Welcome back to another edition of the Interlake Sports Now. I'm Josh Dugan, and thank you, as always, for taking the time to check out the show. On this week's episode, we'll have our first winter sports update of the year. With wrestling getting underway in the Treasure State over last weekend, and we'll move in to the Bobcats and Grizzlies playoff action from over the weekend as well.

And then we're going to preview the Grizzlies upcoming home game versus the Furman Paladins at Washington Grizzly Stadium coming up Friday night. Before we get to all that. Quick reminder …

Welcome back to another edition of the Interlake Sports Now. I'm Josh Dugan, and thank you, as always, for taking the time to check out the show. On this week's episode, we'll have our first winter sports update of the year. With wrestling getting underway in the Treasure State over last weekend, and we'll move in to the Bobcats and Grizzlies playoff action from over the weekend as well.

And then we're going to preview the Grizzlies upcoming home game versus the Furman Paladins at Washington Grizzly Stadium coming up Friday night. Before we get to all that. Quick reminder today's episode is brought to you by Nomad vote of the planet's best manufacturer. Nomad is longtime supporter of our local community and sports scene, celebrating 20 years of building great careers and mission focused custom vehicles.

Nomad, a Montana based company making a global impact. Visit Nomad geeks.com for more info. That's Nomad geeks.com for more information. Let's dive in. Our first Winter sports update of the year. The snow falling in Montana. It's that time the Grizzlies just had a big time snow game. And with that comes winter high school sports starting with wrestling. That was the first sport to get it underway for upcoming this week.

Now we're going to have, basketball and swimming as well. But let's start this, winter sports update out with the Flathead wrestling team, who extended their dual winning streak to 53 consecutive meets after beating CMR 71 to 6 to open the season at Flathead High last Saturday, head coach Jeff Thompson had the following to say about his squad.

Quote. Overall, great day for the brave Brawlers. Getting an early win against a loaded Great Falls High team was a good start. Thompson went on to say. We had some guys really step up. Connor Lu ducked one the final match to get us the win. Well, Barnes got a nice win against the wrestler that beat him last year at state, unquote.

Freshman Kellen Downing and Hunter. A Rega picked up their first varsity wins for the Braves. Here in the door, the flag girls won a shortened dual verse Great Falls High. The Bravehearts have 20 wrestlers who have yet to compete this season, and they'll get a chance to do so at this upcoming weekend's Flathead Invitational Girls tournament. Glacier, meanwhile, dropped their opening wrestling duals to Great Falls Saturday placers Mark honor had two pins at 170 pound weight class.

Here's a quote from Glacier head coach Ross Danker on his team's performance quote. It was great. It was great to get out and compete for the first time. Many of our crew did a great job battling for the first time in a varsity spot, so need to work on conditioning a bit, but saw some bright spots on the girls side.

Kyle, Sean Kiley shine. Excuse me. Had a pair of pins for the Wolf Pack and several Wolfpack wrestlers had their first wins with the program and including Carolyn Johnson and Abby McClatchy and Shine Kiley. Shine. That was her first win for the Wolfpack on the radar in the winter sports scene. This weekend is the start of prep basketball in the Treasure State, with the Glacier and Flathead boys heading to Great Falls and the Glacier, Flathead girls will host the Great Falls schools and a pair of games over the weekend in Kalispell and the wrestling world.

The Flathead Invitational and Mining City Duals take place this weekend, and swimming gets underway with the Kalispell Invitational featuring Valley Schools, Flathead Glacier, Polson and Whitefish. Before we move along to the college football action, quick shout out to our friends at Clark Auto Group as always for their support. With winter sports back in full force next week, we'll be back on our Poster Player of the week action, sponsored by Clark Auto Group.

Reminder in the meantime, join Clark Nissan for their holiday coats, scarf and glove drive this December and help spread warmth in our community. Drop off your new or gently worn coats, hats and scarves to Clark Nissan on Highway 93 South and Kalispell through December 22nd to participate. For more information, call (406) 612-1244. Let's brighten this holiday season with acts of kindness.

