Cal Poly football shut out and snowed out in 57-0 loss to Montana
The Cal Poly football team got bulldozed in the snow in Missoula, Montana, on Saturday, falling to the Grizzlies 57-0.
Little went right for the 1-8 Mustangs, who struggled to move the ball and simply could not stop a Grizzly offense led by punishing runner Nick Ostmo, who racked up 221 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns.
“The O-line opened up some big holes,” Ostmo said in a postgame TV interview. “We were getting some good push up front.”
In total, Montana put up 695 yards of offense to Cal Poly’s 192.
It was the first time Cal Poly has been shut out since a 42-0 loss to Northern Colorado in 2017.
Cal Poly has now dropped seven straight games and fell to 0-6 in conference play with the loss. Montana improved to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in conference, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Cal Poly can’t stop Montana offense in the snow
The game began innocently enough, with both a clear field and scoreboard.
But it didn’t take long for Montana to build an early lead, as quarterback Lucas Johnson scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, first on a 1-yard run and then on a 15-yard pass to Nico Ramos.
Then the snow started to fall, and in short order, it had blanketed the field in white, requiring the grounds crew to repeatedly run shovels from one side to the other to clear the yard lines.
To make matters worse, the Mustangs wore their all-white uniforms, making it difficult to see what was snow and what was player.
By the team the snow eased up midway through the fourth quarter, the Griz had built a 57-0 lead, which ended up as the final score.
Few highlights for the Mustangs
After getting out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, the Grizzlies never looked back, putting up double digits in every quarter with 17 in the second, 13 in the third and 13 in the fourth.
Cal Poly spent most of the game spinning its wheels without seriously threatening to reach the end zone.
The game highlight for the Mustangs came midway through the third quarter when Cal Poly’s Jamarri Jackson intercepted a Lucas Johnson pass in the end zone to thwart another Grizzly scoring opportunity.
After the turnover, Cal Poly moved the ball to the Montana 29 before the drive stalled. The Mustangs turned the ball over on downs when quarterback Spencer Brasch was sacked for a 6-yard loss on 4th and 10.
Cal Poly’s best scoring opportunity came at the end of the first half, when Brasch led the Mustangs from their own 21 all the way to the Grizzly 18, before a Brasch pass attempt on 4th and 3 fell incomplete to receiver Chris Coleman.
Brasch finished the night completing 18 of 40 passes for 150 yards and one interception. For Montana, Johnson went 17 of 29 for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
Zedakiah Centers caught five passes for 46 yards, while Coleman added four receptions for 49 yards.
Shakobe Harper was the leading rusher for Cal Poly with 34 yards on 11 carries. Isiah Childs also had eight carries for 70 yards and two touchdowns for Montana.
The Grizzlies outgained the Mustangs on the ground 412 yards to 42.
Mason Rivera led Cal Poly defensively with 10 tackles, while Laipeli Palu and Zach Hernandez each added nine.
Cal Poly returns home for the final two games of the season, against Montana State next Saturday and Portland State the following week.
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 8:37 PM.
