Washington-Grizzly Stadium Set To Send Off Montana’s Seniors

No one has played more football in Washington-Grizzly Stadium than Jeff Zellick and Mike Agee, Montana’s offensive guards.

In their first game, Agee started at left guard against South Dakota State in the 1993 opener. Zellick rotated in every two series.

South Dakota State led 38-7 deep in the third quarter.

“I didn’t know what to expect back then,” Zellick said this week. “We were losing to a Division II team.”

History records UM’s improbable comeback and 52-48 victory.

In the four seasons since, Zellick and 13 other four- and five-year seniors have charged out of the tunnel at Washington-Griz 34 times. Thirty-three times, they’ve strolled back in winners.

Win or lose Saturday in the Division I-AA semifinals against Troy State, those seniors will play for the last time in the House That Roars.

The routine’s the same for every home game. As the countdown to kickoff nears, players mass in the tunnel that drops gradually from the locker room to the playing surface.

“It’s dark in there,” defensive tackle Brian Toone said. “You’re together with the team, people you’ve been with, sweated with, cried with. The hairs on the back of your neck just start to stand up.”

Then: “It’s like unleashing you from a cage. It’s definitely something special. And I tell you what, this week will top them all.”

But a phenomenon has bloomed in Missoula during the last two playoffs. UM has dismantled good teams in destructive fashion.

Two Saturdays ago, a Nicholls State safety intercepted a deflected pass and returned it to the Grizzly 9-yard line. It wasn’t life threatening, but it could have been enough to throw the Montana train off track.

All that’s gone into building the aura of Washington-Griz was unleashed.

“The fire really gets burning hot in your belly,” Sirmon said. “The quarterback steps up. The noise level goes up … “

On three successive plays, the Colonels lost yardage. They were summarily blitzed, 48-3. It was reminiscent of that long-ago fourth quarter against South Dakota State.

“There are so many memories,” center David Kempfert said. “It’s a culmination of all the great things that strikes me, not one play.”