The Great Divide trophy found its way back home this past Saturday at the 123nd Annual Brawl of The Wild Football game held at Missoula’s Washington Grizzly Stadium. The Montana Grizzlies were able to manage a 30-point lead over the Montana State Bobcats, giving them the win as Big Sky Conference champions for the first time since 2009. Going into the game, Montana was ranked fourth in the FCS coaches poll, while MSU stood at third.
A game-opening 4-yard touchdown by Eli Gilman, and another 4-yard run by quarterback Clifton McDowell put the Grizzlies up14-0 ,in just the first quarter. A 46-yard run by Montana Statequarterback Tommy Mellot ended in a missed 42-yard field goal by Casey Kautzman. With less than 10 minutes left in the first half, a 40-yard field goal from Nico Ramos spotted the Grizzlies with a 17-0 lead. Just before halftime, Ramos made a 33-yard field putting the Griz up with a 20-0 lead at intermission, and a total of 231 yards compared to the Bobcats 113.
On the first possession of the second half, the Bobcats were able to grab a 19-yard touchdown putting the score at 20-7. Montana came right back with a 49-yard kick return from wide receiver Junior Bergen ending with a 20-yard touchdown from Mcdowell. But they were not done yet. An incredible 64-yard touchdown from Montana running back Nick Ostmo wrapped up the game with a final score of 37-7.
Another victory was achieved for Griz Nation, when it was announced during the game that Missoula county had won the Can the Cats food drive by donating the equivalent of 870,192 pounds of food to the Missoula Food Bank, according to NBC Montana. Additionally, WashingtonGrizzly Stadium set a new all-time attendance record with 27,178 fans attending the game.
