Griz pick off win from Eastern Washington

By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, September 17, 2011 10:30 pm
A weird afternoon of Big Sky Conference football closed with an interception by a Griz who was first a Bobcat, sealing a win that put the defending national champions in an 0-3 hole.
Sophomore linebacker John Kanongata'a, playing in place of injured teammate Jordan Tripp, came down with a Bo Levi Mitchell pass to seal the No. 12 Grizzlies' 17-14 win over No. 10 Eastern Washington with 25 seconds left Saturday.
A record Washington-Grizzly Stadium crowd of 26,066 exulted; the memories of last year's 36-27 loss at Eastern faded. The Griz won the conference opener for both teams.
But the loss of Tripp, who apparently has a serious shoulder injury, figures to take some luster off. So could a passing total - 34 yards, on 11 completions - that may be the lowest since the Wishbone days of Jack Swarthout. The Grizzlies were also underwhelming on third downs, converting three.
Then again they ran for 316 yards.
"I was very happy with the way our offensive line played," said Griz quarterback Jordan Johnson, who had 102 rushing yards. "But the defense won this game, there's no way around it.
"To go where we want to go, our offense is going to have to play better."
It certainly had its moments, including a 44-yard burst from Johnson that set up Dan Moore's 1-yard touchdown run early on. Two possessions later Johnson and Peter Nguyen fed Gerald Kemp for a reverse that gained 50 yards and set up Brody McKnight's 35-yard field goal.
But after going up 10-0 at 3:29 of the first quarter, Montana often stalled. McKnight, seeing his first field goal duties of the season, missed two other first-half attempts.
Johnson, so sharp in the second half of Montana's 37-23 win over Cal Poly last week, had few memorable throws. One came when he pulled back an inside handoff from Moore and fired an option pass at Kemp, who made a shoestring catch and lunging touchdown.
The play, which put Montana up 17-6 midway through the third quarter, covered 1 yard.
"We couldn't really get anything going passing," Johnson said. "It felt a lot like Tennessee - we'd get a first down or two and just stop."
The defense kept going. Trumaine Johnson blanketed Eastern's star receiver, Brandon Kaufman, who had five catches but for just 27 yards. Kanongata'a and fellow linebacker Caleb McSurdy had 12 stops each.
Trumaine Johnson's stop of Kaufman for a 2-yard loss figured in a stand the Griz made after Eastern drove to their 9; penalties helped move the Eagles back out to the 24 for fourth-and-goal, and they settled for a Mike Jarrett field goal at 11:10 of the second quarter.
The Grizzlies' held again when Eastern drove to inside the 1 late in the half, setting up the craziest minute of this short season.
First Mike McCord and then McSurdy stopped EWU's Demitrius Bronson on runs from inches outside the goal line; with 58 seconds left in the half Eastern went for it on fourth down, and McCord picked off a short play-action pass meant for Kaufman.
"Luckily Dirt (McSurdy) got to the running back and I saw he didn't have the ball," said McCord. "And then I saw the ball in the air and my body just jumped, and I grabbed it. It was luck."
McCord took his interception 78 yards while the crowd roared, but a short field became longer when UM was flagged 15 yards for over-celebrating.
Three plays later Jordan Johnson was in turn picked off by T.J. Lee, who took the ball into UM territory. Mitchell's 15-yard pass set up Jarrett for a 42-yard field goal.
That cut Montana's lead to 10-6.
A 76-yard Eastern drive in which Mitchell seemed to find his stride provided the game's final points. Nicholas Edwards, who had five catches for 96 yards, caught a 4-yard scoring pass and then hauled in the two-point PAT.
There was 10:32 left but while UM could do little on offense - including turning the ball over on downs at midfield on its next possession - neither could Eastern. Eastern gave the ball back on downs at the Griz 40, with Mitchell throwing too high to Edwards.
Mitchell threw too high again with 25 seconds left, this time to Greg Herd. Houston Roots delivered a hit as the ball hit Herd's hands. Kanongata'a, who originally committed to Montana State but signed with UM in 2010, was there.
"When I saw it in the air, my eyes got so wide open," said the sophomore, who also had a sack on Eastern's previous possession. "I just went up and got it."
The Griz are 1-0 in conference play ahead of a trip to Sacramento State. They lost offensive tackle Charles Burton for a time; the other tackle, Jon Opperud, played hurt.
"It was a great win and we're glad it's over just for the physicality of the game," said UM coach Robin Pflugrad. "Just from the fact we can't afford to lose any more bodies."
Eastern can't afford to lose any more games.
"It's like you think you're going maybe on a cruise ship or something, and all of a sudden the first 10 minutes it sinks," said Mitchell, the MVP of January's FCS title game. "It's a horrible feeling.
"But we've got a lot of good guys on this team; we have a great coaching staff. This season isn't over for us."
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247 or atfneighbor@missoulian.com.