GREELEY — Losing four of its last five games by a combined 17 points, Northern Colorado has seen its fair share of missed opportunities.
Saturday’s 41-20 loss to eighth-ranked Montana at Nottingham Field showcased more of the same, but one sequence in particular summed up the Bears’ season.
Trailing the Grizzlies 3-0 in the first quarter, UNC worked its way to the Montana 1. Just when it looked like the Bears (1-6, 1-3 Big Sky) were about to cap off a 74-yard drive and take the lead, things fell apart.
David Woods was stopped for a 1-yard loss, then a bad snap got quarterback Bryan Waggener sacked at the 10.
Following Waggener’s incomplete pass on third down, UNC had to settle for a 27-yard Michael York field goal.
“That does take some of the wind out of you,” UNC running back D.C. Wilson said of the sputtered drive. “In a game of this magnitude, when you don’t maximize on those opportunities, it will hurt you — and I felt like it hurt us.”
From then on the Bears missed and missed some more, mostly on tackles. Behind an offensive line that made for seemingly easy passes from quarterback Cole Bergquist (14-of-18, 243 yards) and even more running room for back Chase Reynolds, Montana (7-1, 3-1) tacked on 28 points before UNC could answer with a York field goal.
“We said all right, this one’s over,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said of his team’s unanswered run. “We’re not letting you back in it — boom, boom and put them away.”
Reynolds finished with 137 yards on 14 carries, although a good chunk came on two scoring runs (43 and 32 yards) in which he went untouched, leaving defenders in his wake.
Bergquist’s 75-yard TD pass to Mark Ferriter came on a simple crossing route in which two UNC players failed to close on Ferriter, and he eased up the sideline uninhibited.
“That’s crucial, and that’s something that we need to fix if we want to progress from an average defense to a good or great defense,” linebacker Cristian Sarmento said of Montana’s four scoring plays of 30 yards or more. “It just killed us.”
Conversely, the Bears, who used three quarterbacks because of an undisclosed first-half injury to Waggener, managed only 149 first-half yards and were rarely in Grizzlies’ territory with the game in reach.
Waggener finished 6-for-11 for 53 yards, while one of his replacements, redshirt freshman Dylan Orms, led UNC to two late touchdowns. In his first college action, Orms went 8-for-10 for 150 yards with a touchdown and ran for another 67, including a 1-yard score.
“We thought we’d come in and play our best game, and we didn’t,” said UNC coach Scott Downing, whose team will travel to Bozeman to face Montana State next weekend. “But there’s a reason why (UM) won 10 straight Big Sky championships.”
Montana 3 21 17 0 — 41
Northern Colorado 3 0 3 14 — 20
First quarter: Mont — FG McKnight 20, 6:48. UNC — FG York 27, 3:12. Second quarter: Mont — Reynolds 43 run (McKnight kick), 9:44. Mont — Ferriter 75 pass from Bergquist (McKnight kick), 4:55. Mont — Bergquist 6 run (McKnight kick), :12. Third quarter: Mont — Reynolds 32 run (McKnight kick), 8:55. UNC — FG York 25, 5:31. Mont — Mariani 30 pass from Bergquist (McKnight kick), 3:32. Mont — FG McKnight 30, :13. Fourth quarter: UNC — Orms 1 run (York kick), 4:04. UNC — Smith 5 pass from Orms (York kick), 1:21. A — 3,709. Mont UNC
First downs 21 21
Rushes-yards 35-186 44-199
Passing 257 203
Comp-att-int 15-23-0 14-22-0
Return yards 18 2
Punts-avg. 3-47.0 4-38.0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 7-58 7-55
Time of possession 27:34 32:26
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Montana, Reynolds 14-137, Brooks-Fletcher 4-17, Mariani 1-12, Schmidt 7-12, Schulte 1-9, Klaboe 1-0, Bergquist 7-(minus 1). Northern Colorado, Orms 9-67, Wilson 10-55, Waggener 9-39, Woods 6-27, Cary 2-12, Muns 3-11, Smith 1-1, Walker 1-(minus 2), Schrenk 2-(minus 2), Team 1-(minus 9).
PASSING — Montana, Bergquist 14-18-0-243, Selle 1-5-0-14. Northern Colorado, Waggener 6-11-0-53, Orms 8-10-0-150, Schrenk 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — Montana, Ferriter 3-88, Pfahler 3-44, Mariani 2-38, Schulte 2-30, Reynolds 2-16, Schmidt 1-21, Overton 1-11, Klaboe 1-9. Northern Colorado, Smith 3-92, Gunn 3-25, Walker 2-33, Chesla 2-26, Cary 1-15, Fauver 1-8, Emmerling 1-2, Muns 1-2.
