Montana State stops Weber State
11/6/2010 3:52:22 PM | Football, General
The Bobcats are in first place in the Big Sky Conference.
Tanner Bleskin took a hard blow to the head, got up and scored the go-ahead touchdown on the very next play as Montana State defeated Weber State 24-10 Saturday afternoon. The win put MSU in a first place tie with idle Eastern Washington at 6-1 in league play, 8-2 overall.
The Bobcats hold the tie-breaker by virtue of a 30-7 win over Eastern Washington on Sept. 25. The league's first place team gets an automatic spot in the playoffs.
For over three quarters the MSU offense sputtered, managing only a 28-yard field goal by Jason Cunningham just before halftime. The Wildcats (4-3 and 5-4) dominated the third quarter, holding on to the ball for nearly 11½ minutes in the quarter and going ahead 7-3 on a 16-yard run by Vai Tafuna.
But things started to click for 12th-ranked Bobcats in the fourth quarter. They went ahead to stay early in the fourth quarter. On a critical third-down play, Bleskin hauled in a short pass over the middle from Denarius McGhee. Not only was the play good for a first down, but Bleskin got stung by a blow to the head which resulted in a 15-yard penalty against the Wildcats.
On the very next play, McGhee found Bleskin in the end zone from 13 yards out to make it 10-7. Those were Bleskin's only two catches and it was McGhee's only scoring pass of the game. He connected on 23 of 36 passes for 325 yards. Elvis Akpla led all receivers with six catches for 105 yards.
Bleskin's score seemed to inspire the Bobcats. Arnold Briggs nearly intercepted a pass on Weber State's next drive. And one play later, Briggs did recover a fumble. From there, Orenzo Davis took over. Through three quarters, the junior running back had been bottled up with 34 yards rushing. But three plays after Briggs' fumble recovery, Davis danced around right end, found a seam and bobbed into the end zone on a 32-yard run to make it 17-7.
Needing two scores for a chance at the post-season, gifted Wildcat quarterback Cam Higgins drove the Wildcats into Bobcat territory. But the senior who is tied for the most career touchdown passes in Big Sky history sprained a knee ligament and may be lost for the season. Weber State settled for a 29-yard field goal by Shaun McClain who earlier missed two field goals.
The Bobcats recovered the on-side kick with 38 seconds remaining. Looking to run out the clock, Davis took a handoff from McGhee and ran untouched 40 yards for the final score. Davis finished with 114 yards on 14 carries.
Weber State came into the game on a roll, winning three in a row including a 30-21 trouncing of Montana a week earlier. In that game, the Wildcats rushed 68 times and had the ball for over 40 minutes. MSU's defense was ready.
The Wildcats did gain 451 yards, with 190 of them on the ground, but they couldn't find an offensive rhythm. The tone was set in the first quarter when they marched the ball to the MSU 14-yard line on their first possession. Three plays later it was fourth-down-and-2 and instead of the chip-shot field goal, the Wildcats went for first down.
Aleksei Grosulak and Dan Ogden stuffed Tafuna for no gain and it was obvious the Bobcats were well prepared for the Wildcat running game which had gained 259 yards against Montana and 337 the week prior against Portland State.
Grosulak, a redshirt freshman from Billings, was everywhere for the Bobcat defense. He had eight solo tackles, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and had two tackles for loss.
Bo Bolen led the Wildcats with 79 yards on 16 carries. Higgins finished 22 of 32 for 229 yards by was sacked once by Ogden and once by John Laidet.
MSU is off a week before traveling to Montana on Nov. 20 for the regular season finale. Weber State visits Northern Arizona next week and closes the season at Texas Tech.
