The final ballpark on my independent league quest was in Kalispell, Montana, where the Glacier Range Riders of the Pioneer League play. That is a bit far to go for just one game, so I looked around the area for something else, eventually discovering that the Montana Grizzlies opened their football season on Saturday night. The school is in Missoula, just over two hours south of Kalispell along US 93. This worked well as Missoula is a bit cheaper for both flights and lodging, so I flew there Saturday morning and, after stopping at Cranky Sam for a pick-me-up, reached my hotel, which was a short walk from the gridiron.
The Grizzlies play out of Washington-Grizzly Stadium, located on the banks of the Clark Fork River. It opened in 1986 and was named for billionaire Dennis Washington, who donated $1 million towards its construction back in 1985. Parking seems quite difficult and the vast majority of fans take the Van Buren footbridge across the river. It was very busy as I walked over, so I went back the following day to take pictures in a quieter environment (above). The shot below is taken from the footbridge, looking east.
The stadium seats 25,217, making it the largest all-purpose stadium in Montana, and the largest football stadium in the Big Sky Conference. On game day, there are several tailgates, including at least one open to the public, so get there early to enjoy the festivities. Again, the picture below was taken the following day.
An interesting artwork can be found as you approach the venue. It's called "Charging Forward" and was created by the late Blackfeet artist Jay Polite Laber; it uses reclaimed scrap metal and car parts to depict an Indigenous warrior riding a horse.
There is a bottleneck as you approach security, partly due to the band standing outside, ready to deafen passersby with their cymbals. The line moves quickly enough, and there is another short delay as tickets are scanned, and then you are inside.
Missoula lies at the base of two mountains: Sentinel on the south side of the river has the large M (for Montana) on it, while Jumbo on the north side has the large L (for Loyola Sacred Heart Catholic school, which lies at its base). Both mountains are visible from various points inside the stadium, making this one of the most scenic spots to watch college football.
If you are flying in, a seat on the right side of the plane gives you a clear view of the campus and the two mountains. You can see the stadium middle left in the photo below.
You can buy tickets on the university's athletics site, with prices varying depending on opponent. The secondary market was a bit overpriced, but I was able to get something for below face value about an hour before kickoff.
The stadium is set up on a north-south configuration, so the east sideline is in the sun for the first part of the game, which was a 7:00 p.m. start.
The majority of seats are just benches, with a few chairbacks in the midfield sections.
There are some interesting corner sections and later in the game, when it started raining, I found myself standing under these with a good view of the field and protected from the elements.
There is only a single scoreboard at the south end of the stadium, above where most of the students sit.
The school has two national championships, one coming in 1995 and the other in 2001, and there are flags commemorating these achievements. Last year, they lost to eventual champion Montana State in the FCS semifinals.
My seat was on the east side upper level, an area that is known as the Grizzly Den and which is only open to those with tickets for those sections. As such, concessions and restrooms are a bit less crowded than on the lower level. Food and beverage prices are reasonable, with hot dogs just $6, and beer starting at $8.
When the stadium was built, there were no lights, so every game was in the afternoon. It wasn't until 2012 that lights were added. This meant that those on the east side now got nice views of the sunset.
There are two retired numbers on the press box: #15 belonged to Dave Dickenson, who went on to win three Grey Cups and is now head coach and GM of the Calgary Stampeders, while Terry Dillon sported number #22 during his three seasons here from 1960-62. After playing with the Minnesota Vikings in 1963, Dillon was killed while working on a bridge construction project in May 1964.
gOverall, Washington-Grizzly Stadium is a great place to watch a football game. The unbeatable location, combined with enthusiastic and loud fans, make this a can't miss destination for fans of the college game.
The Game
It was white-out day in honour of Liquid Paper and so all fans had been instructed to wear white, most of whom complied. Even the visiting Southern Utah Thunderbirds helped out by wearing white during warmups, though naturally they changed to dark uniforms for the game. The Grizzlies were ranked second in the preseason and favoured by 15.5 points at kickoff.
New coach Bobby Kennedy's tenure got off to a rough start when Kealiʻi Ah Yat was intercepted on the first play from scrimmage. Fortunately, Southern Utah was unable to do much on their first possession, and Montana began their second drive at their 15. Ah Yat completed a screen pass to Eli Gillman who raced 85 yards down the sideline for a thrilling touchdown. One thing to note in the photo below is the 37-yard line marker; this represents a tradition where only players from Montana are allowed to wear #37.
Anyways, the Thunderbirds began to run the ball through a triple option and were able to use much of the clock through two drives, though they only managed a field goal out of it. Montana immediately responded with another Gillman TD, this one a 29-yard scamper to the outside that made it 14-3, a score that stood at the half.
The third quarter saw Southern Utah's Floyd Chalk score from six yards out, but they missed the 2-point try. They then tried an onside kick and it was recovered by a Thunderbird, only for the refs to call "kick catch interference", a penalty that I had never seen before and does not exist in the NFL. Essentially, the kicking team must give the receiving team a chance to catch the ball and that was not done on this play. The punishment was 15 yards from the spot of the foul, so Montana took over on the SUU 34 and scored four plays later as Ah Yat took it in from the three. The visitors continued to control the clock when on offense and marched down the field, reaching the Montana 13 as the third quarter ended. On the first play of the final frame, QB Will Burns (#7 below) found Joshua Acord at the Montana 2 and Acord took it into the end zone. On the point-after, the holder couldn't handle the snap, so the T-Birds were still down 6. After Montana went 3-and-out, SUU ran the ball three straight times for a first down. Expecting another run, the Grizzly defense was fooled as Burns and Acord combined on a 58-yard touchdown to tie the game. Unbelievably, the point after was blocked, making three straight misses for the Thunderbirds.
After both teams punted, Montana took over on their own 20 and four plays later, Ah Yat found Lekeldrick Bridges wide open behind the defense and Bridges romped the rest of the way for a 53-yard TD. Southern Utah had just over three minutes to tie it up but a stupid personal foul penalty on the kickoff put them back at their 14, and although they managed to get to the Grizzly 9, two more penalties sent them back to the 24, where a last-ditch pass was intercepted as the Grizzlies held on, much to the relief of the home fans.
Montana scored a touchdown in each quarter, while Southern Utah went 0-3-6-12, missing all three of their conversions. The Thunderbirds dominated time of possession, having the ball for 43:34, and had 31 first downs to Montana's 14. But they couldn't turn those advantages into points and headed back home 0-1.
Notes
Just across the footbridge is the Press Box, which bills itself as the 'Best Sports Bar in the World'.
When flying in, I also got a shot of Ogren Park at Allegiance Field, home of the Pioneer League's Missoula Paddleheads. I visited this ballpark back in 2017 when it was the team was the Osprey and the Pioneer was an affiliated minor league.
Best,
Sean
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