Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Locked in a second-half shootout that went extra time against No. 8 Montana, the Wildcats got the ball first in overtime Saturday evening in Missoula, Montana.

After connecting with his top running back on a scramble and near-miracle diving grab for 20 yards, Richie Muñoz threw again to Damon Bankston for a 7-yard touchdown on third-and-goal. That gave the sophomore six touchdown passes and gave Weber State a 55-48 lead.

The Griz racked up 300 yards after halftime and scored 25 points in the fourth quarter. The offense, the same one that scored 52 points on 701 yards last week, was an unchecked locomotive barrelling down the tracks. Given that Montana had already converted a two-point conversion and scored on five of its six second-half possessions, it seemed almost assured the Griz would go for two and the win if they answered in overtime.

Linebacker Garrett Beck single-handedly put the brakes on the track meet.

On Montana’s first overtime play, the Weber State senior beat his man on the right edge, hit Montana quarterback Logan Fife from behind and jarred the ball loose. Slipping around on the turf for just a couple seconds, Beck finally reached and grabbed the ball away from Fife. Just like that, the game was over.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Most of the crowd of 25,888 fans rained boos on the field for how the game concluded and Weber State had the best win of the Mickey Mental era, upsetting the top-10 Griz 55-48.

“Credit to the players, executing the game plan at a high level, making the plays but more importantly, finishing with big yardage to put it in the end zone,” Mental said. “Credit goes to my staff for preparing these guys at a high level throughout the week.”

Weber State is now 5-1 in its last six games against Montana; its last win at Washington-Grizzly Stadium was a 24-21 overtime affair in 2015. Given that Montana had 21 seniors and 14 juniors on its two-deep, compared to Weber State’s five seniors and 12 juniors, it seems to stand as one of the finest road wins in program history.

Weber State (3-3, 2-0 Big Sky) got just two stops in after halftime: Tre Tribble forcing a fumble from Montana running back Nick Ostmo with a Bronson Childs recovery in the third quarter, and Beck’s strip-sack in overtime.

Muñoz had a career day, throwing 19 of 28 for 364 yards and six touchdowns; it’s the first six-touchdown passing game by a WSU QB since Brad Otton in 1993. Jacob Sharp hauled in five catches for 152 yards, Jayleen Record had 105 yards on just three catches, and both had two touchdowns.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

“Credit goes to my line and my receivers, winning the one-on-ones. They sent a lot of pressure, we had one-on-one opportunities, my receivers won them. All I had to do is deliver it to them,” Muñoz said in a postgame TV interview.

Even with the slightly imbalanced overtime, Montana (4-2, 1-1 Big Sky) ran 81 plays to WSU’s 66 — but the Wildcats outgained the Griz 541-527.

The big plays were many to create 103 points.

WSU finally got the fast start it’s talked about all season. Despite Montana marching on the game’s first possession (ended with an Eli Gillman 37-yard scamper), the Wildcats answered when Record took a screen pass past a gambling cornerback defense and ran 35 yards to tie it 7-7 (11:29 first quarter).

Weber State forced a punt, got a 61-yard burst from freshman running back Davion Godley, and quickly finished a 91-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown screen pass to tight end Noah Bennee to go ahead 14-7 (5:14 first quarter).

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Ty Morrison kicked through a 44-yard field goal for Montana to open scoring in the second quarter, then put his dribbling kickoff to the left corner away from Clarence Butler and toward freshman Noah Kjar.

Kjar found his blockers, filtered to the middle and soon had nothing but green in front of him. His 95-yard touchdown return put Weber State up 21-10 (10:30 second quarter). The Wildcats are used to scoring kickoff return touchdowns but it was the first Montana has allowed since 2017.

Three straight tackles for loss (Aizik Mahuka tackle, Kemari Munier-Bailey sack, Jayden Ah You tackle) got the ball back and the Wildcats scored quickly. Sharp beat single coverage and Muñoz delivered a 50-yard touchdown strike to put Weber State ahead 28-10 (7:28 second quarter).

Despite a stunned capacity crowd, Fife led a six-play drive and the home team answered with his 2-yard touchdown run, cutting it to 28-17.

The Wildcats created their first break to end the half. With the ball at the 50, Muñoz fumbled on a strip-sack Montana’s Hayden Harris caused and recovered. The Griz had a 37-yard field with 1:56 left in the half. WSU swarmed a run and two short passes, forcing fourth down.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

Montana went for it and Fife, rolling left, had no throw; he tucked and ran toward the sticks but Montae Pate came off his receiver to stop him short of the line.

