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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP)- Richmond coach Mike London heard talk from
Montana fans expecting an easy national championship win. After all, his
Spiders lost three of their first seven games.
Turns out it was Richmond that got the easy win.
Eric Ward caught a touchdown pass and threw for another score, Josh
Vaughan ran for 162 yards and a touchdown and the Spiders dominated
Montana 24-7 on Friday night for the school's first Football
Championship Subdivision national championship.
"I guess the only ones who believed we could do this thing were the
people inside the Richmond program," said London, in his first season in
charge at his alma mater.
The team held a players-only meeting on Oct. 12 after a loss to James
Madison and pledged not to give up on making a playoff run.
Richmond (13-3) won its next eight games behind the calm coaching of
London, who replaced Dave Clawson after two seasons as defensive
coordinator at Virginia. The Spiders went on to upset defending national
champion Appalachian State in the playoff quarterfinals and hung on to
beat Northern Iowa before toppling two-time national champion Montana.
A crowd of mostly Richmond fans rushed the field in Chattanooga,
surrounding the players as they accepted the championship trophy.
The Grizzlies (14-2), who lost the 2004 championship to James Madison
and were making their fifth trip to the title game, found themselves in
a 21-0 hole by halftime.
"We picked a really bad day not to show up," Montana safety Colt
Anderson said.
Ward struck first when he pitched the ball to fullback John Crone just a
few minutes into the game. The quarterback took off toward the endzone
and Crone hit him from 23 yards out- his first touchdown pass and Ward's
first touchdown reception (video).
"I began giggling when it was called, because I never thought we would
run it," Crone said. "It happened in slow motion and when I saw him
open, I knew I had to hit him or I would never hear the end of it."
Montana moved quickly downfield in an attempt to answer, but the drive
stalled at the 11 and Brody McKnight missed a 34-year field goal
attempt.
 Little
would go right for the Grizzlies the rest of the half.
Cole Bergquist threw a 15-yard pass to Steven Pfahler deep in Montana
territory, but a penalty for an illegal block erased the play and
another drive stalled.
Richmond took over at the Montana 34 and, three players later, Vaughan
bounced a run outside and scored from 5 yards out to make it 14-0 with
11:29 left in the first half.
Ward's 13-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilkins with 2:13 to go before
halftime capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive that took up nearly 7 minutes (video).
Bergquist was sacked seven times in the game, with Lawrence Sidbury
responsible for four of them. The Montana quarterback completed 19 of 36
passes for 267 yards and an interception.
"We did nothing special," Sidbury said. "We just did what we are coached
to do. We were able to get pressure on them."
Marc Mariani caught seven passes for 172 yards for the Grizzlies.
Montana didn't reach the end zone until 11:56 left in the game, when
Chase Reynolds plowed in from 4 yards out. But Eric McBride picked off
Bergquist moments later, and Brian Radford's 39-yard field goal with
6:54 left in the game dashed any hopes of a Montana comeback.
"The did a really nice job, doing to us what we've been doing to people
we've played lately," Montana coach Bobby Hauck said. "They gave a great
effort. They got out to a good start and held on. They played great
defense and did't let us back in the game."
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Attendance: 30,563
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NM- Hall 17 yd pass from McKamey (W Zunker kick)
Navy- Polanco 14 yd run (Blumenfeld kick)
Navy- Polanco 1 yd run (G Blumenfeld KICK)
Second Quarter
Navy- Dryden 61 yd pass from Polanco (Blumenfeld kick)
NM- Ferguson 4 yd run (PAT failed)
Navy- FG Blumenfeld 27
NM- McKamey 3 yd run
Third Quarter
Navy- Polanco 27 yd run (Blumenfeld kick)
Fourth Quarter
Navy- FG Blumenfeld 22
Individual Statistics
Passing
NM- McKamey 15-24-207
Navy- Polanco 3-6-101
Rushing
NM- McKamey 19-138, Cox 11-32
Navy- Polanco 26 136, Eckel 24-85, Tomlinson 1-31
Receiving
NM- Baskett 5-115, Moore 3-21, Hall 2-23
Navy- Polanco 2 23, Dryden 1-61, Roberts 1-35
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