Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 23

GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM Scoreboard 2 'IT-" NASCAR Regional sports SPORTS For tips or corrections: Call Sports Editor George Geise at 791-1470 or 800-438-6600; Fax: 791-6588; E-mail: tribsportsgreatfallstribune.com NFL 5 l-AA football 6-7 8 y-rMi Top 25 NBA, NHL 9 XZJ SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2006 idumUHT CO. UM 31 MSU 31 s-J MCNEESE SKTE 6 13 Iras Grizzlies, Bobcats both storm into second round AP PHOTOINDEPENDENT RECORD. GEORGE LANE Carroll College running back Ryan Grosu-lak (32) heads for the football after It was stripped from him by St. Xavier's Tom Regnier (3) in Helena on Saturday. The ball was recovered by Carroll, but St.

Xavier won 14-7. St. Xavier puts stop to Carroll UM' vv if The Associated Press HELENA Jason Banning rushed for 65 yards and scored on a 2-yard run with 3:08 remaining to lift St. Xavier of Illinois to a 14-7 playoff victory over four-time defending NA1A champion Carroll College. No.

9 St. Xavier (11-2) advances to next weekend's semifinals for the first time in school history. The pairings will be announced Sunday. The loss ended Carroll's streak of 17 consecutive playoff wins. "I'm sure they're on top of the world right now," said Saints senior defensive lineman Chris Ramstead.

"But obviously we're down. For 1 1 of us, it's the last game, but we went down fighting." No. 4 Carroll (10-2) scored first on a 28-yard touchdown pass from John Barnett to Travis Browne with 9:05 left in the half. St. Xavier backup quarterback Jeremy Zientek, who has seen limited playing time this season, threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Andy Ricca with 1:45 left in the third quarter to tie the score at 7.

"I was just so happy for him because he had to bring us back from being down 7 against the best team in the country," said St. Xavier coach Mike Feminis. "For him to do that after not playing for two months, it gave our guys a ton of confidence." "We were in the hole and we couldn't stop their running game," said Carroll coach Mike Van Diest. "In the end we just couldn't do the things we have to do, and that's keep them out of the red zone." "We just got to have an off-season like we never have before," said Barnett. "We have to let this feeling stay in our gut and let it make us work 10 times harder.

It snowed during much of the game and the field was slippery. The temperature at kickoff was 14 degrees. See BOX SCORE on 2S TRIBUNE PHOTO RION SANDERS Montana running back Brady Green carries the ball upfield behind offensive linemen Colin Dow, left, and Jeff Marshall on Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. The Grizzlies' ground game produced 230 yards as UM handily defeated McNeese State 31-6 in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Montana plays Southern Illinois in the next round.

Montana dominates Cowboys in all phases of game By GEORGE GEISE Tribune Sports Editor MISSOULA The Montana Grizzlies trotted out some new players and some old plays as they trounced McNeese State 31-6 Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Football Washington-Grizzly Stadium. "We were pretty dominating in all three facets of the game running, passing and kicking," said UM head coach Bobby Hauck, who won his 40th game in four years to jump to No. 4 on UM's all-See MONTANA, 6S Great Falls also got his initial starting assignment as the rock-ribbed UM defense kept the Cowboys (7-5) from scoring a touchdown. A Grizzly offense that stagnated in the red zone during a 13-7 victory over Montana State the previous week produced 514 yards and some exciting wrinkles against the Southland Conference champions. Senior quarterback Josh Swogger fired a career-high four scoring passes, the ground game produced 230 yards and UM's defense held the Cowboys to 224 yards on a crisp, sunny afternoon at Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Freshman running back Thomas Brooks-Fletcher got his first career start and ran for 1 13 yards as No. 2-ranked Montana (11-1) bolted into this week's quarterfinals against Southern Illinois. Junior tackle Kelly Kain of Montana State celebrates home-playoff drought with victory Anderson blocked a punt and recovered it for a score as Montana State broke the game open with two decisive plays in the kicking game. The Bobcat defense, meanwhile, had the Paladin ground game running on empty from the get-go in what was a wire-to-wire tri- By SCOn MANSCH Tribune Asst. Sports Editor BOZEMAN It was Montana State's first home football playoff game in 22 years, and no one can say the Bobcats choked.

