Ogden • Give Josh Davis a cape to go with his helmet. He came in to save the day.
Give Adam Rodriguez Thor’s hammer, because he put one down on Montana.
Davis, a sophomore running back out of Sandy, had the best view in the house — from the sideline — for most of the second quarter of Weber State’s Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal game against Montana. He left with a hip pointer injury late in the second quarter Friday night and didn’t take the field with the Wildcats’ offense to start the second half. When he did come in, he was right on time.
Davis scored on an 11-yard slant pass from junior quarterback Jake Constantine on his first play back with Weber State facing third and 4 at the Montana 11. The score jump-started a staggering Wildcats offense, giving the team its first lead of the game. Thanks to a defense that only got more ferocious as the clock ticked down — including four sacks by Rodriguez — it held up for a 17-10 victory.
“Josh is the energizer bunny, that dude just goes and goes and goes. ...,” Rodriguez said. “He just energizes the whole team.”
He did just that Friday in what wasn’t just any win for Weber State, it took the program to new heights. After being denied in its three previous FCS quarterfinal games, the No. 3-seeded Wildcats (11-3) broke through to the semifinals for the first time.
They will play at No. 2 James Madison (13-1) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the semifinals on Dec. 21.
“My players and myself we’re not content yet. We still have bigger goals ahead of this,” Wildcats coach Jay Hill said. “There’s still a lot going on, but we have a lot more to accomplish.”
WEBER STATE 17, MONTANA 10
• Weber State advances past the FCS quarterfinals for the first time in program history with a 17-10 win over Montana
• Adam Rodriguez tied a school record with four sacks, out of six for the team, and George Tarlas had two of the Wildcats’ five interceptions as their defense harassed Montana quarterback Dalton Sneed
• Weber State won despite gaining less than 100 yards passing and less than 50 yards rushing to 274 total yards for Montana
James Madison knocked Weber State out of the quarterfinals in 2017, but the coaching staff and many of the players have cycled out since then.
In their 17-0 shutout of Northern Iowa on Friday, the Dukes held the Panthers to a total of just 59 yards for the game until the final two minutes, when they gained 55 yards. James Madison still outgained NIU on offense, 346-114.
But the team with the most total yards isn’t always the one that lives to play another day, as the Wildcats know. They accumulated minus-2 yards of passing offense in the first half and, despite a stronger second half, finished with 70 passing, and 113 yards total. No. 6 Montana (10-4), meanwhile, racked up 274 total yards, 257 of which came through the air. Redshirt sophomore Mitch Roberts collected 64 of those yards on two passes during the Grizzlies’ first touchdown drive in the second quarter, which ended with a 1-yard pass to tight end Colin Bingham in the end zone for the 7-0 lead.
The difference was Weber State’s defense, which harassed Dalton Sneed all night. They sacked him six times for a loss of 41 yards. Four of those came at the hands of Rodriguez, whose fourth sack not only tied a school record but also stopped the Grizzlies when they were staring down third and goal.
All four of Rodriguez’s sacks came on third down. He said he was motivated by the Wildcats’ loss to the Grizzlies a month ago, their only loss of conference play.
“I was angry,” Rodriguez said. “Last game we went in there and they kind of smacked us around. This game we just showed them what Weber State football is like, and that’s hard-nosed football and great defense.”
Weber State also intercepted Sneed five times, including two by sophomore George Tarlas. His second, with two minutes left in the game, prevented the Grizzlies from making a last-minute drive to tie the score.
(Photo courtesy of Weber State) Quarterback Jake Constantine looks to pass during Weber State's Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal game against Montana on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden. Constantine threw for only 70 yards, but that included a score and no interceptions.
The biggest game-changing defensive play, according to Montana coach Bobby Houck, though, was freshman Ja’Kobe Harris’ block-and-score on a Grizzlies punt in the fourth quarter. It not only ended up being the difference in the score, it changed the momentum. Just prior, Weber State had seen two field-goal attempts go awry — one blocked and one fumbled — and its three-point lead felt tenuous at best.
“That’s a difference in the game, certainly. In 60 minutes of football, all kinds of things that could have gone differently,” Houck said of Harris’ play. “But that’s a score when the defense isn’t giving up a dang thing.”
Marque Collins and Noah Vaea, both sophomores, led the Wildcats in tackles with nine apiece. Vaea also recorded an interception, as did Eddie Heckard and Max Anderson. Anderson almost had a second INT, but it popped out of his hands. It was just as well for the Wildcats, as Harris made his scoring play on the Grizzlies’ punt attempt from their own 15.
Constantine finished 10 for 22 with no interceptions. Kevin Smith led the team with 37 yards on 20 carries. Davis added four carries for 24 yards. He didn’t re-enter the game after his score.
“For him to go back in and gut it out when we needed him on that play was huge,” Hill said. “It shows his character because he was pretty injured at that point.”
It’s that kind of character, the super-hero kind, that has gotten Weber State to this point. Now they hope it can take them to another realm altogether.
