New Hampshire 17, 
Montana 47
Montana 47, New Hampshire 17
| WERE YOU THERE? | |
Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories today with ESPN's Sports Passport. Enter the games you attend, upload your photos and share your memories! |
|
| Team Stat Comparison | ||
 |  | |
| 1st Downs | 22 | 26 |
| Total Yards | 422 | 474 |
| Passing | 347 | 257 |
| Rushing | 75 | 217 |
| Penalties | 4-40 | 5-49 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 4-14 | 3-10 |
| 4th Down Conversions | 2-3 | 1-2 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 1 |
| Possession | 27:55 | 32:05 |
| Individual Leaders |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scoring Summary | |||||
| FIRST QUARTER | UNH | MONT | |||
| FG | 10:26 | DAN CARPENTER 31 YD FG Drive info: 6 plays, 14 yards. | 0 | 3 |
| FG | 7:02 | CONNOR MCCORMICK 35 YD FG Drive info: 10 plays, 58 yards. | 3 | 3 |
| SECOND QUARTER | UNH | MONT | |||
| TD | 11:46 | LEX HILLIARD 7 YD RUN (DAN CARPENTER KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 64 yards. | 3 | 10 |
| TD | 6:29 | LEVANDER SEGARS 4 YD PASS FROM CRAIG OCHS (DAN CARPENTER KICK) Drive info: 8 plays, 87 yards. | 3 | 17 |
| TD | 1:39 | JUSTIN GREEN 1 YD RUN (DAN CARPENTER KICK) Drive info: 7 plays, 49 yards. | 3 | 24 |
| THIRD QUARTER | UNH | MONT | |||
| TD | 12:59 | LEX HILLIARD 4 YD RUN (DAN CARPENTER KICK) Drive info: 2 plays, 22 yards. | 3 | 31 |
| TD | 11:07 | JEFFERSON HEIDELBERGER 18 YD PASS FROM CRAIG OCHS (FAILED 2PT RUSH) Drive info: 3 plays, 56 yards. | 3 | 37 |
| TD | 4:57 | JON TALMAGE 3 YD PASS FROM CRAIG OCHS (DAN CARPENTER KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 82 yards. | 3 | 44 |
| FOURTH QUARTER | UNH | MONT | |||
| FG | 14:17 | DAN CARPENTER 31 YD FG Drive info: 7 plays, 34 yards. | 3 | 47 |
| TD | 11:22 | JONATHAN WILLIAMS 24 YD PASS FROM RICKY SANTOS (CONNOR MCCORMICK KICK) Drive info: 10 plays, 87 yards. | 10 | 47 |
| TD | 2:44 | JOHN MCCOY 2 YD RUN (CONNOR MCCORMICK KICK) Drive info: 10 plays, 80 yards. | 17 | 47 |
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- For the second straight weekend, Montana's offense was unstoppable in an I-AA playoff game.
On Saturday, the Grizzlies rolled to a 47-17 victory over No. 5 New Hampshire (10-3) with two nonstarters on the offensive line.
"I tell you what, I can't express how proud I am right now of Ryan Wells and Cody Balogh," said senior offensive tackle Cory Procter. "I thought it was incredible by them to step in and just take the role and obviously the production of our offense didn't stop."
Craig Ochs passed for 251 yards and three touchdowns and Lex Hilliard rushed for 107 yards and two more scores for the No. 7 Grizzlies (11-2), who beat Northwestern State 56-7 in the first round.
"They did whatever they wanted to," said UNH defensive end George Peterson. "And we've been a relatively good defense all year."
Balogh, a freshman, found out Friday night he'd have to start in place of Brad Rhoades, who had the stomach flu. Wells came in late in the first quarter when Jason Frink suffered a knee injury.
"We didn't miss a beat, for the most part," said UM coach Bobby Hauck.
Montana will play host to Sam Houston State Saturday in Missoula in a semifinal game. Sam Houston State defeated Eastern Washington 35-34 Saturday night at Cheney, Wash. Sam Houston beat Montana 41-27 in September.
Montana and New Hampshire traded field goals on their first possessions and punts on their next, but it was all Montana the rest of the way.
Ochs completed 16 consecutive passes during a stretch from late in the first quarter to early in the third quarter as Montana scored six straight touchdowns.
Ochs' third TD pass, a 3-yarder to Jon Talmage with 4:57 left in the third, put Montana up 44-3.
"In the second and third quarters we had a lot of confidence as a unit," Ochs said. "I just felt the offensive line was seeing things clearly and I was seeing things clearly. The last couple of weeks we've had these runs as an offensive unit where we feel like every time we have the ball we can go down and score a touchdown."
Dan Carpenter kicked two 31-yard field goals, the last one giving Montana a 47-3 lead with 14:17 remaining.
Against the Montana backups, New Hampshire put together a 10-play, 87-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ricky Santos to Jonathan Williams with 11:22 remaining.
John McCoy scored on a 2-yard run with 2:44 remaining for New Hampshire.
Santos passed for 199 of his 347 yards in the fourth quarter.
Hilliard exploded for a 7-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
Ochs got his first touchdown pass, a 4-yarder to Levander Segars, with 6:29 left in the half.
Justin Green added a 1-yard run to make it 24-3 at halftime.
Segars had 72 yards on punt returns, including a 52-yarder after New Hampshire's first possession of the second half, giving Montana the ball on the 22-yard line.
Hilliard ran for 18 yards on the first play and scored on a 4-yard run on the next play to give Montana a 31-3 lead with 12:59 left in the third.
After a three-and-out by the Wildcats, Mike Costanzo partially blocked the punt and Montana got the ball on the UNH 44. Three plays later, Ochs threw an 18-yard pass to Heidelberger, who made a one-handed catch in the end zone.
That's when UNH coach Sean McDonnell knew the game had gotten away.
"Those first two drives I knew we were in trouble," he said. "We didn't come out and get a fast start in the second half. You look up, the next thing you know it's 37-3."
Heidelberger caught seven passes for 107 yards and Tate Hancock had seven catches for 84 yards.
Ochs was intercepted on Montana's first drive by Etienne Boulay, who then fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Montana.
"I just got lazy on my read," Ochs said. "I don't know what I was thinking when I threw that ball. It was just a foolish decision on my part."
The drive ended with Carpenter's first field goal.
Connor McCormick kicked a 35-yard field goal midway through the first quarter for New Hampshire's first score.
Montana's first touchdown came on a drive when the Grizzlies converted a fourth-and-4 play with a 20-yard pass from Ochs to Heidelberger.
McDonnell said the crowd noise hurt his defense on the play.
"We knew the check we had to make, we just didn't get it communicated to everybody across the board," McDonnell said.
"That's the best team we've played all year guys," he said.
College Football Scores
Other Scores:
Saturday, December 4th
| New Hampshire | 17 | Final |
| Montana | 47 |
| Sam Houston State | 35 | Final |
| Eastern Washington | 34 |