Bobcats revel in home win over Drake

Saturday, September 11

BOZEMAN

6 p.m.

Montana State University

1-1 , 0-0

Drake

1-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Drake

Montana State

Matthew McKay led the Bobcats to a 45-7 over Drake Saturday night.

Photo by: Garrett Becker

9/11/2021 9:34:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Paul Burns

A little home cookin', the first in over 600 days, helped Montana State to a 45-7 win over Drake in a nonconference tilt at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night.

Playing at home for the first time since beating Austin Peay in a December 2019 playoff game, the Bobcats led from the outset while dominating in every aspect of the game and improving to 1-1 on the season. A sell-out crowd of 19,797 watched Drake of the Pioneer League fall to 1-1.

The Bobcats dominated the opening half, going up 24-0 before Drake scored just before halftime. MSU got the rout started with a 29-yard field goal by freshman Blake Glessner. Before the first quarter was over, quarterback Matthew McKay tossed a horizontal pass to Willie Patterson who did the rest on a 23-yard score.

MSU pushed the lead to 16-0 on another McKay to Patterson hook up, this time from 31 yards as the junior from Tacoma, Wash., hauled in McKay's ball over his shoulder. As the half was winding down, Isiah Ifanse plowed up the middle behind the blocking of Justus Perkins and Zach Redd to score from 4 yards out. But the Bobcats left a few extra ticks on the clock and Drake was able to go the length of the field and score on a 2-yard toss from Ian Corwin to Cross Robinson with 11 seconds remaining in the half.

After a slow start Ifanse closed out the half with 33 yards on 12 carries. McKay was sharp early, hitting 13 of 16 passes for 160 first-half yards. As he was in the season opener at Wyoming, Lance McCutcheon was the top receiver, getting six balls for 76 yards. Overall, McKay connected on 19 of 25 yards and had three touchdown tosses. In addition, the transfer from North Carolina State made good decisions while running for 61 yards on eight keepers. Ifanse led the Bobcats with 60 yards on 19 yards. McCutcheon finished with seven catches for 121 yards.

The trend continued in the second half. Immediately after Coy Steel's long punt return, McKay again got things rolling by hitting McCutcheon on a 45-yard strike to make it 31-7. That was the only score of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Ifanse was stopped at the goal line only to fumble. As the ball bounced into the end zone, tight end Ryan Davis alertly pounced on the loose ball for another MSU touchdown.

Defensive highlights came from the front line as Chase Benson, Amandre Williams and Daniel Hardy combined for three sacks. Ty Okada was in on eight tackles and Troy Andersen another seven.

The game's final score occurred when backup quarterback Tucker Rovig hit a streaking Cam Gardner down the left sideline for a 28-yard touchdown. It was the first score of Gardner's Bobcat career.

MSU forced nine Drake punts while holding the Bulldogs to just 228 total yards. Meanwhile, the 13th-ranked Bobcats totaled 435 yards on 66 offensive plays. MSU is home again next week to play San Diego, another member of the Pioneer League. Drake travels to North Dakota.