The University of Montana Griz football team played Furman University in the University of Montana’s own stadium on Friday Dec. 8. The Grizzlies beat the Paladins 35-28 in a thrillingly close overtime showdown, successfully pushing the Griz forward into the semifinals of the FCS Football Championship.
The game kicked off with a Griz touchdown by Junior Bergen within the first 30 seconds of the game, giving the Griz an early lead. Unfortunately for the Griz, they didn’t keep that lead long as a little over a minute later Furman’s Dominic Roberto scored a touchdown for the Paladins.
The game continued to be neck and neck until the start of the second quarter when Griz pulled ahead with a field goal by Nico Ramos, putting UM at 17 points to Furmans 14. The Griz scored another field goal at the end of the second quarter, putting them up 20-14.
Furman came back strong in the third quarter, scoring a touchdown in the ninth minute of the quarter, giving Furman the lead throughout the rest of the third and for most of the fourth quarter.
At 9 minutes and 40 seconds in the fourth quarter, the Griz scored again. Bergen scored with a 59 yard punt return and Sawyer Racanelli scored a 2 point pass. But not long after the Paladins evened out the score with a touchdown from Mason Pline, ending the fourth quarter with a 28-28 tie.
The Griz quickly put an end to Furman’s dream, when they scored a touchdown in the first overtime, and prevented Furman from scoring at all. This allowed the University of Montana football team to advance to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs.
The Griz are to play the North Dakota State Bison in the semifinals at their home stadium on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2:30 PM. The winner of the game gets to play for the championship title on Jan. 7. They will be playing either South Dakota State or the University of Albany.
