Griz score four second half touchdowns in 28-17 win over Portland State | Montana Grizzlies

After a defensive start to the game in which neither offense was able to find the endzone before halftime, Logan Fife led No. 10 Montana on four straight touchdown drives in the second half en route to a 28-17 victory over Portland State on senior day in Missoula.

Fife didn’t enter the game until the final minute of the opening half, replacing Keali’i Ah Yat who was forced to leave with an apparent lower leg injury. After that point the junior transfer out of Fresno State was nearly flawless, leading Montana to four straight touchdown drives to begin the second half.

Montana went into halftime trailing 3-0, the first time they had been shut out in an opening half at home since 2018 against PSU.

The Grizzlies defense was opportunistic, forcing Portland State into five turnovers with two fumble recoveries and three interceptions.

The final seven minutes of the game came under unique circumstances, as a campus-wide power outage knocked out scoreboards, clocks, statistics, etc inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium. After a brief pause the game resumed and was able to finish up despite the loss of power, which also knocked out the television broadcast of the game.

With Saturday’s win, Montana (8-3, 5-2 BSC) has almost assuredly earned themselves a spot in the playoffs no matter the outcome of their game at No. 2 Montana State on November 23 to wrap up the regular season.

Montana now holds an overall 35-13 lead against Portland State in the series history and the Grizzlies have won 18 of the last 21 meetings since 2000.

The Vikings entered the weekend with just a 2-7 record on the season, but PSU has had one of the toughest schedules in all of FCS football with losses to ranked FBS teams such as Washington State and Boise State as well as a narrow 1-point loss to No. 4 UC Davis and 9-point loss one week ago against No. 8 Idaho.

GAME SCORING SUMMARY

The Vikings received the opening kick and turned it into points with a 40 yard field goal from Mathias Uribe giving Portland State an early 3-0 advantage.

After going three and out on their first possession, Montana’s offense quickly got another opportunity thanks to an interception from UM’s Jace Klucewich down inside Montana’s own endzone. The turnover was the result of in ill advised pass by Portland State RB/WR Quincy Craig on a trick play in which he was attempting to complete a pass to Vikings quarterback Dante Chachere.

However Montana returned the favor on their ensuing drive with Griz freshman QB Keali’i Ah Yat throwing an interception down in the red zone, picked off by PSU’s Michael Hurst at the Vikings’ 5 yard line.

The rest of the opening half was largely a punting clinic, with the next four consecutive possessions ending in a boot from the special teams units.

Portland State nearly put more points on the board before the half, but their drive ended in Montana territory when a Henry Nuce forced fumble was recovered by Jaxon Lee at the Griz 30 yard line.

After Ah Yat was injured late in the first half, Logan Fife came in at quarterback and led Montana to an immediate touchdown on their first drive of the second half; Fife found paydirt on a QB keeper from one yard out to put Montana ahead 7-3 less than two minutes into the third quarter.

The Vikings offense also received the halftime memo about touchdowns being ideal, as Portland State’s opening drive of the second half resulted in a 13 yard rushing touchdown from Quincy Craig to put them back in front 10-7 with 10:35 left in the third quarter.

Montana followed suit with a second straight touchdown drive, this time thanks to an 81 yard touchdown pass from Logan Fife to Sawyer Racanelli to put Montana ahead 14-10.

The second half offensive fireworks continued on Portland State’s next drive with a Delon Thompson three yard touchdown run putting the Vikes back in front 17-14.

Montana answered back with an 11 yard touchdown pass from Fife to Erik Barker, putting Montana back on top 21-17.

Montana’s second half offensive onslaught continued to start the fourth quarter with Fife finding Aaron Fontes on a 35 yard touchdown pass to increase the Grizzlies’ advantage to 28-17.