dakota

1-2 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

North Dakota

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

Griz beat North Dakota in come-from-behind thriller

9/13/2025 7:49:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The FCS Game of the Week lived up to the billing and then some.

Led by a trio of youngsters, No. 5 Montana clawed back in the fourth quarter to take a thrilling 24-23 win over No. 16 North Dakota in front of a sold-out crowd of 26,492 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on Saturday.

With ice in his veins, sophomore quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat led a two-minute drill to perfection, freshman Brooks Davis caught the go-ahead touchdown pass, and a last-ditch scoring effort from UND was stymied by sophomore Kyon Loud to cap a wild final period as UM took a win in a playoff-like atmosphere.

Down nine points with just over four minutes left to play, UM kicker Ty Morrison slotted a 42-yard field goal to cut the Fighting Hawks' lead to 17-23.

The defense followed it up with a three-and-out stand, and with 2:40 left on the clock Ah Yat went to work. With defenders in his face, he calmly completed passes to Stevie Rocker Jr., Blake Bohannon, and crucial third and 19 conversion to tight end Josh Gale that put the Griz in scoring position.

On the next play, Ah Yat hit Davis streaking to the endzone on a corner fade from 28-yards out to tie the game 23-all, and Morrison would seal the win on the PAT to move the Griz to 2-0 on the season.

"North Dakota, I've been saying it all week, they have a really, really, good football team. They were dialed in, ready to go. They're going to have a good season. I have a high regard for their team and the job they do," said head coach Bobby Hauck.

"But I'm proud of our team. It took a lot of guts to get that win. I thought our guys did a really nice job staying with it, being focused throughout the game, and up or down it doesn't matter we just played the same. I thought we did a good job of that."

In his best showing as a Grizzly to date, Ah Yat threw for a career-high 300 yards on another career-best 25 completions. Perhaps most importantly he also bounced back from a pair of first-half interceptions to throw two touchdowns.

With two TD catches in just his second game, Davis also had a breakout effort with the redshirt freshman speedster totaling 90 yards on five grabs with a pair of second half scores that helped the Griz fight back from a 16-7 deficit at the break.

With Loud and a defensive unit that returned zero starters from a year ago, the youth on Montana's roster came through in a big way to get the win.

"My main thought on this game is that we have a lot of inexperience on our football team," added Hauck.

"We're probably not ready to win a game of that magnitude, but we did. I think as we get into the latter part of this season, if we can keep finding ways to win, we're going to have a terrific football team."

Led by Jimmy Kaminski, North Dakota outgained the Griz 460 yards to 371 with 200 yards on the ground to just 71 for UM, but Ah Yat's arm proved the difference.

With UND up 13-0 toward the end of the first quarter, the Hawaiian completed the longest pass of his career, finding Bohannon for a big gain of 56 that set Rocker up for a three-yard run off left tackle that cut the Hawks' lead to 7-13 after Morrison's PAT.

After a back-and-forth second period that saw both teams miss on chances to put more points on the board the visitors would be the only ones to add to their tally with a 32-yard field goal to take a 16-7 lead going into the locker rooms.

Late in the third quarter the Griz capitalized on their first turnover of the game to close the UND lead. Safety Kade Boyd came flying in off the edge and hit Kaminski as he was dropping back to pass. Linebacker Peyton Wing was johnny on the spot, falling under the loose pass for an interception in North Dakota territory.

One play later, Ah Yat went for the dagger – connecting with Davis from 24 yards out for the freshman's first career TD in maroon and silver to make it 14-16.

UND marched right back, however, putting together a long drive on the ensuing possession to start the fourth quarter. The Grizzly defense looked to have put a stop to the drive, but a taunting penalty for Loud set the Hawks up with first and goal field position and three plays later Kaminski found Korey Tai across the middle of the endzone to go back up by two scores, 23-14.

With seven minutes to play, Montana was then helped out with some calls as UND was flagged for pass interreference twice to get the chains moving for UM on the next drive.

Drew Deck then hauled in a 22-yard score to put UM inside the visitor's 30-yard line with the clock now down below six minutes. A completion to Rocker put the Griz inside the red zone, but a pair of sacks brought UM right back out, halting the drive and leaving Morrison to get the Griz on the board with a 42-yard field goal – which would prove to be the game winner.

With momentum firmly in hand, Montana's defense came out and forced another three-and-out, with Elijawah Tolbert showing up with some of his team-high nine tackles to give the Griz the ball with 2:42 to play at their own 30-yard line.

Montana then got a crucial first down when Ah Yat was tackled by a horse collar, but another sack backed UM right back up to the UND 38 on the next play. That's when Ah Yat rolled out of trouble and found Gale down the left sideline.

On the next play Ah Yat found Davis for the game-winner, and a PAT later UM was up 24-23 with time ticking down.

Loud broke up a Kaminski pass on the ensuing 4^th down, and it was victory formation time for the Griz as the clock ticked to zero.

Montana now prepares to return home next week for another meeting against a team from the Missouri Valley Football Conference when Indiana State comes to Missoula Saturday.

Postgame Notes
• Montana improved to 2-0 this season with a win in the second of 12-consecutive games for the Griz and a record eight home games.

• Hauck picked up his 60th win since returning to UM in 2018 and his 140th win overall during his two terms as Grizzly head coach.

• The Griz are now 7-2 in regular season games against teams from the MVFC – the most wins of any team in the Big Sky against the Valley.

• Montana is now 16-10-1 all-time against North Dakota and remained undefeated inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium at 4-0.