Gruesome Phillips injury overshadows runaway Griz win

MISSOULA — A perfect start instantly shifted into a gruesome nightmare for Reese Phillips on Saturday.

Montana’s senior quarterback completed his first 13 passes as the Griz scored with ease on their first two offensive possessions against overmatched Savannah State.

But early in the second quarter, Phillips stepped into the pocket with the Tigers’ defensive front bearing down on him. Stefen Banks, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound junior defensive end, grabbed Phillips from behind, burying him into the Washington-Grizzly Stadium turf.

Within a split second of the awkward, twisting tackle, Phillips’ body started convulsing. Banks ran off the field motioning for medical help from the sideline, as did several Griz offensive lineman. As the pile moved, Phillips lay face down on the turf but his left foot pointed toward the suddenly clear Missoula sky.

A full seven minutes later, nearly every Griz player walked from the east sideline to the middle of the field as trainers loaded Phillips onto a medical cart, his left leg already bound by an air cast. Saturday evening, Phillips’ mother, Elaine, posted on Twitter that Phillips suffered “ruptured ankle ligaments and a broken bone”, adding Phillips was in surgery around 7 p.m. Saturday night …

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