Thanks again to Clark Auto Group for their support and giving back to the local community. It's definitely much appreciated. All right, let's get to the FCS playoffs. Been the talk of the town of the Treasure State the last couple of weeks. With the Cats and Griz both in action last weekend. We'll start out with the Bobcats who did drop a flat out thriller first North Dakota State that saw the cats fall 35 to 34 in overtime on a block party.

First off, Bobcats and Bison engaged in, in my opinion, one of the best game to the year across all of college football at any level. Doesn't matter if we're talking the big time schools in the FBS, FCS Division two junior college doesn't matter. That was flat out an epic game between two evenly matched teams, and it came down to the very final play.

The two teams racked up 883 total yards of offense, and of course, it came down to a special teams play. At the very end. The Bobcats did miss a pair of field goals in the first half, and after Scott Trey Humphrey broke loose for a 25 yard touchdown run, the first offensive play of overtime. The bison did block that ensuing p.a.t to seal the win and essentially eliminate the Bobcats from playoffs and end their season.

That's you know, it's so crazy in the football world. You have a game where there's 883 yards points all over the board. Teams are breaking loose. Had a heck of a game prior to injury, and it comes down to a couple plays on special teams and it's just a crazy football game. That's what playoff football is all about.

Who can make one more play. And it was one of those games, no doubt about it. What made this loss so hard to digest to someone who was, you know, on pole for the Bobcats? Stay alive. Keep that brawl, the wild rematch and the semifinals alive. That would have been epic if it did happen. Of course, not going to happen this year, but that was a hard loss to digest because that Tommy Miller injury completely changed the feel for the game.

You feel for a lot. You hope he recovers quickly, and it was nothing that's going to have long term term effects on his health and playing career. Didn't seem like it was that serious, but it was. He couldn't get back in the game, so chambers was clearly far from 100% in that football game. He was tough in it, out.

He played through injury, left it all on the field. But I so I'd hate to play the what if game. But I got to say, I can't help but wonder if those two quarterbacks were at least 80% healthy in the fourth quarter, how different that football game would have gone. The Bobcats have momentum on their side. They were rolling a lot, was having possibly the game of his career by the time it was all said and done and injury just completely changes things.

That's just what it comes down to. A playoff football. Who's the most healthy in the war of attrition? Who can complete the who can make the plays on special teams, which the bison did? Bobcats did in just one of those games overall. Just tough for Bobcat Nation. Then that was the end of the home winning streak. So just a lot to digest.

That being said, I hate to play the what if game, but you have to wonder if those two quarterbacks are healthy, how different that game goes. That being said, overall, that was the end of the bobcat season. They went eight and four on the year. They had a rough go on the brawl, the wild losing 37 to 7.

But the other three losses came to top tier FCS teams. They lost by a combined eight points in those three games. So they always say football is a game of inches, and that's pretty much how you could sum up the bobcat season if a few other plays went their way and that, you know, they might be 11 and one right now and six quarterfinals.

But that's not how the cookie crumbled. The cats are out of it moving forward. I'm really interested to see how the cats retool. Saw chambers out of eligibility. So he's done with the Bobcats. Shout out to chambers on an epic career the last two years covered him. It's been a pleasure, no doubt been one of the most fun players.

Thanks. Level. Just a flat out, explosive player who has a knack for making plays when it matters a touchdown machine. So wishing him the best post football. Or if he goes on to the professional level somewhere and you know, we'll just keep an eye out for in the offseason. Bobcats news as that transfer portal action starts to heat up, it looks like there's already been, I think, 2 or 3 Montana State Bobcat offensive linemen who were key players hit the transfer portal.

Gotta do my homework on that one. That just was popping up on Twitter right before the show. So shout out the Bobcats on a season that was a lot of fun to cover. That team had a lot of exciting wins, playing a lot of great games even with the losses. And you got nothing. But I got nothing but respect for their coaching staff and their personnel moving forward.

That being said, we'll see how they retool a lot of Bobcat Nation. I've been questioning some of the moves by their offensive coordinator. We'll see if that follows up. I think their offense has been unreal poetry in motion at times, but there is times in the close games have gotten stagnant. It seems like they really could beat up on the bad teams with their system against the top tier teams.

