Griz finish strong in 47-27 win over Monmouth

MISSOULA, Montana — The Grizzlies could never quite seize the momentum in the first half against Monmouth despite a few slick trick plays that led to touchdowns and an electric kick return for a score by Malik Flowers.

Coming out of the halftime locker room, No. 19 Montana continued its trend of dominating the early portion of the third quarter, scoring on its first possession, getting a stop, and scoring again.

But Monmouth would not go away, cutting the Griz lead to 33-27 with 11 minutes, 32 seconds left to play. Last season, Montana lost three straight home games, blowing fourth quarter leads in each. UM led in the fourth quarter 10 times in 11 games in 2018 but posted just a 6-5 record that caused the once-proud Griz to miss the playoffs for the third year in a row.

With those demons resurfacing in front of a relatively mellow crowd of 23,119, Montana instead began writing a new narrative. Senior quarterback Dalton Sneed engineered two efficient, fast-paced scoring drives, junior running back Marcus Knight continued solidifying himself as Montana’s feature tailback and sophomore Bryson Deming put an exclamation point on a stellar day by UM’s tight ends as the Griz raced to the finish in a 47-27 victory to wrap up non-conference play.

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