MISSOULA — A silence fell over Washington-Grizzly Stadium midway through the third quarter on Saturday.
Keali’i Ah Yat took a Herculean dive through defenders into the end zone to give Montana its first lead of the game. But the redshirt freshman quarterback stayed down on the ground for over a minute.
He got up and walked off under his own power, promptly returned after Trevin Gradney picked off Western Carolina on the next offensive snap and closed the ensuing drive by running in another touchdown.
The No. 9 Grizzlies had fully erased a 17-point deficit and took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they scored 24 unanswered points in a 46-35 win over No. 24 Western Carolina. They improved their record to 3-1 in their nonconference finale while the Catamounts fell to 1-3.
“We just kept fighting,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “Our team’s got a lot of fight and a lot of belief. They did a good job. You’re down 17, that’s kind of a gut check, and there’s no hesitation on our sideline or in our huddle.”
Montana churned out 349 yards and six touchdowns on the ground after it was unable to finish drives early in the game. The Griz had gone for 410 yards and seven scores last week against Morehead State, making it the first time they’ve run for 300-plus in back-to-back games since 2022.
Griz running back Eli Gillman showed his prowess by rushing 14 times for a career-high 175 yards. He ripped off a 66-yard touchdown run that got the Griz on the board and within 17-7 with 13:20 left in the second quarter.
“That’s a credit to the O-line,” Montana wide receiver Junior Bergen said. “They kept going and we talked about it — just keep wearing on them and they’re going to break. That’s essentially what we did. Eli popped that one and that was our spark really.”
Ah Yat finished 16-of-27 passing for 145 yards and one interception but made big plays with his legs. He ran 11 times for 57 yards and four touchdowns, tied for the most rushing TDs in a game in Griz history, the most TD runs by a QB and first Griz player with four TD runs since Jordan Canada in 2013.
Ah Yat’s 1-yard TD run pulled Montana within 20-14 with 3:05 left in the first half. His 9-yard dash got the Griz within 27-21 with 0:53 left in the half one play after WCU was flagged for two penalties for 25 yards.
The second of those scores was a pivotal drive as Montana had just given up a touchdown and was in danger of going into halftime down 27-14.
“To be able to rally the troops and go down, that’s where we really felt like, OK, we can control this game even though we’re down on the scoreboard, we can take control of this game,” Hauck said. “That drive kind of solidified that thought.”
Ah Yat gave the Griz their first lead when he took a dive through defenders for a 6-yard touchdown that put them up 28-27 in the third quarter, their first advantage after going down 17-0. His 1-yard TD run on the next drive, after Gradney picked off a bobbled pass, gave Montana a 35-27 lead with 3:01 left in the third quarter.
Ah Yat had been intercepted himself in the first half, but the Griz held Western Carolina to a field goal to trail just 17-0, one of two times in the first half they buckled down to force a field goal. Montana cashed in, in a bigger way when it caused a turnover, collecting seven points that proved to be crucial.
“We knew we had to go get the ball,” Gradney said. “We had to generate something for the offense and just try to get them going again.”
Logan Fife finished out the final two drives for Montana, his only two drives of the game. Hauck said they went to Fife because “the stuff we wanted to do at that point is the stuff that Logan does best.” His first drive closed with a 34-yard field goal by Ty Morrison to go up 38-27 with 12:12 left in the game.
Fife’s final drive was a clock-drainer that ended with a 12-yard TD run by Nick Ostmo, who ran for 72 yards, to go up 46-35 with 1:44 left. Fife, who finished 7-of-10 for 58 yards, completed two third-down passes and a fourth-down pass that drive to Bergen, who led UM with eight catches for 99 yards.
“That was a crucial situation right there,” Western Carolina coach Kerwin Bell said. “If we could have held them there, I thought we was going to go down and score and win the thing. But we missed a lot of tackles. It seemed like we were getting tired.”
Western Carolina quarterback Cole Gonzales completed 25 of 47 passes for 340 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He connected on 13 of his first 14 passes but was 11 of 33 after that as he was under more and more pressure as the game went on although Montana had only two sacks, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries.
Western Carolina threw the ball 48 times for 374 yards while getting bottled up in the run game with 27 rushes for 103 yards. De’Andrez Tamarez hauled in eight catches for 229 yards and one score, a 61-yard strike that put Montana down 27-14 with 1:47 left in the first half. AJ Colombo’s 3-yard TD catch cut UM’s lead to 38-35 with 8:22 left in the game.
Gonzales suffered a second-degree separation in his non-throwing shoulder, Bell said, after taking a hit. The coach had even considered pulling him out of the game at points to keep him healthy for Southern Conference play.
“I thought he was a little shaky there in the second half,” Bell said. “Some of his throws, I don’t think he stepped into it maybe like he would if he was truly healthy.”
Running back Branson Adams scored two rushing touchdowns on 17 carries for 91 yards. His 5-yard run put UM down 7-0 and his 1-yard run made it a 14-0 deficit for the Griz with 7:35 left in the first quarter. UM faced its first deficit of more than one possession this season just two drives into the game.
Safety Jaxon Lee led Montana with 11 tackles while linebacker Ryan Tirrell had 10. Griz linebacker Riley Wilson was ejected for a targeting penalty in the second half while the Griz were flagged 12 times for 101 yards, both season highs. Western Carolina was called for 11 penalties for 100 yards.
“We had some procedure penalties,” Bell said. “We had receivers run a couple bad routes on us. Self-destructive stuff.”