Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 26

I-AA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Saturday, December 18, 2004 GREAT FALLS TRIBUN WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM Page 6, Section --7 --r'Vli: 7 -J-' J' 'IT 1 I I I I 1 it -j AT'- it j. i i TRIBUNE PHOTOS BY ROBIN LOZNAK A swarm of Grizzlies tackle James Madison's Maurice Mizelle in the third quarter Friday in Chattanooga. James Madison defeated the Grizzlies 31-21 to win the national championship. Gm: Penalties hurt Montana 1 Evans hurries Montana quarterback wide to the left, and the Grizzlies came up empty-handed again. James Madison made Montana pay, methodically driving 71 yards in 13 plays to take a 10-7 lead on Fenner's 1-yard run on fourth down with just 16 seconds left in the first half.

The scoring drive was aided by a 15-yard personal-foul penalty on UM that gave the Dukes a first down at the UM 40. It took JMU 12 plays 10 of them runs up the middle to move the football the final 40 yards into the end zone. Matthews opted to go for the TD rather than kick the certain field goal, and his gamble paid off. Matthews said his offensive coordinator, Jeff Darden, convinced him to go for the touchdown instead of the safe three points. "I wanted to take the three we had a good, strong argument on the headset," said Matthews.

"Jeff talked me into it." It was the first time Montana had trailed in the playoffs, but not the last. The Grizzlies almost made something happen in the waning seconds of the half, as Ochs fmJ- fL.W Sy7 W- XJ IxA Ml Murphy, left, celebrates a sack. graduate. goal as he appeared to chop up the loose turf well before he booted the ball. JMU ended the third quarter with a tenuous three-point lead.

The Dukes bolstered that lead with a 16-play, 80-yard scoring march that consumed more than seven minutes. Rascati completed six straight passes to get his team into UM territory, then he capped the drive with a 6-yard TD run to make it 31-21. But once again, the Grizzlies hurt themselves with a horrible penalty. This time, reserve tackle Kerry Mullan roughed the passer slamming Rascati's helmet well after the JMU QB had thrown an incomplete pass on second down. Instead of third-and-goal at the 12, JMU had an automatic first down at the 6, and Rascati converted the break into seven points.

Ochs still had eight minutes to work with, but he threw an interception on a fourth-down desperation play, and the Griz never got the ball back. Hauck pointed to the botched field goals and some untimely penalties as the keys to losing momentum. "In my mind there were three plays that changed the game," said the coach. "Two of them were missed field goals, and the other was the roughing-the-passer call. Those cost us." FROM IS yards, mostly via the strong right arm of senior quarterback Craig Ochs, who completed 29 of 38 passes for a career-best 371 yards.

Ochs threw three TD passes to Jefferson Heidel-berger, Levander Segars and Willie Walden but it wasn't enough as UM finished with a 12-3 record. JMU capped a 13-2 season with its first national championship. Montana has won two I-AA titles and finished second three times, all in the last 10 years. Montana got off to a great start, taking the opening kick-off and driving 71 yards in 12 plays, becoming the first team to score a TD against James Madison in the first quarter all season. The Grizzlies scored on a 3-yard pass from Ochs to wide receiver Heidelberger just 4:52 into the contest.

UM mixed four passes with seven runs on the drive, which featured an 18-yard pass from Ochs to Segars, a 22-yard gain from Ochs to running back Justin Green, and a key 22-yard pass from Ochs to Tate Hancock down to the JMU 1. After two runs lost two yards, Ochs scrambled until Heidelberger got free in the end zone. Dan Carpenter added the extra point and UM led 7-0. The Montana defense was just as effective in its opening appearance, forcing losses on James Madison's first two plays from scrimmage, and the Dukes were forced to punt from their own 38. Montana was pinned back at its own 8 after an illegal block on the punt return.

The Grizzlies mounted a solid, time-consuming drive to the Dukes' 29 before Ochs finally missed a pass after seven straight completions. On 4th-and-6 from the 29, UM and set up for a 46-yard field goal. Hauck called for a fake kick, but Carpenter's run inside right end was stopped two yards short of a first down at the 26. "The field was in really poor condition," said Hauck. "That's why we faked the field goal and did what we did.

I give them credit. They adjusted to what we were doing." UM sophomore defensive end Mike Murphy of Great Falls got a sack on JMU's first play from scrimmage on the ensuing possession, as Rascati lost five yards. Rascati then threw two incompletions and the Dukes punted the ball away to the UM 41. The Griz failed to get a first down and Tyson Johnson's first punt dropped the Dukes back to their own 15. The first quarter ended with Montana owning a 150-2 edge in total yards, and a 7-0 advantage in first downs.

But the 7-0 Montana's defensive end Mike Murphy is a CM. Russell High Segars in the left flat and the speedy senior took the ball the last 12 yards to complete a 17-yard TD play. Carpenter's conversion trimmed UM's deficit to 17-14 with 8:51 left in the third quarter. The Grizzlies got the ball back a few seconds later when Rascati pitched wildly to Banks heading around right end. After Banks kicked the bouncing ball, UM linebacker Nick Vella recovered the ball at the JMU 29.

Ochs made the Dukes pay when he connected with Talmage for a 21-yard play, then hit 6-7, 275-pound tight end Willie Walden on an 8-yard TD pass in the end zone. Carpenter's extra point put the Griz back on top 21-17 at the 7:29 mark. But not for long. James Madison roared back with nine straight running plays to go ahead 24-21 on Fenner's 1-yard run off right tackle. Fenner opened the drive with four dashes for 35 yards, then Banks scampered 25 yards down to the 12.

An 8-yard keeper by Rascati set up Fenner's scoring run. True to form, Ochs drove the Grizzlies back downfield with excellent throwing, along with a nice 9-yard scramble. But after misfiring under heavy pressure on third down, Ochs turned it over to Carpenter, who missed a 29-yard field Craig Ochs. connected with Heidelberger for a 49-yard game with one second remaining, but the play was nullified by a Montana holding penalty. At halftime, Montana had outgained James Madison 213 yards to 128, but the Dukes made far fewer mistakes.

JMU -was penalized just once for five yards, while UM committed five penalties for 44 yards. Both quarterbacks were extremely accurate. Ochs nailed 14-of-16 attempts for 181 yards, and both of his incompletions were catchable. Rascati was 6-of-10 for 71 yards despite at least two drops. The second half began ominously for Montana as James Madison went 80 yards in six plays five of them runs to score.

Rascati had two of the better runs, a 17-yard keeper for a first down near midfield, then he dashed 11 yards around right end to score to make it 17-7. In between, Banks bolted 28 yards up the middle to the UM21. It took Ochs just 3 minutes to get that touchdown back, as the cool senior completed seven of eight passes for 78 yards, hitting his last five throws. Ochs connected with James Madison defender Sid NLINE-EXTRA Look for a photo gallery at www.greatfallstribune.com lead had a hollow feel as Montana was twice stopped on critical third-down calls. The Dukes finally earned their initial first down on the first possession of the second quarter, converting two key third-down plays with Rascati's accurate passes.

But Montana held JMU to four yards on three plays from the 11, helped immensely when Antoine Bolton fell down on a reverse from the 7. David Rabil then booted a 28-yard field goal that clanked off the goalposts but bounced through to narrow the deficit to 7-3. Montana moved the ball effectively on its next possession, using a 16-yard pass from Ochs to Heidelberger and a 22-yard toss to Hancock to bring the ball to the JMU 28. On third down, Ochs floated a pinpoint spiral to Talmage in the left side of the end zone, but the ball bounced off the receiver's right shoulder. Carpenter then missed a 45-yard field goal.