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- Montana defeated Weber State 38-17 maintaining their unbeaten record at 9-0.
- Weber State struggled, despite limiting FCS leader Michael Wortham to 30 yards.
- Montana's Ah Yat excelled with 312 yards three touchdowns; Record hauled in eight receptions for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
OGDEN — Montana defeated Weber State 38-17 as the Grizzlies remain unbeaten at 9-0 on the season.
An insurmountable deficit in the first half proved too much for the Wildcats to overcome despite Weber State holding the FCS all-purpose yards leader, Michael Wortham, to just 30 yards after he entered Saturday's game averaging 178.8 all-purpose yards.
"He's a great player," Weber State head coach Mickey Mental said. "Obviously, you've got to know where he is. That's what makes their offense go and be multiple. We rallied to the football when he did have touches and got 11 hats on them. So that's a recipe for success."
It was all Montana from start to finish as the Grizzlies got out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter. It wasn't a good start for the Wildcats, who found themselves in a bad spot out of the gate after fumbling the ball on the first offensive play of the game. Diezel Wilkinson forced the fumble on a carry from Zach Hrbacek with former BYU Cougar Micah Harper recovering it.
Three plays later, Brooks Davis took an end around handoff for a 12-yard rushing touchdown to give Montana an early 7-0 lead.
"Can't spot a really good team, or any team, at that point in time what we did in the first half, but credit to Montana for their game," Mental said.
Weber State answered back with a field goal after a drive that included four offsides penalties on the Grizzlies that helped aid a 64-yard drive.
Back-to-back touchdown drives capped off the impressive first quarter performance for Montana as quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat found Blake Bohannon for a 62-yard touchdown pass and took it in himself from two-yards out to cap off a dominant drive.
The momentum continued into the second quarter for the Grizzlies as the Wildcats continued to struggle to move the ball. After a Davis 61-yard reception from Ah Yat, Montana running back Eli Gillman punched in a 14-yard rushing score to push the lead to 28-3.
Weber State finally found the endzone when Jennings found wide receiver Jayleen Record for an 11-yard touchdown to cut into the Grizzlies' lead. Montana struck back after Ah Yat found Bohannon for another huge gain as he hauled in a 60-yard reception.
Bohannon finished the game with three catches for 131 yards and a touchdown. His 131 yards set a new career high for the redshirt senior. Bohannon entered Saturday's game with 217 yards and nearly doubled his season total.
However, the Grizzlies came up short as Ty Morrison's field goal from 30 yards out was no good. After forcing a Weber State punt, the Grizzlies were able to put three points on the board before halftime after Morrison made a 33-yard field goal attempt.
After a couple fourth down stops from both teams to begin the third quarter, Mental decided to make a switch at quarterback. Replacing Jennings with 6:04 left in the third was true freshman Kingston Tisdell, who was making his second appearance of the season.
"I thought he delivered the football most of the time accurately, with some with some velo on it," Mental said. "Just needed a spark and wanted to see what the young kid is about."
The switch to Tisdell paid off for Mental as his freshman quarterback led a 43-yard scoring drive that ended with Record's second touchdown of the game and the first career passing touchdown for Tisdell.
Record finished the game with eight receptions and 107 yards to go along with his two touchdown grabs. It was a breakout game for Record, whose previous season-high was 78 yards against McNeese State, which was the only game he had over 50 yards receiving before Saturday's contest.
Montana finally got on the board in the second half after completing a 10-play drive with Ah Yat securing his third touchdown of the game after hitting Evan Shafer for a nine yard touchdown.
Grizzlies head coach Bobby Hauck pulled his starters with a three touchdown lead with just a minute into the fourth quarter. Montana's backups failed to move the ball much but their defense held strong and kept Weber State scoreless in the final period.
Tisdell finished the game with 10-of-21 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown while running back Colter May finished the game with 74 yards on 19 carries. Montana's Ah Yat finished with 312 total yards and three touchdowns while Gillman totaled 122 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Weber State falls to 3-6 after the loss and will now travel north to take on 7-2 Montana State next week while the Grizzlies will host Eastern Washington in Missoula.
