Sac State gets landmark win over Griz
Oct. 17—MISSOULA — No baker's dozen for Sacramento State.
The Hornets, playing two quarterbacks and some excellent defense, beat the No. 5-ranked Montana Grizzlies Saturday, 28-21.
They put a damper on the 20th anniversary party for the Grizzlies' 2001 national championship team, and picked up their first win in Missoula since, well, ever. They'd been 0-12 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium before getting three touchdown passes from Jake Dunniway and a rushing TD from fellow QB Asher O'Hara.
Montana fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky Conference; the Griz are looking up at five Big Sky teams, including Sac State (4-2, 3-0 in league), Eastern Washington and MSU.
Freshman quarterback Kris Brown's uneven day — he ran for two scores, including a 23-yard burst that knotted the game at 21-all in the third, but had a fumble and interception — ended with sacks on back-to-back plays in the final minute.
"We made some plays," Montana coach Bobby Hauck offered. "But when you come up short, it's not good enough. It's not good enough by anyone's measure.
"So you look in the mirror, and that always starts with me. If we're coming up short on the scoreboard or any position, that's me. ... It's in the job description."
Dunniway was 17 for 29 passing for 227 yards, including a 3-yard scoring strike to Chris Miller on the Hornets' first drive.
"We just wanted to start fast and execute everything we'd worked on throughout the week," said the junior. "We wanted to come out and punch them in the mouth, and set the tempo. I feel like everytime you start with the ball that's the No. 1 goal — and put points on the board."
Dunniway followed that with two 24-yard TD passes to Jared Gipson. The last came on Sac
State's first possession following Brown's long touchdown run, and put the Hornets up for good at 1:24 of the third quarter.
Add in O'Hara's 72 rushing yards, highlighted by a 2-yard scoring run that gave Sac State a 21-6 lead, and the Hornets were a handful.
"I have great confidence in my guys," Hornets coach Troy Taylor said. "They can play the entire game, each one of them. They cheer on each other, and there's never any negative energy, and I can't overstate how important that is, because that can divide a team, playing two quarterbacks. I've never done it before."
The visitors rolled up 456 yards of offense and 30 first downs, keeping a thin Montana defense on the field for almost 37 minutes. Or you might say the Griz offense couldn't stay on the field: Running back Xavier Harris left after six carries, and freshman Junior Bergen ran for 47 yards on 11 rushing attempts. Brown, making his second straight, completed 29 of 36 passes but for just 188 yards.
For all that the Griz had their chances — the best coming on the first play of the fourth quarter, when the Hornets' Marcus Fulcher took a punt off his facemask and the Grizzlies' Levi Janacaro recovered.
On the next play, Brown fired a pass up the seam and Sac State's Marcus Hawkins intercepted at the 2-yard line.
"There were many times when the game could've turned one way or the other," said Taylor, who has quietly built an 11-1 record in Big Sky games. "We talked about playing through the ebbs and flows.
"(Hawkins) won't say it but he's one of those guys that's very instinctive. In practice, he's a challenge; he's always around the ball. And he has great hands."
Montana had two more possessions before the game ended, the last after a contested stop of Dunniway on fourth down. Faced with going 86 yards in 2:11, the Griz managed one first down. Killian Rosko's sack of Brown finally ended it.
"They're all key," Hauck said. "When you're in a one-score game, every play is a key situation. It's a shame we gave the ball back to them after we made that good play on our punt coverage team.
"They couldn't handle our special teams. But we have been able to capitalize."
