Sam Houston Punches Ticket to Frisco with 31-28 Win vs. Montana
HIGHLIGHTS | REPLAY
HUNTSVILLE,
Texas - Running back Tim Flanders rushed 26 times for 287 yards to lead Sam
Houston State into its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Football
Championship Game as the Bearkats defeated Montana 31-28 in front 12,367 fans
in a semifinal Friday at Bowers Stadium.
Quarterback
Brian Bell completed 10 of 14 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
Montana
quarterback Jordan Johnson rallied the Grizzles from 21 points down to cut the
margin to three points. Johnson completed 21 of 33 passes for 277 yards and a
touchdown.
Sam
Houston clinched the victory by running out the final six minutes of the game
with an 11 play, 52-yard drive.
Flanders
broke McNeil Moore's Sam Houston single game rushing record of 286 yards
against Lamar in 1951.
Sam
Houston scored on its first two possessions as Bell completed a seven play,
57-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown run at 10:36 in the first quarter.
After
a missed Montana field goal, Flanders broke for a 69-yard touchdown on the
first play of the drive to put the Kats up 14-0 with 6:00 remaining in the
period.
A
Gary Lorance fumble recovery set up a 20-yard scoring pass from Bell to Grant
Merritt as Sam Houston ended the first quarter up 21-0.
Jordan
Johnson found Jabin Sambrano for a 30-yard touchdown for Montana's first score
with 6:27 to play in the second quarter. The Grizzlies drove 73 yards in seven
plays.
After
Bookie Snead's interception, Bell hit Trey Diller for a 27-yard score as Sam
Houston went up 28-7 with 2:15 left in the half.
Montana
cut the margin at intermission to 14 with a 61-yard interception return just
one minute before the halftime gun.
Another
fumble resulted in a quick Sam Houston field goal as Craig Alaniz connected
from 25 yards out with 6:58 to go in the third quarter. Montana responded with
a 10 play, 61-yard drive for a three-yard Jordan Canada touchdown run.
Johnson
cut the margin to three points, 31-28 with 11:26 to play.
Sam
Houston State, which had never advanced past the semifinal round, is the
seventh Southland Conference team to play in the championship game and the
first since McNeese State in 2002.
The
Bearkats will have to wait until Saturday to find out who they will play in the
title game. North Dakota State will play host to Georgia Southern Saturday at
1:30 p.m. in Fargo, N.D. The game will be televised by ESPNU.
Kickoff
for the 2012 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game Jan. 7 at Pizza Hut
Park in Frisco, Texas will be at noon. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Fans who want to attend the game can purchase tickets at www.ncaa.com/fcs.