The Independent-Record from Helena, Montana • 13

Sunday, December 8, 2002 Section o) 5) Sports Desk: 447-4070 irsports helenair.com Independent Record Sports Grizzlies fizzle against McNeese State LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) Ryan Corcoran came off the bench to throw for 197 yards and two touchdowns to lead McNeese to a 24-20 comeback victory over Montana on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. J.R. Waller ran for 71 yards for defending national champion Montana (11-3) and his third-quarter touchdown staked the Grizzlies to a 17-0 lead. yard scored put McNeese up 21-20 with 3:45 left.

John Marino kicked a 40-yard field goal for McNeese with 58 seconds to play. Montana quarterback John Edwards overthrew Jon Tal-mage on a fourth-down pass as time expired. Snyder kicked a 42-yard field goal with five minutes in the first quarter. Edwards completed 10-of-27 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown for Montana. Corcoran came in after starter Scott Pendarvis completed only two of 15 passes.

He brought top-ranked McNeese (12-1) within 17-7 on a 35-yard pass to B.J. Sams, capping an eight-play, 94-yard drive that ended with 1:39 left in the third quarter. Corcoran then drove McNeese 58-yards in eight plays on the Cowboys first drive of the fourth quarter. Luke Lawton finished it off with a 19-yard scoring run to pull McNeese within 17-14 with 11:35 left in the game. Montana had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Chris Snyder to take a 20-14 lead with 9:33 remaining, when the Grizzlies couldn't get a touchdown after a long pass from backup quarterback Brandon Neill to Tyler Peterson gave them the ball first-and-10 on the McNeese 4-yard line.

Corcoran then drove the Cowboys 64 yards in nine plays, hitting Sams for a 17- McNeese St. 24 Montana 20 -a JLl jL. JLf JUL 4. IN MJ Saints advance to title game By SANDRA KELLY I Sports Writer SIOUX FALLS The Saints are marching on to Tennessee. For the first time in school history, the Carroll College football team will play for the NAIA National Championship Series title.

The Saints advanced to the title game in Savannah, Tennessee, by beating the No. 1 ranked Sioux Falls Cougars 20-17. If that wasn't enough, the Saints will have the cbance lq old nemesis, the Ltown (Kv). Grapplers sweep Missoula schools BUTTE The Capital and Helena wrestling teams each swept Missoula Big Sky and Missoula Hell-gate in dual matches in Butte. The Bruins downed Big Sky 59-24 and then crushed Missoula Hellgate 78-6 Curtis Sampson (98 pounds), Josh Grover (119); Ben Hamper (125), Tash Broadwater (145) Patrick Rice (189) and R.C.

Pearce (Hwt) each won twice for the Bruins. Samson picked up two pins as did Broadwater and Pearce. "We were better on our feet," said Capital coach Bob Pearce. "We countered things a lot better and the kids wrestled with a little more intensity. Freshman Francis Reishus picked up a win against Big Sky when he made short work of Ray Holly in 1:18.

The Bruins moved their dual record to 2-1-1 and Pearce said he expects big thing from his team as the season moves on "I think we have a good team," he said. "We have a lot of kids who have experience. With a little more mat time little more practice, be up there in top four or five." Nick Cross, Dusty Stra-chan, Tom Brennan Josh Schaber, Jeremy Frisinger each won twice for the Bengals as they beat Big Sky 49-30 and Hellgate 54-20. Helena coach Ken Cloud said the Bengals wrestled well, particularly in the heavier weights. "Our upper weights are wrestling better," he said.

"They aren't very experienced kids, but they are definitely wrestling better." Carroll men thump Whitman College WHITMAN The Carroll College men's basketball team won their final game of the Whitman Tournament as they thumped Whitman College 81-55. Gary Lynch led the team with 24 points, while Randy Ranalli contributed with 19 points and Jeff Mason had 10 points. Lynch was named tournament MVP and Jeff Mason was named to the All Tournament team. "It was our most complete game offensively and defensively this season," said assistant coach Shawn Nelson. "Whitman was real fired up to play us and we executed our offense under a lot of pressure." The Carroll women fell to Rocky Mountain 80-67 at the Frontier tipoff tournament, no other information, was available at press time.

