Grizzlies claw past UMaine Turnovers, penalties hurt Bears

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MISSOULA, Mont. – Out here in the old West, when you stepped into the street for a fight, you needed a reliable weapon.

While the University of Montana football team was a bit slow on the draw Saturday afternoon, its potent “shotgun” was the difference.

Quarterback Craig Ochs was a poised trigger man as the Grizzlies shot up the University of Maine, scoring 24 second-half points, on their way to a season-opening 27-20 victory.

A vocal throng of 23,228 fans filled cozy Washington-Grizzly Stadium to cheer third-ranked Montana to the Division I-AA victory over No. 11 Maine.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s Bears outgained the hosts 359-334, but were wounded by 12 penalties for 119 yards and committed two turnovers.

“We did some things that you can’t do in a game of that magnitude and that closeness. Some things went against us,” said Cosgrove, who questioned whether UMaine warranted two personal fouls and four holding calls while the Grizzlies wound up with three penalties for 35 yards.

“I think it was two physical teams, two emotional teams, two good teams that needed this win bad and I thought overall (the officials) did a terriffic job calling the game,” said Ochs, who passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 33 yards.

Ochs directed Montana’s run-and-shoot offense, which effectively mixed the run and pass in the second half while keeping UMaine off balance. Using the shotgun formation, in which the quarterback takes a direct snap in the backfield, was one of the keys.

“I just think that we’re so good running the ball in shotgun that we can keep teams on their heels,” said Ochs, an effective scrambler. “We can throw it, we can run out of it.”

UMaine had a fairly productive offensive day. Tailback Marcus Williams carried 20 times for 105 yards and a score, while quarterback Ron Whitcomb completed 24 of 32 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted twice.

But the Bears never seemed to be able to establish an effective rhythm and didn’t pop any big plays in key situations. UMaine was 3-for-11 on third down conversions.

“Strategy-wise, they did a great job reducing our speed at receiver and at the same time still keeping competitive with Marcus,” Whitcomb said. “When two good teams like this play, it comes down to penalties and turnovers.”

Montana grabbed a 10-6 lead midway through the third quarter when Ochs fired a 25-yard scoring toss to Jefferson Heidelberger, who beat safety Daren Stone down the left side.

The Griz made it 13-6 with a 60-yard march on their next possession. It led to freshman Dan Carpenter’s 47-yard field goal with 55 seconds left in the third.

“Maine really got to the point where they had to go ‘vanilla,’ they had to get out of their blitz, because we were keeping them off balance with our calling,” Ochs said.

After a possession stalled by three penalties, UMaine caught a couple of breaks. First, Levander Segars muffed a Mike Mellow punt, but recovered at his own 7-yard line.

On the next play, Ochs fumbled on a fake handoff to Justin Green and the Bears’ Matthew King recovered at the 1. Williams bulled in from a yard out on the next play and Mellow added the kick to make it 13-13 with 12:30 remaining.

UMaine couldn’t sustain the momentum.

Montana answered with an 11-play, 70-yard march and Ochs found Jon Talmage on a 12-yard post pass to give the Griz the lead for good with 8:04 left.

The Bears punted on their next series, then held on defense, before Kevin Edwards made a diving interception on an errant throw by Whitcomb at the UMaine 28. That set up the clinching 2-yard TD pass from Ochs to Willie Walden with 1:54 to play.

UMaine raced 84 yards on nine plays, capped by a 7-yard completion from Whitcomb to tight end Josh Radulski with 33.6 seconds left. But the onside kick try failed.

UMaine took a 6-0 lead in the second quarter on a 4-yard pass from Whitcomb to Christian Pereira (7 catches, 94 yards). Williams carried six times for 30 yards on the drive.

Strong safety Brandon McGowan led the UMaine defense with nine tackles, including a sack, while Tackle Pat Pa’u made eight tackles. Jermaine Walker had seven tackles and end Marcus Walton posted six tackles, four for losses, including two sacks.

GRIZZLES 27, BLACK BEARS 20

Maine 0 6 0 14 ? 20

Montana 0 3 10 14 ? 27

Maine ? Pereira 4 pass from Whitcomb (kick blocked)

Montana ? Carpenter 32 yard field goal

Montana ? Heidelberger 25 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick)

Montana ? Carpenter 47 yard field goal

Maine ? Williams 1 run (Mellow kick)

Montana ? Talmage 12 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick)

Montana ? Walden 2 pass from Ochs (Carpenter kick)

Maine ? Radulski 7 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

Maine Montana

First downs 18 23

Rushing att,-yards 33-125 38-117

Passing comp.-att. 24-32 22-33

Passing yards 234 217

Total yards 359 334

Punts-avg. 6-44.2 5-43.8

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Intercepted by 2 0

Penalties-yards 12-119 3-35

Rushing

Maine: Williams 20-105, Owens 2-13, Whitcomb 11-7; Montana: Green 15-47, JR Waller 6-46, Ochs 13-33

Passing

Maine: Whitcomb 24-32-2-234; Montana: Ochs 22-33-0-217

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 7-92, Waller 5-65, Williams 4-20, Radulski 3-23, McMahan 2-18, Gordon 1-7, Waller 1-6, Owens 1-3; Montana: J. Heidelberger 7-115, Segars 6-59, Talmage 3-31, Waller 3-9, Hancock 1-6, Walden 1-2, Green 1-(-5)

A ? 23,228