Griz dominated

MISSOULA – Steve Baylark scored two touchdowns in the first half and Massachusetts controlled the clock in the second half Friday night in the Minutemen’s 19-17 victory over Montana in the NCAA Division I-AA football semifinals.

Baylark ran for 169 yards, caught five passes for 76 yards and had 12 carries in the fourth quarter to help keep Montana’s offense off the field.

“They did a nice job of controlling the game,” Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. “We had the ball only 9 minutes in the second half.”

Third-ranked UMass (13-1) advanced to the championship game against the winner of today’s semifinal between top-ranked and defending national champion Appalachian State and fourth-seeded Youngstown State. The Minutemen take a 12-game winning streak into the title game Friday in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” said UMass defensive back James Ihedigbo. “We’re going to Chattanooga.”

No. 2 Montana (12-2), which lost its first home semifinal game, saw its 12-game winning streak come to an end. The Grizzlies are 5-1 all time in home semifinal games.

Montana scored all 17 of its points in the second quarter – a 23-yard field goal by Dan Carpenter, a 58-yard interception return by Muckie Foreman and capped a 2-minute drill with a 1-yard TD run by Brady Green with 10 seconds left in the half.

But the Minutemen, who haven’t given up a point in the second half of their three playoff games, held the Grizzlies to just 67 yards in the final 30 minutes.

“We’re not artistic,” UMass coach Don Brown said. “We just find a way to win. Holding them to 67 yards in the second half was big.”

Baylark ran for 56 yards on the opening drive, including a 35-yard touchdown run with 12:10 left in the first quarter. He caught three passes for 57 yards on a drive that finished with his 6-yard TD run as the Minutemen took a 14-10 lead with 8:33 left in the half.

Montana’s final drive of the half started on its own 12 with 2:24 remaining. Quarterback Josh Swogger completed five passes for 86 yards, including a 29-yarder to Craig Chambers that gave the Grizzlies a first-and-goal at the 1 with 19 seconds left. Two plays later, Green’s TD gave the Grizzlies a 17-14 lead.

UMass cut it to 17-16 on a safety with 1:26 left in the third quarter. Montana had the ball third-and-8 on its 10 when Domenique Milton forced Swogger to fumble and the ball rolled through the end zone.

On the ensuing drive, Chris Koepplin kicked a 43-yard field goal to give the Minutemen a 19-17 lead.

Swogger’s pass was intercepted on Montana’s next possession and the Minutemen ran 4 minutes off the clock before Kyle Ryan intercepted UMass quarterback Liam Coen’s pass with 8:10 remaining in the game.

The Grizzlies went four-and-out and UMass took over with 6:39 remaining. Baylark had seven carries for 35 yards in a drive that ended with a missed 46-yard field goal with 47 seconds left.

The Grizzlies took over on their 29, but Swogger’s first pass was intercepted by Brandon Smith, sealing the win for the Minutemen.

“I thought it was going to be one of these down-to-the-wire scenarios,” Brown said.

Hauck said even if the Grizzlies had scored on that final drive, “it would have been an escape act, because they controlled the game.”

UMass had 460 yards in total offense – more than Montana had given up in its previous two playoff games combined. The Minutemen controlled the ball for two-thirds of the game.

“We couldn’t get off the field there at the end when we needed to,” said Montana defensive end Dustin Dlouhy.

Coen completed 21 of 33 passes for 234 yards while Swogger was 15 of 31 for 167 yards. Both threw two interceptions.

Rob Schulte caught six passes for 57 yards for the Grizzlies. Baylark was the leading receiver for UMass.

Colt Anderson led the Grizzlies with 14 tackles while Charles Walker had nine stops for UMass.