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FOOTBALL BETTERED BY No. 8 MONTANA, 43-7
10/18/2008
 MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana quarterback Cole Bergquist was nearly perfect while leading the #8 Grizzlies to a 43-7 win over Sacramento State, Saturday afternoon at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
With the win, Montana is now 6-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Sky Conference games. The Hornets dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in league action while losing consecutive games for the first time this season.
Bergquist was 17-of-19 for 290 yards and four touchdowns before exiting the game in the fourth quarter. The senior also added a team-high 39 rushing yards, including 14-yard touchdown in which he broke three tackles before finding the end zone.
After both teams struggled to get things going early on, Montana posted the only points of the first quarter with a 24-yard pass from Bergquist to Marc Mariani. The lead moved to 14-0 early in the second quarter with a 2-yard run from Andrew Schmidt and then to 16-0 on a safety. During the play, the ball was snapped over the head of Hornet punter Oscar De Alba and rolled into the end zone where De Alba was able to recover.
Mike Ferriter scored the first of his two TDs with 5:19 to play in the first half, gathering in a 31-yard pass to give UM a 23-0 advantage.
Sacramento State’s lone points of the game came on its next drive. The 82-yard drive was capped with a 19-yard touchdown grab by Kyle Hill from Jason Smith with 2:51 showing in the second. However, Montana matched the score on Bergquist’s run exactly two minutes later.
Mariani and Ferriter each added a second touchdown in the third quarter to end the game’s scoring.
One of the bright spots for the Hornets was senior receiver Tony Washington who caught a career high 12 passes for 130 yards. Washington’s reception total is tied for the third best in school history along with Alex Estrada (1995) and is only three off of Fred Amey’s mark of 15 which was set in 2004.
Sophomore Bryan Hilliard ran for 96 to lead the team and Smith finished the day 20-of-36 for 185 yards. The sophomore also threw his first interception of the season when his deflected pass was caught by Tyler Corwin.
Defensively, the All-American linebacking duo Cyrus Mulitalo and Mike Brannon paced the team. Mulitalo had a game-high 11 tackles, including one for loss. Brannon added nine stops, including three sacks. His career total of 26.5 sacks is now the most in school history, betting Kelly Osborn’s total of 25.5
Sacramento State returns home to face Montana State on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 2:05 p.m.
NOTES: The crowd of 25,486 was a stadium record for Montana and is the largest the Hornets have played in front of this season…Washington now has five 100-yard games in the last six contests…he also moved into 10th place on both the career receiving yards and single-season receiving yards at Sacramento State…the Hornets were called for nine penalties for 59 yards while Montana was whistled for one infraction for 15 yards.
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