Montana Rips Ewu, Takes Title

The wind ripped through Woodward Stadium almost as fast as the University of Montana offense.

In the cold and mud, and before a regional television audience that probably couldn’t find the remote control fast enough, the ninth-ranked Grizzlies won their second Big Sky Conference football championship in three seasons, humiliating Eastern Washington 63-7 on Saturday before a shivering crowd of 3,272.

Montana upped its mark to 8-2, including 5-1 in the conference, and visits Montana State before heading on to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. EWU (3-7, 1-6) closes its season at Cal Poly-SLO.

Saturday’s lopsided defeat was devastating for the injury-depleted Eagles, who hadn’t given up 63 points since - well, since last week’s 63-44 loss in Boise.

“I felt like our guys acquitted themselves as well as they could under some pretty austere conditions,” said EWU coach Mike Kramer, who has endured season-ending injuries to his starting quarterback, tight end, wide receiver, outside linebacker and left offensive guard, among others.

“We’re a little shattered by the injury situation, our defense is still shattered from the Boise experience and, offensively, you look around and see all the guys standing on the sideline that are formerly good players for us. It’s really tough.”

Kramer paused, recognizing Saturday’s loss could hardly be blamed solely on the wind, mud, injuries or planetary alignment.

“I would have loved to have played somebody else today,” he concluded. “Anybody else.”

With Montana quarterback Dave Dickenson connecting on seven of his first eight passes, and running back Kelly Stensrud getting the ball enough to keep EWU’s undersized defense guessing, the Grizzlies scored on their first two possessions - directly into the howling wind.

The methodical scoring drives staked Montana to a 14-0 lead. Of equal importance, the drives used much of the first quarter, forcing the Eagles to attempt a second-quarter comeback against the same wind.

The comeback try turned into a nightmare for EWU quarterback Harry Leons, who opened the second quarter by trying to force a 12-yard pass through double coverage to Antwan Miller. Leons’ pass floated helplessly into the grasp of Montana free safety Blaine McElmurray, who returned the interception 35 yards for a 21-0 Grizzlies lead.

McElmurray collided with cornerback Mike Temple to make the interception, temporarily knocking Temple from the game.

“I didn’t realize Blaine was even near the play,” said Temple, who missed several plays after complaining of numbness on his left side. “But I knew it was him that hit me because there was no one else who could get to the ball as fast.”

McElmurray’s aggressive play may have cost him an interception on the ensuing EWU series. Leons again threw into coverage, missing open tight end Tim Hunsaker, and was intercepted by Ryan Palma. Palma was filling in at free safety for McElmurray, who had been moved to cornerback in Temple’s absence.

The turnover set up Montana at the EWU 38-yard-line, from where the Grizzlies needed just four plays before Brian Gales made it 28-0 with a 7-yard run behind 300-pound right tackle Jason Baker.

Dickenson made it 42-0 with two scoring passes before halftime, and Montana spilled salt on EWU’s wounds when a botched field-goal try turned into a 15-yard TD run by holder Larry Tofanelli. It was 49-0 at the half.

Montana coach Don Read substituted freely in the second half, and still the Grizzlies had little trouble scoring. Dickenson played just one series in the second half. His final play was a handoff to Chris Morton, who ran 9 yards for the eighth of Montana’s nine TDs.

Montana 14 35 7 7 - 63

E. Washington 0 0 0 7 - 7

UM-Stensrud 4 run (Larsen kick)

UM-Douglass 9 pass from Dickenson (Larsen kick)

UM-McElmurray 35 interception return (Larsen kick)

UM-Gales 7 run (Larsen kick)

UM-Kane 21 pass from Dickenson (Larsen kick)

UM-Gales 58 pass from Dickenson (Larsen kick)

UM-Tofanelli 15 run (Larsen kick)

UM-Morton 9 run (Larsen kick)

UM-Paffhausen 15 run (Larsen kick)

EWU-Miller 15 pass from Lies (Zurfluh kick)

A-3,272

UM EWU First downs 25 10 Rushes-yards 44-190 24-91 Passing 360 119 Return Yards 120 145 Comp-Att-Int 24-34-0 17-31-4 Punts 4-33 8-34 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 7-62 8-65 Time of Possession 35:49 24:11

RUSHING - Montana, Gales 15-60, Stensrud 10-43, Dickenson 7-25, Morton 5-24. E. Washington, Sewell 13-52, MacKenzie 4-26, Prescott 2-10.

PASSING - Montana, Dickenson, 21-27-0-318, Paffhausen 3-6-0-42, Ah Yat 0-1-0-0. E. Washington, Leons 6-16-4-29, Lies 11-15-0-90.

RECEIVING - Montana, Douglass 4-70, Stensrud 3-50, Wilson 3-29. E. Washington, Hunsaker 7-62, Miller 3-53.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo