MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) Craig Ochs passed for 168 yards and a
touchdown in his debut as Montana quarterback Saturday to lead the
Grizzlies to a 17-14 victory over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
Montana (4-1), ranked 8th in NCAA Division I-AA, trailed 14-10
after Geno Randle scored his second rushing touchdown for No. 20
Cal Poly (3-2) with 5:40 left in the third quarter.
Ochs, the Colorado transfer who missed the first four games with
an ankle injury, played two quarters and led Montana on the
game-winning drive from the Cal Poly 34-yard-line early in the
fourth.
Ochs completed an 8-yard pass to Jefferson Heidelberger on a
3rd-and-9 play to give UM the ball 4th-and-1 on Cal Poly's 5-yard
line.
The Griz set up for a field goal but holder Dane Oliver pitched
the ball between his legs to kicker Chris Snyder, who ran 2 yards
for the first down. On the next play, running back Lex Hilliard
took a direct snap and ran 3 yards up the middle for a Montana TD
with 13:25 remaining. Hilliard finished with 57 yards rushing.
Justin Green, who rushed 25 times for 99 yards, ran for 25 yards
on the second-to-last play of the game to help Montana run out the
clock.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter and Cal
Poly scored first on an 11-yard run by Randle with 5:51 left in the
half.
Ochs led Montana's first scoring drive, which ended with a
25-yard field goal by Snyder at the 2:58 mark.
After Cal Poly was forced to punt, Ochs completed 6-of-8 passes
for 80 yards, including a 5-yard TD pass to Willie Walden, to give
Montana a 10-7 lead with 37 seconds left in the half.
Randle rushed for 117 yards, including the 4-yard TD run in the
third quarter, to lead Cal Poly while Chris Peterson completed 13
of 26 passes for 160 yards for the Mustangs.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)