f) I i 1 if It JMMMH The Cougars took a 7-0 lead early when Leo Fenceroy intercepted Carroll quarterback Robb Latrielle and ran it in from 25 yards out for the touchdown with 4:10 left in the first quarter. With just under two minutes left in the half, Carroll punt returner Justin Wigen fumbled a punt when he was drilled by a swarm of Cougars at his own 30. Sioux Falls' Josh Childress recovered the ball and Wigen was helped off the field. Early reports indicated that Wigen has a broken ankle and a sprained knee and will be out for the rest of the season. The Cougars capitalized on the fumble by advancing to Carroll's 6-yard line.

They couldn't punch it into the end zone, but kicker T.C. Fras-er put USF up 10-0 with a 24-yard field goal with one second left in the half. "At halftime we just talked about we had three turnovers and on defense we didn't cause any turnovers," Carroll head coach Mike Van Diest said. "The key was pass protection. We knew if we could protect Robb he could throw." And throw he did.

Latrielle was 22-of-44 for 271 yards and two touchdowns and 14 of Carroll's 17 first downs came from the air. His top target was Mark Gallik, who was named the MVP of the game. Gallik caught seven passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Casey Fitzsimmons followed with eight grabs for 78 yards. With 8:46 left in the third quarter the Saints got on the scoreboard when running back Heath Wall snagged a Latrielle pass at the 4-yard line and barreled in for the score.

Rhett Crites, who was perfect on the day, converted the PAT to narrow the Cougars' lead to 10-7. "Heath Wall's catch in the third quarter might have been the play of the game," Van Diest said. For Wall, the touchdown followed a 14-yard run, his first breakout run in several games. More SAINTS, page 3B Photos by Sioui Falls Argus leader Carroll quarterback Robb Latrielle, above, pulls away from Josh Childress, USF, in first half action of the NAIA semi-final game, Saturday afternoon. Sioux Falls's Nick Geelan, top, lands on Carroll's Mark Gallik after Gallik made the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter Saturday.

Carroll won the NAIA semifinal playoff game 20-17 t- PREP BASKETBALL Hot-shooting Bozeman downs Capital 73-48 was making. He's already athletic enough, so if he can do that he'll be tough to stop. Capital got another solid effort from 6-6 post Quinn LeSage, who led Capital with 15 points and a game-high 10. "We need him to be strong out there," said Pilgeram. "He's a great second post behind Brent (Wunderlich).

He played real well tonight and took the ball to the rim real hard." Kyle Samson turned in a nice game for Capital, Dissly pours in 21 for Hawks By TOM STUBER IR Sports Writer Bozeman High showed why it's considered a favorite to win the AA title as the Hawks knocked down nine 3-pointers and snuffed out Capital 73-48 Saturday night at the Capital High gym. "There's a reason they're ranked as high as they are," said Capital High coach Bill Pilgeram. "They're going to be very good this year, but I think when it's all said and done we're going to be pretty good, too." Capital (0-2) led early, but not often, as the Hawks took an 8-6 lead with 4:55 to go in the first quarter on a Nick Dissly 3-pointer after falling in a 6-0 hole. Capital came back to tie the game in the second quarter at 19-all, but Bozeman hit five straight points two came on a technical against the Bruin' bench and didn't give up the lead the rest of the way. The Hawks (2-0) were dialed in, in the first half as they hit seven treys.

Chris Townley hit one to start a 14-5 run to finish the half and Capital never got closer than within 10 points in the second half. "We need to work on our offense and execute," said Pilgeram. "If we can work the ball around and get good shots we'll be alright. I told the guys it's going to take time and that I hope we didn't play our best game on the first weekend." The 6-4 Dissly led all scorers with 21 points, but the range of his jump shots are what caught Pilgeram's eye. "He's added another dimension to his game," said Pilgeram.

"Those were some deep threes he -V- if A -1 More CAPITAL, page 3B Jon Belt IR Staff Photographer Capital's Brent Wunderlich (42) scores inside past Bozeman's Trent Saunders (23) Saturday. The Bruins came up short against the Hawks Saturday night 73-48. ''1.