By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, October 22, 2011 10:30 pm
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Montana Grizzlies' final turnaround Saturday took all of 19 seconds.
Down 14-0 early and 24-21 late, the 12th-ranked Griz rode Jordan Canada's 46-yard scoring run past Northern Arizona 28-24 Saturday at the Walkup Skydome.
Canada's burst, with 4:26 left, clinched Montana's 26th straight winning season and its 14th straight win over the Lumberjacks. Neither was assured until UM nose tackle Bryan Waldhauser made his third sack of NAU quarterback Cary Grossart, on fourth down with 1:08 remaining.
Waldhauser led a defense that hemorrhaged early - the Jacks scored on their first play, a 77-yard pass from Grossart to Khalil Paden - but then hung in against a talented foe. Big plays did the rest for the Griz, who have won five straight.
"Those first two drives are definitely not what our defense is about," said Waldhauser, who saw NAU's second possession end in a 37-yard scoring run by standout sophomore Zach Bauman - and before the game was 5 minutes old. "We weren't happy with it at all. We need to work on that. We're going to watch film and we'll have it fixed up and ready to go.
"But from then on I was pretty happy with how everybody responded - and how the offense responded, too."
Montana dominated the second quarter, pulled ahead in the third on Jabin Sambrano's 80-yard reverse and then - with Jordan Johnson nursing an ankle reinjured early in the second half - scuffled.
NAU struck for another Grossart-to-Paden TD, this one covering 51 yards, and a 40-yard field goal from Matt Myers in the fourth quarter. The Lumberjacks led 24-21 with 4:45 left in the game.
In a blink the Griz were back in front.
Nguyen, who scored UM's first touchdown on a blitz-beating 20-yard swing pass from Johnson, took the ensuing kickoff 49 yards. Canada went around the left side of the line on a counter play.
He was held up briefly at the line of scrimmage and then broke completely free.
"The corner just spiked really hard and it just opened up," said Canada, who had 17 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns. "I think it was (tackle William) Poehls just sealing off the inside; it was a straight, free race to the end zone."
"The guys in the box were saying, ‘William Poehls just blocked three guys!' " Montana coach Robin Pflugrad said. "Obviously we'll look at the video - it might not be three. But he blew the hole up."
Then it was a matter of holding on against Grossart, Bauman and Co. The Jacks earned first downs with a third-down reception by Mike Czyz and a second-down 6-yard run by Bauman.
But on second-and-6 from UM's 43, Grossart had to recover a low snap and lost a yard. On third down Grossart found Czyz against the blitz but the throw was a little behind; Czyz dropped it.
Then Waldhauser broke through again.
"We dialed up some pressure from the back end and we got good pressure up the middle," he said. "Our ends did a good job of containing and not allowing him to flow outside. I was just fortunate enough where I knew he'd probably favor the field (the middle) in that situation. I just rolled with him."
Grossart was sacked six times, though he threw for 321 yards. Bauman ran for 148 yards, but 70 came in the first quarter.
"We didn't help anybody out getting down 14-nothing that fast," said Waldhauser, who had 10 tackles. "But it's nice when you look across the field and everybody's responding. No one's down in the dumps and everyone's ready to go."
Johnson had a superb second quarter, guiding drives of 80 and 75 yards. He also had a first-quarter drive, set up by a 43-yard strike to Sam Gratton, end with no points thanks to NAU's goal-line stand.
Nguyen's TD was set up by a 36-yard pass to Greg Hardy, who broke a tackle near midfield and made it to NAU's 27. Canada scored his first TD on third-and-goal at the Lumberjack 1 - Johnson found Gratton again for 45 yards on third down, and Kavario Middleton for 19 - and tied the game 14-all with 37 seconds left in the first half.
With Johnson ailing in the third quarter, the Griz called Sambrano's number on a reverse. He dodged one tackle in the backfield and raced up the left sideline with Middleton, Hardy and Gratton in front.
"And our quarterback of course, Jordan Johnson," added Sambrano, "doing the dirty work."
"I think that reverse was a huge play for them," said NAU coach Jerome Souers, who remains winless against the Griz, for whom he coached from 1986-97. "We weren't able to come back and answer like we needed to after that - to get the game back.
"We played with great effort and energy and at times with great execution. The name of the game in the end was tackling and blocking and taking care of responsibilities - and they did a better job than we did."
Johnson threw for 216 yards, but just 21 after halftime. Gratton had three catches for 93 yards. The defense did the rest.
"I think they really have a belief system in each other, across the board," said Pflugrad, who is now 13-6 as UM's coach, and 2-0 against Souers, his boyhood friend from Eugene, Ore. "Coming in we had to take some transfers and some junior college players, and I think it's difficult to get that team chemistry within 1.5 years and 2 years.
"And I think that helps teams win close football games."
Montana 0 14 7 7 - 28
N. Arizona 14 0 0 10 - 24
First Quarter
NAz-Paden 77 pass from Grossart (Myers kick), 14:44.
NAz-Bauman 37 run (Myers kick), 10:32.
Second Quarter
Mont-Nguyen 20 pass from J.Johnson (McKnight kick), 7:17.
Mont-Canada 1 run (McKnight kick), :37.
Third Quarter
Mont-Sambrano 80 run (McKnight kick), 2:57.
Fourth Quarter
NAz-Paden 51 pass from Grossart (Myers kick), 12:40.
NAz-FG Myers 40, 4:45.
Mont-Canada 46 run (McKnight kick), 4:26.
A-8,421.
Mont NAz
First downs 17 21
Rushes-yards 39-220 41-150
Passing 224 321
Comp-Att-Int 18-29-0 19-27-0
Return Yards 34 0
Punts-Avg. 7-46.7 7-44.7
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 4-53 3-31
Time of Possession 25:46 34:14
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Montana, Canada 17-98, Sambrano 1-80, Nguyen 12-34, J.Johnson 7-12, Team 2-(-4). N. Arizona, Bauman 25-148, Dixon 4-5, Hess 1-2, Grossart 11-(-5).
PASSING-Montana, J.Johnson 15-25-0-216, Montana 3-4-0-8. N. Arizona, Grossart 19-27-0-321.
RECEIVING-Montana, S.Gratton 3-93, Moutra 3-15, Dennard 3-4, Middleton 2-24, Carver 2-18, Canada 2-8, Hardy 1-36, Nguyen 1-20, Saylor 1-6. N. Arizona, Paden 6-167, Czyz 6-49, Umodu 3-53, Dixon 1-19, Bauman 1-16, Riley 1-13, Bueno 1-4.
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 523-5247 or atfneighbor@missoulian.com.
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