North Dakota's defense stymies Montana in 2nd half for 27-24 win

Published Sep. 7, 2024 10:44 p.m. ET

Associated Press

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — C.J. Elrichs kicked two field goals in the fourth quarter and North Dakota's defense dominated the second half to rally the Fighting Hawks to a 27-24 upset of Montana on Saturday night.

North Dakota (1-1) scored on all four of its drives after trailing 24-7 at halftime and held the Grizzlies (1-1), ranked fourth in the FCS coaches poll, to 34 yards on their four possessions.

Montana had three three-and-out possessions, netting no yards and on their last possession picked up 32 yards on quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat's fourth-down keeper. That play put the Grizzlies at the UND 30 but an incompletion, a sack by Wyatt Pedigo and Kason Kelley snuffing a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage forced UM into a 54-yard field goal attempt. Ty Morrison's kick was wide right with 39 seconds left.

Gaven Ziebarth scored on a 2-yard run to cap North Dakota's 80-yard drive to open the second half. Then the Fighting Hawks went 58 yards on four plays with Simon Romfo scoring on a 19-yard run.

Elrichs tied it with a 19-yard field goal at 11:12 of the fourth quarter and his 40-yarder produced the winning points with 2:16 to play. Those two scoring drives took 30 plays and 15-minutes, 55-seconds.

Montana scored on three-straight drives in the first quarter to take a 24-7 lead. The Grizzlies were balanced with 136 yards passing — with Ah Yat throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Harris — and 135 yards rushing, including touchdown runs of 63 yards by Eli Gillman and 18 yards by wide receiver Aaron Fontes on an end-around.

Romfo threw for 97 yards and ran for 57 for North Dakota, which had 204 of its 340 yards in the second half. Ziebarth had 88 yards on 22 carries.

Ah Yat was 20 of 28 for 135 yards passing for Montana, which finished with 305 yards.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football.