DILLON, Mont. - A late touchdown and defensive stop helped Montana Western (1-0) to a 26-22 win over rival Carroll College (0-1) Saturday afternoon in front of a packed Vigilante Field.
Playing the first game in 651 days, the Bulldogs used a one yard touchdown run from
Jon Jund to recapture the lead with 3:45 left in the game. The Bulldog defense, which had been solid all day, forced the Saints to turn the ball over on downs to send the roughly 2500 Bulldog faithful into a frenzy as the offense went into victory formation.
Impressing in his Bulldog debut was University of Nevada transfer
Reese Neville, who carried the ball 25 times for 167 yards and two scores. He also had three receptions for 50 yards.
The Bulldogs got the scoring started on their first drive of the game, going 60 yards in the seven plays capped off by a Neville four yard run.
Carroll tried to answer on the next possession, but had to settle for a field goal after getting into the redzone on a 65 yard Matthew Burgess run.
Other than Neville's 75 first half yards, the offense struggled to find momentum in the first half with three turnovers. UMW had two PAT's blocked as well as a punt that resulted in a safety for the Saints.
The Bulldogs led 13-5 at the half.
Jund and Neville led an impressive opening third quarter drive going 75 yards in seven plays with Neville once again finishing the drive, this time with a 10 yard touchdown scamper.
Montana Western looked to have control of the game, but the Saints would not back down. Carroll slowly started chipping away at the Bulldog lead eventually taking a 22-19 lead with nine minutes left in the game.
After a huge defensive stop by the Bulldogs forced a Saints punt. Neville carried the Bulldogs down to the one yard line before Jund plunged in for the go-ahead score.
The UMW defense then had two sacks on the next drive to seal the win.
Jund finished with 184 yards passing, an INT and two rushing touchdowns. Devan Bridgewater went 23-40 for 246 yards a score for the Saints.
Defensively the Bulldog secondary had 12 pass break ups, four from
Braden Swank, who added three tackles.
Joe Caicedo led the team with 10 total tackles with
Reese Artz and
Dylan Pope each adding seven.
The Bulldogs will hit the road and travel to La Grande, Ore. to face the 18th ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon on Sept. 4. Kick-off from Community Stadium is set for 2 p.m. MST.
Please check the website regularly for up-to-date schedules.
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