ORONO – Ron Whitcomb couldn’t have had a much tougher challenge for his collegiate football debut than he got Saturday night.

Playing in front of the largest home crowd in recent memory (9,354) at Alfond Stadium, the redshirt freshman quarterback went up against No. 3 Montana and one of the best defenses in Division I-AA football.

Whitcomb enjoyed some success (188 yards passing, 2 touchdowns), but he also experienced a few setbacks (two fumbles, one interception) in the 30-20 loss. Still, he received good reviews from his coaches, who didn’t get caught up too much in Whitcomb’s statistics or his physical performance.

What the coaches saw besides the 15-for-31 passing effort and 15 rushes for 11 yards was the ability to deal with pressure and adversity.

“He turned it over a couple times and they were devastating turnovers,” said head coach Jack Cosgrove. “He kept his head up high, he took shots and he led his teammates through some tough times for him personally. I was excited to see his growth tonight.”

Whitcomb admitted being overanxious, which showed in the number of times he left the pocket and opted to run with the ball rather than wait to find an open receiver.

“As a quarterback, I think I was too antsy,” Whitcomb said. “A lot of times I had protection and I saw some things that I hadn’t seen before. It was tough that way.”

Whitcomb proved he wasn’t afraid to take a hit. On one play late in the third quarter, Whitcomb dropped back to pass and absorbed a tremendous shot while firing a 27-yard pass to Christian Pereira.

“He hung in there. He stayed poised,” said associate head coach and offensive coordinator Bobby Wilder. “I think we’ve got a quarterback who’s going to be a great player for us.”

Late in the game, with the outcome all but decided, Whitcomb threw his first career interception.

“He came over to the sideline and I asked him, ‘do you want to stay in the game or do you want to come out?'” Wilder said. “He said, ‘I want to stay in coach,’ and I love that, because he wasn’t going to back down. He wanted to go out and get better.”

Whitcomb returned and led the Bears on a six-play, 40-yard scoring drive capped by a 9-yard TD pass to Ryan Waller.

“I don’t know that any quarterback in Maine history has ever had an opening start like this one where we went up against such a great opponent,” Cosgrove said.

“Ron had some situations happen to him that really could have put somebody in the tank and the kid stayed in there and played the football game out,” he added.

More injuires hit Bears’ defense

UMaine’s injury-plagued defensive unit turned in an impressive performance against Montana, limiting the Grizzlies to only 218 total yards and 16 points (the other 14 resulted from special teams and offensive breakdowns).

Making their first career starts, inside linebackers Fred Lazo and Jermaine Walker were in on 10 tackles each and the front four played well to help keep the pressure off the secondary. Lazo was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week.

But the lineup varied because of a handful of injuries.

“We had some challenges on our sideline with guys going down,” Cosgrove said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my 11 years as a head coach.”

UMaine went into the game minus two starters in cornerback Devon Goree and rover James Henry. Henry’s backup, Maurice Garlic, suffered a leg injury on the final play of the first quarter, forcing freshman Daren Stone into the lineup.

If that wasn’t bad enough, defensive end Kurt Bulwith was knocked out of the game with a left leg ailment in the second quarter. Later, starting strong safety Joan Quezada was shaken up on a punt return.

Thus, sophomore Joe Olszewski of Alfred picked up some playing time in Quezada’s spot. Kick returner and backup tailback Montell Owens, a sophomore, also was injured early in the first quarter.

“We sent some guys in there who were tremendously challenged because this might have been their first time playing,” Cosgrove said. “Those guys are going to get better as a result of this.”