MISSOULA — It was the Keali’I Ah Yat and Eli Gillman show Saturday — with a ton of defense mixed in.
Ah Yat had a hand in three touchdowns, Gillman scored three others, the defense chipped in with a TD of its own and No. 5 Montana whipped Indiana State 63-20 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium for its third straight win to start the season.
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The Grizzlies’ offense put up huge numbers — their 647 total yards fell a little bit shy of the program record of 717 set in an 81-22 home victory over Weber State on Sept. 25, 1999.
Leading by seven at the end of the first quarter, the Grizzlies pulled away with three scores in the second, as Ah Yat ran for a 14-yard touchdown and later found a wide-open Josh Gale for another score.
Also in the second, USC transfer linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu blitzed off the edge and forced a fumble from ISU quarterback Keegan Patterson, which safety T.J. Rausch recovered in the end zone to put the Griz up 28-7 and, for all practical purposes, put the game away.
Photos: No. 5 Montana crushes Indiana State to improve to 3-0
PILING THEM UP: Gillman is looking a lot like a Walter Payton Award candidate this season. He had a 69-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and finished with 120 yards on just 13 attempts, averaging 9.2 yards per carry. Gillman now has 400 rushing yards through three games, an average of 133.3 per contest. His six rushing touchdowns give him 37 for his career.
But Gillman wasn’t alone. Malae Fonoti had 58 yards and a touchdown, and Tommy Running Rabbit, a redshirt freshman from Browning, rushed for 42 yards as the Griz piled up 303 on the ground
WORTH A LOT: Eastern Washington transfer Michael Wortham had another versatile performance for the Grizzlies. The elusive Wortham caught five passes for 78 yards — with 50 coming after the catch — and also rushed three times for 29 yards, an average of 9.7 per attempt, as Montana used him in Wildcat scenarios.
TOUGH SLEDDING: Nothing came easy for Indiana State’s offense. With quarterback Elijah Owens out with an injury, Patterson was under pressure all day. That was best exemplified when Tuliaupupu came off the edge to create Rausch’s fumble recovery in the end zone.
Patterson found wideout Rashad Rochelle with a 51-yard touchdown over the top in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7. But otherwise the Sycamores, of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, had just four first downs to speak of in the first half as the game got away from them.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Grizzlies, now 3-0, jump into Big Sky Conference play next week when they host longtime rival Idaho as the programs renew the battle for the Little Brown Stein. The game is scheduled to kick off at 8:15 p.m. Mountain time and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The Vandals lead the all-time series 56-31-2, though Montana has dominated it since 2000 with eight wins in the past nine meetings including a 23-21 road victory in their most recent matchup two years ago.