Unless you're describing how the MSU defense took if i Morales, UM roll to victory over Davidson The Associated Press Montana State's Michael Jefferson stretches to catch a touchdown pass against Furman on Saturday in Bozeman. Montana State beat Furman 31-13 in the first round of the playoffs. The Bobcats play top-ranked Appalachian State in the next round. the life out of the feared Fur-man ground game. "We got into a wrestling match with a really good Our fans came and made it worthwhile and made our team want to respond to what they saw.

MSU coach Mike Kramer umph before an overjoyed, bundled-up crowd that hadn't seen playoff football here for a long, long time. "First of COLUMBUS, Ohio Mandy Morales had 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds Saturday to lead Montana to a 68-61 victory over Davidson in the first round of the Klosterman Buckeye Classic at Ohio State University. Montana (3-0) meets No. 6 Ohio State (4-0) in the championship game on Sunday. Ohio State beat Cornell 77-43 in the other first-round game.

Montana led 59-49 with 3:24 remaining after a free i r7 4 team and we just strangled the run out of them," said Bobcat head coach Mike Kramer. Junior quarterback Jack Rolovich threw a pair of touchdown passes and scored himself on a short plunge as the 18th-ranked Bobcats defeated the seventh-ranked Furman Paladins 31-13 in a Division I Football Championship Subdivision first-round game. Fort Benton freshman Jesse all, a tremendous effort by our fans," said Kramer. The official attendance was 9,427 at Bobcat Stadium. "It seemed like a lot more than that," Kramer said.

"Our fans were up in arms and making noise and involved. Our fans came and made it worthwhile and made our team want to respond to what they saw." See MONTANA STATE, 7S Morales AP PHOTO BOZEMAN DAILY CHRONICLE. SEAN SPERRY -t? UM-Western, will have a Junior forward Marcel Jones (17.3 ppg) throw by Tamara Guardipee, who finished with 10 points. Late full-court pressure by Davidson cut the Lady Griz lead to 62-59 with 50 seconds remaining. Morales, Guardipee and Johanna Closson all hit free throws down the stretch while the Wildcats (3-2) were unable to hit from 3-point range.

Sonya Rogers added 13 points and Laura Cote also had 10 for the Lady Griz, who used a 17-2 run to take a 20-8 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. The Lady Griz led by as much as 27-12 on a 3-pointer by Rogers with 6:12 remaining, but Davidson pulled to within 32-29 at half. Davidson took a 42-41 lead on a 3-pointer by Katie Hamilton with 13:12 remaining, but Cote put UM up for good with a jumper. Hamilton led Davidson with 22 points and six rebounds, white Danielle Hemerka finished with 1 1 points and six rebounds. Both fouled out.

rare home game against a Pacific-10 foe as the Beavers (3-3) continue a road trip that started Friday at Northern Colorado. Oregon State defeated the UNC Bears, like Montana State a leads the OSU offense. Jones had 35 points and the Beavers rallied from a 14-point half-time deficit to defeat Northern Colorado. Senior Kyle Jef- By Tribune Staff BOZEMAN The Montana State Bobcats have won two in a row and will seek the most significant victory of the new Brad Huse era this afternoon at 1 when the Oregon State Beavers visit Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The Bobcats, 2-3 following back-to-back triumphs over Idaho and 72-65 at Idaho and hammered UM-Western 84-59 on Wednesday.

Junior guard Carlos Taylor (12.3 ppg) and senior center Ted Morris (10.8 ppg) are the leading scorers for the Cats. They are expected to start this afternoon along with junior point guard Casey Durham, senior swingman Nick Dissly and senior forward Carson Durr. while reserve guard Wesley Washington hit a game-winning jumper with 7.8 seconds to play. Missoula native Jack McGillis, a sophomore guard averaging 2.7 ppg, is a reserve for OSU. The Bobcats have made some noticeable progress under Huse, who took over last spring when longtime MSU head coach Mick Durham retired.

The Bobcats won Bobcats seek to continue to build up momentum vs. Oregon St. fers, a 6-9 center, had 10 points and 12 boards against the Bears, Big Sky Conference member, 69-67. See BOX SCORE on 2S.