WSU came out of halftime and drove to the Montana 24 where Bankston was dropped for a loss on a fourth-and-2 handoff. Montana quickly answered with Fife airing a 68-yard touchdown to Gillman out of the backfield, cutting it to 28-23 (8:02 third quarter).

The Tribble-forced and Childs-recovered fumble next gave WSU a 26-yard field but a third-down false start had Mental calling for a field goal. Kyle Thompson put through the 29-yarder for a 31-23 advantage (3:00 third quarter).

Montana went into the fourth quarter on a 70-yard drive capped by Gillman on a 3-yard rush. The Griz lined up to go for two, WSU called timeout, and Montana opted for the PAT after the break. WSU clung to a 31-30 lead (14:49 fourth quarter).

A WSU holding penalty and a solid Junior Bergen punt return set Montana up with a 49-yard field. But Weber’s defense sniffed out a double-pass trick play and the Griz settled for a Morrison 48-yard field goal to finally take a 33-31 lead (10:00 fourth quarter).

Montana had a 23-3 advantage since the 50-yard touchdown to Sharp and Weber State desperately needed an answer. Luckily for the Wildcat faithful, Muñoz and company were up to the challenge.

After tight end Keayen Nead helped keep alive a scramble and ran for a 15-yard reception and his first catch of the season, Record made his mark. The short slot receiver dusted his defender and, despite having his jersey tugged for several yards (which drew flags), kept with the deep ball.

He put the drop that would’ve put Weber ahead against McNeese behind him and secured the ball, ran the final 15 yards and scored a 53-yard touchdown. Weber had the lead 38-33 (8:39 left).

The action was far from over.

Fife, who finished 30 of 41 for 344 yards, quickly passed Montana down the field with two big completions to Keelan White, setting up Gillman for his third touchdown from 4 yards out. Bergen took a trick-play sweep on the two-point attempt and successfully passed to Jake Olson to get Montana ahead 41-38 (5:28 left).

Perhaps needing a sustained drive to drain the clock, Weber State struck quickly again with another one-on-one victory. On third-and-6 from their own 29, Sharp jabbed outside, then slanted inside and beat his man. Muñoz delivered the strike at the line to gain and, with no help in sight, Sharp ran for a 71-yard touchdown and a 45-41 lead (4:37 left).

“When you face a 3-3 stack, you want to distort the stack as much as possible so they have to show their hand,” Mental said. “Credit goes to those guys for winning their one-on-ones and the opportunities present themselves, first and foremost, because we ran the football.

“The five guys up front, the tight end, our running backs … that’s how you play complementary football, that’s how you score a lot of points — when you’re balanced and you take advantage of numbers in space.”

Fairly predictably, Montana answered with what felt like a game-winning drive. Fife threw three more times to White (who finished with 11 catches and 163 yards), the final time a 13-yard touchdown cross. Montana led 48-45 with only 59 seconds left.

All the explosive plays aside, Muñoz’s play-by-play composure kept the game alive. He calmly passed Weber State down the field, using the sidelines to stop the clock — 9 yards to Marvin Session, 12 to Sharp, 17 to Record.

Then the Wildcats put the trust in their kicker.

That kicker is the senior Thompson, who had a fairly awful experience over the last three weeks that included a missed PAT and a missed field goal at Lamar, which were big factors in the one-point loss, and a concussion at Northwestern State.

Weber handed the ball to Bankston twice and called timeout twice, setting Thompson up for a 43-yarder.

He boomed it off his right foot, possibly good from 60, as time expired and sent the game to overtime 48-48.

“A lot of credit to that kid and how he prepared this week. To make those big-time kicks and recover how he did early on this season, very, very proud of him,” Mental said about Thompson.

Other than for taking another loss to Weber State, Montana fans booed the conclusion because of WSU’s overtime touchdown.

Bankston went out of bounds on his sideline route, re-entered and caught the pass. The referee initially ruled Baknston was forced out by the defender, which made his catch legal. Replay review showed Bankston re-enter in the end zone and put a foot down inbounds, then jump for the catch and come down with two feet inbounds. The play stood after review.

Godley rushed seven times for 97 yards and Bankston added 67 yards on 17 carries. Jalon Rock returned from injury and totaled eight tackles, as did Beck, Tribble and Pate.

Weber State returns to Ogden for a homecoming matchup against Northern Colorado (0-6) at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12.