Maybe they need to make some adjustments on the offensive side of the ball. That being said, you come in number two in the country in rushing, one of the best offenses in the country. You can't really argue with the results. They were an elite team. Like I said, the cookie just didn't crumble their way in a couple tough games and injuries became a factor down the stretch, so that's rough.

You never want to see a playoff game end up being decided by injuries. I'm not saying the bison didn't earn that one because they played their hearts out. North Dakota State deserves a lot of credit for overcoming not their best season to be tough in the playoffs. That's what a perennial championship at a tender like the bison do.

That being said, just can't help but think how that one could have gone for the Bobcats. But that being said, it was an epic game. Probably my favorite game I've watched in all of college football this year. Friday night that Washington versus Oregon Pac 12 title game was epic Friday, and then Saturday morning we had that Bobcats game.

We rolled right into that. So it's a couple epic days of football. And then the Grizz put the icing on the cake. With the big win over Delaware, I kept saying I needed a blowout type of victory in that one because I couldn't do another nail biter after those two football games. The Pac 12 title game in the Bobcats Bison game.

So speaking of the Grizzlies, let's move it along. The Grizzlies did keep the train rolling in a snow game at Washington Grizzly Stadium, then went viral for college football. Twitter. Everyone was talking about snow game in Missoula, so gotta love that. They won 49 to 14 over Delaware, and the Grizz probably could have dropped 60 points if they didn't take their foot off the gas and got a little things got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter.

Things got a little chippy, some penalties and things like that. So that being said, the Grizz, whether it was with this win or was going to happen either way, it earned them a slot on ESPN two this upcoming Friday, a nationally televised game at Washington Grizzly Stadium in the quarterfinals as the Grizz host the seventh seed Furman Paladins, who are coming off a 26 to 7 win over Chattanooga last weekend.

The game is a rematch of the 2001 national championship game that the Grizz, one current Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier, was the QB for Furman. Interesting, fun fact and the Grays picked him off twice. And Johanns. Johanns Humphrey rushed for the Grizzlies lone touchdown with 142 yards to lead Montana to the national title and that one this time around.

Furman will be led by dual threat quarterback Tyler Huff, who had over 600 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the ground to go with over 1600 yards passing through the air and nine touchdown passes so he can get it done with his arms and his legs. Dynamic type of quarterback. The Paladins have the 45th best scoring offense in the country, but their defense, that's where they make their living has been top tier.

They allowed just under 17 points per game and the seventh best scoring defense in the entire country. The Grizz, meanwhile, are the fourth best scoring defense in the country, so it's going to be a battle of top ten defenses in Missoula in December. Going to be cold, possibly some snow got. I think this game's going to turn into a dogfight.

If the Bruins don't pull away early like they have in all of their last five wins. So Dominico Roberto is the top man in the backfield for the Paladins as he rushed for a team high in yards and touchdowns and had two scores in their win last week in the run game. Redshirt sophomore Grant Robinson is also named to watch for Furman after only playing two games in the regular season.

He rushed for 64 yards in their win last week over Chattanooga. So you got to think those are two guys who keep an eye out for speed in that Paladins defense that is top notch. The Grizz need to protect Clifton McDowell as the Paladins average three sacks per game. They're tied for the sixth most sacks in the entire country.

Luke Clark leads the way with six sacks, and Evan DiMarzio is next up with four sacks on a team high 8.5 tackles for loss. So you're gonna want to keep McDowell protected. Get rid of the football fast, let the run game try to do their thing. That being said, let's get to my three keys for the Bruins to win.

Speaking of the Paladins and the Grizz run game, the thousands of the third best rushing defense in the country, they only allowed 92.7 rushing yards per game. So I think a big key for the Grizz to win in this one is to run the football effectively with Clifton McDowell. I think he's going to have to get outside the pocket, break loose for a couple big runs on some broken plays and keep that kind of the defense off, off balance.

