Mark D. Robertson

MISSOULA – Jordan Canada is a good running back, and good running backs know that sometimes you have to wait for the right opportunity to strike.

Canada's chance came in the second half of Montana's 42-28 victory over UC Davis Saturday afternoon in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The senior rushed for three second-half touchdowns – the first from 74 yards out – to hold off a late flurry from the Aggies and help the Grizzlies stay unbeaten in Big Sky Conference play.

Canada had only found the end zone once this season prior to Saturday's big game.

"I'm happy that I finally had a game," the Duarte, Calif. native said. "It's been a long time coming. Like I said, the O-line really put it together. I was finally able to take advantage of the opportunities given to me."

It's not as though he'd been having a bad season. Canada was the Grizzlies' leading rusher heading into the game, averaging 62 yards per contest, but he rattled off 151 yards Saturday on 15 rushes.

And the touchdowns were huge.

The 74-yarder late in the third quarter gave the Griz (5-2, 3-0 Big Sky) their first two-possession lead of the day, 28-14, but it was worth more than 6 style points. The play looked dead with Canada stopped for a short gain before he bounced into a hole to his right and broke a tackle. The rest was a sprint to the goal line.

"All I thought was, 'God, I hope he's got enough to get to the end zone,'" Montana head coach Mick Delaney said. "And, shoot, he outrun (sic) those fast guys."

Canada said it was just a matter of time before the Griz – who had been struggling on the ground early in the game – broke a big one.

"(Coach Delaney had) been saying we were going to hit one, and I guess I got lucky and got the lottery ticket to hit one," the tailback said.

Then he hit another – a 24-yard run with 8:53 to go in the game that was the response to a Davis touchdown – and another – a 21-yarder with 2:22 remaining that sealed the win.

"I don't know if you really can describe that feeling," Canada said of the late-game rushing outburst. "We were really just clicking. Our O-line just had a day."

If Canada was the story of the latter half, receiver Jamaal Jones wove the prequel early on. Jones made a trio of highlight reel catches that brought the Montana passing game to life early.

He snatched a 24-yard pass from Jordan Johnson near the end of the first right over top of an overmatched defensive back. That opened the scoring and gave the Griz a 7-0 advantage.

"I beat him off the line, and I knew I was going to be open," Jones said. "When the ball was in the air, it was a little short – and I knew I'd dropped one previously – so I knew I just had to go get it."

The grab called up shades of Ellis Henderson's catch around a North Dakota State defender in Fargo earlier this season. Henderson, who has been battling a bacterial infection in his stomach the last several months, withdrew from school this week to focus on getting healthy. Delaney said he hopes to have the all-conference wideout back next year.

Their teammate's departure (and his spectacular catch) was definitely on the Grizzlies' minds.

"I'd say that's my best impression of Ellis Henderson's catch in North Dakota," Jones said with a smile. "He inspired me a little bit, him not being out here."

Jones finished with five catches for 146 yards, leading a Montana receiving corps that clicked with Johnson the best it has all season.

"He's a playmaker," Johnson said of Jones. "That's why he's on the team is to make plays. It's a ball that, if it's somebody else I probably don't throw it, but because it's No. 6 I just let him go make a play."

The Grizzly quarterback topped 200 yards passing for the first time in 2014 (280) and threw two touchdowns. Johnson credited his line.

"I think our offensive line played its best game and gave me just a little more time to get to that short passing game," the quarterback said.

Johnson found a familiar face in senior Sean Haynes down the left sideline for the first time this season. Haynes, who had missed all of preseason and the Griz' first six games after a pair of surgeries, made a diving 39-yard catch that set up a 5-yard Johnson touchdown run just before halftime.

"The work that he's put in every single day with two surgeries since pre-summer, my heart was pounding," Delaney said of Haynes. "And when he made the long catch I thought, man, that was so good for him."

The Grizzlies struggled to stop Aggie running back Gabe Manzanares early. In a return from injury himself, Manzanares rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown in the first half alone.

"He's the heartbeat of our team," UC Davis head coach Ron Gould said. "He plays with a tremendous amount of passion."

But the Griz dug in the second half, allowing just 48 rushing yards on 12 second-half carries.

The Aggies (1-6, 0-4 Big Sky) made it interesting in the end with the passing game. Quarterback Ben Scott found Dalton Turay and Ramon Vargas for late touchdowns that each brought the Montana lead to 7. All that came after a third quarter where Davis struggled to move the ball at all.

"I was very, very pleased with how the offense got back to focusing and started moving the ball again," Gould said.

Delaney, though, said he was pleased with his team's defensive effort.

Special teams were good as well for Montana despite being short on personnel. Harrison Greenberg filled in for injured kicker Dan Sullivan and was true on all six extra point attempts, and Chris Lider – punting for the sidelined Stephen Shaw – averaged over 44 yards per kick.

"We might be the only team in the history of NCAA football to get both the place kicker and punter hurt at the same time," Delaney said. "… Greenberg and Lider came in and did a really nice job of handling those duties today."

More impressive was the Grizzlies' focus on the task at hand, something not taken lightly when a one-win team comes to town in the middle of the season.

"They didn't fall into the trap that this wasn't a good football team," Delaney said. "They knew that the minute they started to turn tape on … that it was a very good football team."

And another conference win was pivotal for Montana as they turn the corner into the toughest part of the Big Sky schedule. The Griz will have to handle the conference's top rushing attack on the road in Cal Poly next week before taking on two of its top three passing attacks in consecutive weeks: Sacramento State and Eastern Washington.

But if Saturday is any indicator, at least they won't have to worry about scoring points themselves.