Richmond, Montana clash in FCS title game

Dec 19, 2008 - 11:16 AM CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Even in his wildest dreams, Richmond coach Mike London could not have imagined his team playing for a national championship in his first season.

The Spiders, who were 4-3 at one point this year, look to complete their story-book run Friday when they face traditional power Montana in the Football Championship Subdivision title game.

"I'm very blessed," said London, a Richmond alumnus. "Very blessed. You can't write a script that says you're a first-year head coach, and you're going to be playing for the national championship."

Richmond reached the semifinals of the FCS playoffs last season with a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores, but appeared to be going nowhere this year after dropping to 4-3 following a 38-31 home loss to James Madison.

Since then, however, the Spiders (12-3) have reeled off eight straight wins, including a pair of signature road victories in the playoffs.

Two weeks ago in the quarterfinals, Richmond shocked Appalachian State, 33-13, ending the Mountaineers' three-year reign as FCS national champions.

Last week, the Spiders posted a miraculous 21-20 victory at Northern Iowa to reach the FCS title game for the first time.

With no timeouts, junior quarterback Eric Ward drove Richmond 62 yards in 90 seconds to complete a comeback in which the Spiders rallied from a 20-7 deficit entering the fourth period.

Ward tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Joe Stewart with 14 seconds remaining for the winning score.

"That's the story of the past eight weeks for us," said Ward, who completed 28-of-35 passes for a career-high 280 yards against Northern Iowa. "We've been in kind of a win-or-go home situation since the JMU game. Same thing with that drive."

Following in the footsteps of former Richmond running back Tim Hightower, now a rookie with the Arizona Cardinals, senior tailback Josh Vaughan has rushed for 1,722 yards and 19 TDs this season to pace the Spiders' offense.

A victory over Montana would give Richmond the school's first national championship in any sport.

However, the Spiders will be facing a team with a rich postseason tradition, as the Grizzlies are making their record 16th straight playoff appearance.

Montana returns to the championship game for the sixth time after going 2-3 in its previous trips.

The Grizzlies reached the final with a 35-27 victory over top-seeded James Madison last week as senior quarterback Cole Bergquist completed 11-of-17 passes for 142 yards and three TDs, matching a season high.

Sophomore running back Chase Reynolds rushed for 123 yards and two TDs, recording his eighth straight contest over 100 yards. During that stretch, Reynolds has run for 1,263 yards and 17 TDs.

The Grizzlies (14-1), who forced four turnovers last weekend, reached 14 wins for only the third time in school history.

Montana will be looking to equal the school record for wins set in 2001, when it went 15-1 and won its second and most recent national championship.

Grizzlies coach Bobby Hauck is appearing in the title game for the second time in his six-year tenure at Montana after losing to James Madison, 31-21 in the 2004 final.