Because if you get one dimensional against a team that's elite rushing the passer, things get ugly. Chances are the Paladins haven't faced a two headed monster like Nick Osman Eli Gilman yet this year. The Grizzlies do have elite running backs for the FCS level. I think they'll still produce. But that being said, I do think McDowell could be the X factor in the run game if he can turn a couple of those broken plays into first downs, a couple designed runs, get some chunk plays, it can change the dynamic of a football game when a team has to worry when they're dropping back in coverage, and a guy like McDowell's breaking loose for 7 to

10 yard runs at a time, moving the chains, those kind of things. It doesn't have to be huge runs, but just efficient. Running the football with Clifton McDowell could be a big factor. That's key. Number one, I think he's going to have to have a big game with his legs. He, number two for the Grizzlies forced the Paladins to play from behind.

We broke down the Paladins offense just a little bit earlier. And they get a lot of their production in the run game. I think if Montana can jump out to an early lead, forced the Paladins to have to throw the football to Cold December game in Missoula to get a little sloppy throwing the football, I think that could really flip things in the Grizzlies favor and help secure a spot in the FCS semis.

Last thing you want to do is allow the Paladins to get it going early, and then they can pound the football, which is their bread and butter. Running the football. You don't want to let them do that. Make this team one dimensional. Make the Paladins one dimensional, and good things will follow for the Grace key. Number three for the Grizzlies on offense, I think the Grizz need to be really efficient on first and second down.

Got to prevent those third and long situations that allow the Paladins to bring extra pressure and wreak havoc in the backfield. Like I said, they have one of the best pass rushers in the country, one of the best defenses in the country. So if you can keep the man's ball on third down and allows the run game to be involved and sets up the play action, attack, that cliff to McDowell is flat out a lead.

He's great at making plays in the play action game. That run pass option attack. So you got have third and manageable. You don't want to get to those long situations where they can pin the defense's ears back and let pass rushers get after the quarterback. That's the last thing they want to do, especially they haven't played that close.

The Grizz haven't played a close game since October 14th in the Kibby Dome where they beat Idaho. It's been about two months. So you don't want to let the Paladins pass rush get after McDowell. Put him under pressure in a tight playoff game after steamrolling your opponents the last five weeks. Gotta put yourself in good positions to convert on third down and keep moving the chains.

And that could be a huge key for the Grizz to win against a top tier defense. Overall, this should be a great playoff matchup in Missoula. I have the bears winning this 128 to 17. I think it's going to be a slugfest Friday night. ESPN two big time FCS playoff game. Another chance for the Grizz to show off their football program on the national stage.

They beat Idaho on ESPN two in the Kibby Dome. Big Sky After Dark. That was a lot of fun. We're getting a little bit of a dose of big Sky After Dark once again with the Grizz hosting Furman, so can't help but think this does a lot of good for the Grays in terms of recruiting moving forward. It's a nice piece to show recruits that you come to Montana, you're going to compete for deep runs in the playoffs, and that's going to get you exposure on the national spotlight.

Whether you're trying to make it to the league, you're trying to move up in the portal as many kids are nowadays, or you just want to go and tell your friends and family back home, have it be on ESPN two tonight playing football. That's pretty dang cool. So whatever it may be, it's a great tool for recruiting moving forward.

And I got to think The Grizz are loving the opportunity to play on the national spotlight. They won't think about it now. Hopefully the players will let it get to them too much that coaching staff will have them locked in, but something for the program as a whole and the university, they can look at it as a very big positive and it's great for the big Sky conference.

So gotta love that. All right, before we wrap this thing up, quick reminder today's episode is brought to you by Nomad Motor, the planet's best manufacturer. Nomad is a longtime supporter of our local community and sports scene, so bring 20 years of building great careers and mission focused custom vehicles. Nomad, a Montana based company making a global impact.

Visit Nomad geeks.com for more info. That's Nomad geeks.com for more information. All right. Thank you as always to Nomad Geeks at Clark Auto Group for their support. We really appreciate that. And thank you to everybody checking out this episode for taking the time out of your busy schedule and checking out the show this holiday season. Time is more valuable than ever.

So much going on, and the team here at the Interlake Sports definitely really appreciates you checking out the show. Thank you guys. So on to next week's show. We'll recap the Grizzlies playoff game versus Furman and dive into the local prep basketball scene for the first time as action tips off around the state this week. So really looking forward to that last season.

Had a lot of fun covering the basketball scene in the Valley, a lot of great teams and looking forward to this season once again. On that note, that'll do it for this week's episode, I'm Josh Dugan and I'm out.