Montana Grizzly Football Survives, Breaks the Red Curse

What looked like a near sure thing faded quickly in horrific fashion.

A rapid, shocking fourth quarter comeback from 38-21 down put Eastern Washington within a field goal on the home red turf (the "Inferno") and the University of Montana Grizzlies had to weather the storm and keep matching scores, in a heart-stopping 52-49 victory.

Griz quarterback Logan Fife, who played the entire game in place of an injured Keali'i Ah Yat, threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone, including two touchdown passes to tight end (what?!?!?!?!) Erik Barker, to guide the Griz to a 31-14 halftime lead. A trade of touchdowns in the third quarter kept Montana comfortable at 38-21. Montana's lone score in the quarter came on another electrifying touchdown run, this one 69 yards, courtesy of star running back Eli Gillman

That's when the Eagles erupted for two touchdowns in the blink of an eye, to cut the lead to 38-35. The Griz settled back in and went on a 75-yard scoring drive to stretch the lead back to 10 points with less than 6 minutes to play.

But another long kick return set EWU up at the 45. A few plays later, lightning struck immediately again to make the score 45-42. With less than four minutes to go, running back Nick Ostmo exploded for a 50+-yard run to the Eagle 9. Logan Fife's fifth touchdown pass of the game went to tight end (what?!?1?!?!) Jake Olson and made the score 52-42, with still over two minuets to play.

Eastern Washington, suddenly unstoppable, moved quickly into Montana territory. With 52 seconds left, the Eagles put more points on the board to make it 52-49 with 52 seconds to play.

Time for the second onside kick of the contest. The first one successful. The second one out of bounds and victory formation.

With 701 total yards, it was Montana's first win in 7 tries on the red Roos Field. The Griz are back home the next two Saturdays to take on Weber State and Northern Arizona respectively.

What a game!