Montana State University
1-0
FORT LEWIS
0-1
Bobcats Roll in Season Opener
9/3/2015 11:21:00 PM | Football
After a sluggish beginning, Montana State started pouring it on late in the second quarter and went on to a 45-14 win over visiting Fort Lewis College on Thursday night.
After a sluggish beginning, Montana State started pouring it on late in the
second quarter and went on to a 45-14 win over visiting Fort Lewis College
on Thursday night.
The game remained scoreless until the 11th-ranked Bobcats broke the ice
with just under 4½ minutes before halftime. With the offense struggling,
MSU got a spark by going for it on 4th down. Dakota Prukop, benefiting from
a key block by Chad Newell, gained 9 yards on a quarterback keeper to move
the chains. Moments later, Newell himself found the end zone on a 1-yard
burst behind the power blocking of left tackle John Weidenaar and left
guard JP Flynn. The Gold Rush crowd of 19,367, the ninth largest attendance
in MSU history, was finally happy.
The Bobcats got the ball back just before the half, and with 9 seconds to
go, Prukop rambled in from 5 yards to make it 14-0 midway through the
season-opening game for both teams.
Prukop led MSU with 69 yards on the ground on 11 carries. The junior also
completed 14 of 24 passes for 197 yards. He opened the third quarter by
hitting a streaking Justin Paige for a 49-yard gain. That play set up a
1-yard scoring strike to Mitchell Herbert.
Fort Lewis finally got on the scoreboard when Jordan Doyle hit Juquelle
Thompson from 23-yards out, but Prukop and Paige got together for a 46-yard
bomb which led to another touchdown catch by Herbert, this time from 7
yards, to make it 28-7. Herbert hauled in a game-high four balls while
Paige's 95 receiving yards topped both teams.
Near the end of the third quarter, safety Desmond Carter, who transferred
to MSU after Alabama-Birmingham dropped football after the 2014 season,
forced a fumble that cornerback Trace Timmer recovered. This led to an
early fourth-quarter scoring run by Newell that covered 2 yards. On the
night, Newell totaled 44 yards on 14 totes.
The MSU defense came through again after Newell's score. An apparent
fumble recovery by defensive end Shiloh LaBoy was overturned after a
lengthy video review, but on the very next play, Bryce Alley stepped in
front of a Doyle pass. The sophomore's first career interception led to a
scoring pass from Bobcat backup Jake Bleskin to Nick LaSane that covered 14
yards. This put MSU up 42-7 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Fort Lewis backup quarterback Allen Thigpen closed out the Skyhawks'
scoring with an 18-yard strike to Jordan Gillen. MSU's final score came on
a career-long field goal of 47 yards by Luke Daly.
On the night, MSU totaled 421 yards to FLC's 277, a sharp contrast to the
2010 season-opener in which the Bobcats gained 532 yards to the Skyhawks'
238 in what was a 59-10 beating. However, only 14,117 witnessed that one.
Team Stats
FLC 0, MSU 7
MSU - Chad Newell 1 yd run (Luke Daly kick), 10 plays, 58 yards, TOP 4:49
FLC 0, MSU 14
MSU - Dakota Prukop 5 yd run (Luke Daly kick), 7 plays, 56 yards, TOP 1:25
FLC 0, MSU 21
MSU - M. Herbert 1 yd pass from Dakota Prukop (Luke Daly kick) 6 plays, 63 yards, TOP 2:25
FLC 7, MSU 21
FLC - J. Thompson 23 yd pass from Jordan Doyle (Kipp Castanha kick) 8 plays, 67 yards, TOP 4:04
FLC 7, MSU 28
MSU - M. Herbert 7 yd pass from Dakota Prukop (Luke Daly kick) 7 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:17
FLC 7, MSU 35
MSU - Chad Newell 2 yd run (Luke Daly kick), 5 plays, 25 yards, TOP 1:16
FLC 7, MSU 42
MSU - Nick LaSane 14 yd pass from Jake Bleskin (Luke Daly kick) 7 plays, 38 yards, TOP 3:27
FLC 14, MSU 42
FLC - Jordan Gillen 9 yd pass from Allen Thigpen (Kipp Castanha kick) 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:54
FLC 14, MSU 45
MSU - Luke Daly 47 yd field goal 8 plays, 43 yards, TOP 4:08
