This past weekend the Bearkats (1-1) went head to head with the Montana Grizzlies (2-1), one of the top teams in Division 1-AA ball. Just over 23,000 fans packed into Washington-Grizzly stadium to watch their team defeat the Bearkats 38-14.The first score of the game was by the Grizzly defense after a pass from junior quarterback Travis Tobaben was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Montana took a commanding lead in the second quarter as they went up 21-0. The Kats would bounce right back however, scoring 14 unanswered points before the end of the first half.Montana’s offensive game plan against SHSU was to establish the run game. The Kats were successful in the first half, shutting the Grizzly running backs down, allowing them only 21 yards on 20 carries. The Montana offense did come together in the second half as they were carried by junior running back JR Waller and his 133 yards after only 13 carries.”Our defense played pretty well,” said head coach Ron Randleman. “We held them to only 10 first downs. They did a good job on defense as well. They did not allow us to run the ball”The Bearkat running game was held to under a 100 yards for the day. The offense was forced to take to the air. They ended the game with 50 pass attempts; they completed 28, and threw two interceptions.”We turned the ball over four times in the game,” said Randleman. “That is way too many. The crowd over there is really noisy, that can be intimidating and causes turnovers and dropped balls”The crowd of 23,033 played an important role in the game. Known as being a noisy stadium at the right times, miscommunication and bad reads played a crucial part in the loss. The Bearkat wide receivers dropped six passes; some of those being crucial to a would-have-been come back.”We are going to have to learn from our mistakes,” said Randleman. “We played hard and we are going to have to get better every week.”Next week the Kats travel to Waco to take on the 1-2 Baylor Bears. After coming off a 10-7 victory against rival Southern Methodist University, they will be looking to hit the .500 mark with a win. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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