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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Griz rush for highest total in nearly 100 games

By FRITZ NEIGHBOR and BILL SPELTZ of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, September 17, 2011 10:45 pm
Saturday brought the Montana Grizzlies their biggest rushing total in 98 games, a net of 316 yards, in their 17-14 win over Eastern Washington.
A quintet of ball carriers enjoyed commendable days. Quarterback Jordan Johnson piled up a team-high 102 rushing yards on 10 attempts. Jordan Canada had 76 yards on 15 totes, Peter Nguyen 59 on nine attempts and Gerald Kemp 50 on one carry.
"It all started up front," insisted Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin after his team fell to Montana. "They have very good size up front.
"Then they have quality running backs and the quarterback in that type of system adds to it. It's defending option football. It's just a different way to do it than it was 20 or 30 years ago. It's from the gun. You have to be disciplined. They've done a good job of putting the right guys in the right places to make that offense go."
Montana's rushing attack proved pivotal in a third-quarter touchdown drive that gave it a 17-6 lead. Thirteen of 14 plays in the 82-yard march were running plays. The only pass was Johnson's 1-yard TD toss to Gerald Kemp.
"I was very happy with the way we ran the ball considering we were playing people who hadn't played a whole bunch or were playing a different position," Griz coach Robin Pflugrad said of his dinged-up offensive front. "I thought our offensive line played really fast."
Johnson gained 44 of his yards on one option read, on UM's second drive.
"I read the middle linebacker, and he flew at the running back," said the sophomore. "I just pulled it and it was wide open. I should've got in the end zone, but that was a pretty good run."
Moore crashed in a couple plays later for the TD.
Not so passing fancy
Montana's passing offense wasn't nearly as prolific. Johnson's longest pass went 11 yards, to Jabin Sambrano.
"Obviously the reverse of that is you're not happy with the passing game," said Pflugrad. "And so you have to critique that.
"We thought we were going to throw the ball a lot better today."
At first glance, 34 passing yards is easy to explain.
"I think we ran the ball a lot more than we threw it," noted Johnson, who had a 19-yard TD on a screen pass to Kavario Middleton called back by a holding penalty in the second quarter. "They did pretty well in coverage. They played a lot of man -to-man and our receivers weren't as open as I thought they'd be.
"But they are the defending national champions. They're a good team."
Eastern coach Beau Baldwin praised Johnson.
"I think just as an offense, whenever you have a younger quarterback - and I think he's a very good player - the less experienced the quarterback the tougher those situations are.
"That's it as much as anything."
Injuries
For the second straight week Montana lost a key player to what could be a serious injury: Linebacker Jordan Tripp hurt a shoulder while making a tackle on EWU running back Jordan Talley late in the first half.
"You know, losing (receiver) C.J. Atkins last week was a big hit in our receiving corps," said Pflugrad. "And then the status of Jordan Tripp I'm not quite sure of."
Tripp watched the second half from the sidelines, his arm in a sling.
Both teams had to reshuffle their offensive lines. Freshman Trevor Poole and sophomore Danny Kistler filled in at tackle for UM, when Jon Opperud and Charles Burton were banged up.
Eastern moved Brendan Murphy, who was moved to defensive line a few weeks ago, back to right guard after Jase Butorac went down. The Eagles also lost left guard Steven Forgette to injury.
"We're kind of like a mosh crew," said Eastern center Chris Powers. "We're putting ourselves together and it's rough right now."
Tru grit
Trumaine Johnson had a day to remember with five tackles, all on star receiver Brandon Kaufman on short pass plays, and a pass breakup that was the 27th of his career, a UM record.
The long ball that Kaufman hurt the Griz with a year ago never developed. It helps to have a big (6-foot-2), physical corner to cover those 6-5 guys.
"That's nice to have and they're hard to get in the Big Sky because they all seem to go to the Pac-12 or down south if they're that talented and that big," said Pflugrad.
"He's taking so much pride in what he does and I just think the chemistry with our defense and Trumaine is as high as it's ever been."
Quick kicks
UM had more time of possession the second half but still trailed 35:56-24:04 for the game. ... Montana now leads its series with EWU 26-11-1. ... Eastern outgained the Griz (376-350) for the eighth time in 11 games, but has won just three of those. ... Sambrano had 111 all-purpose yards Saturday, giving him 2,638 for his career. That's No. 16 in UM annals. Damon Boddie (1993-94) gained 2,663 yards.

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