Montana

'Playoff tradition': Punt return TDs solidify Junior Bergen's legacy as Montana marches on

Published

1 year ago

December 2, 2024

'Playoff tradition': Punt return TDs solidify Junior Bergen's legacy as Montana marches on

MISSOULA — Saturday was likely the final home game of the season at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and this year’s No. 14 Montana Grizzlies football team made sure to go out with a bang.

And it all started with Junior Bergen doing what he does best, and that’s show up when the lights are brightest with a pair of punt return touchdowns to help spur the Grizzlies into the second round of the FCS playoffs as they defeated the Tennessee State Tigers, 41-27.

PHOTOS: NO. 14 MONTANA HOSTS TENNESSEE STATE IN FCS PLAYOFFS

“Super blessed. I thank God every night, every morning for it,” Bergen said. “These guys trusted me, and they look to me in some of these moments, and I’m just so grateful to be able to kind of capitalize in that. And, yeah, I’m just super grateful.”

“It’s a playoff tradition,” UM head coach Bobby Hauck added. And those words couldn’t ring more true as once again Bergen was called upon with the season on the line, and the senior from Billings delivered once again.

His first score — one that was blocked to perfection — came in the third quarter to make it 27-6. The second was desperately needed which gave the Griz 34-20 advantage in the fourth on a play where Bergen caught the ball running and had to make a lot of magic happen on his own to find his way into the end zone once again.

GRIZ POSTGAME: HAUCK, BERGEN, GRADNEY BREAK DOWN WIN OVER TENNESSEE STATE

That makes it eight career punt return touchdowns for him — five in the playoffs — as Bergen tied the FCS record with that mark.

“I mean, the kid’s unreal,” said UM senior cornerback Trevin Gradney, a childhood friend of Bergen’s growing up in Billings. “There’s not much else you can say about it. In the big moments, he shows up, and you can always count on him to do his job, and the other guys that do their jobs around him. He’s a playmaker, man.”

“It’s become so regular and done so regularly around here that we forget how hard that is to do,” Hauck added. “And these guys, sometimes they make it look easy. You know, you’re talking about doing two in one game three years in a row in the playoffs. Yeah, it’s pretty it’s pretty special. And I think it builds upon itself.”

Special teams was a savior for Montana (9-4) on Saturday, as kicker Ty Morrison went 4 for 5 on the day, providing most of the scoring early on through the third quarter. Kicker Grant Glasgow also had a kickoff recovered by Tyson Rostad just before half that set up Morrison for his third field goal of the day, a 50-yarder, that put the Griz up 16-3 heading into the break.

Offensively the Grizzlies were led by a big game from Eli Gillman who sealed the win with a late nail in the coffin 59-yard score and who finished the day with 136 yards and two touchdowns, but turnovers hurt the Griz with three second-half lost fumbles that allowed the Tigers to get back into the game.

Quarterback Logan Fife lost a pair of them while Gillman coughed up another as the Griz were on the doorstep of scoring in the fourth quarter.

Montana’s defense stood firm. The Griz held the Tigers to 3 for 14 on third down and only 277 total yards, and even as Tennessee State found some life to climb back in it, the Grizzlies stood tall and came up with timely stops, and ended it with an interception from Gradney.

“I think we did a good job handling them,” Gradney said. “We knew they’d like to throw the ball. I think we took that away early. They kind of got to us late a little bit, but we kind of kept the big one off of us when we when we needed to. And yeah, I was really proud of our guys.”

The game was all over the place Saturday night, but in the end, the Griz did everything needed to advance to the next round with their ninth win of the year. Next up for them is a rematch of last year’s FCS national championship game as UM hits the road to Brookings, South Dakota to take on two-time reigning national champ No. 3 South Dakota State (10-2) at noon on Saturday.

“It’s always hard to win this particular weekend,” Hauck said. “So thought our guys had a lot of juice all week long, and it showed they had that in the game tonight. And I was just proud of the way they they kept competing, and when they got a chance to to put it away, they did. So good by our guys.”

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Montana

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

Published

10 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

ROUNDUP, Mont. —
The Rehder Creek Fire is burning 16 miles southeast of Roundup has grown to about 5,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders for residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision.

The fire started Feb. 26, the cause is unknown and containment was at 0%.

Evacuation orders are in effect for all residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision. The Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office is coordinating the evacuation orders, and 911 reverse calls have been sent out to advise people in the area.

A shelter is opening at the Roundup Community Center. Residents were told to contact Musselshell County DES for further information.

Firefighter and public safety remain the top priority. The public is asked to avoid the Fattig Creek and Rehder Road area so emergency personnel can safely and effectively perform their work.

Fire resources assigned to the incident include 40 total personnel, 11 engines, one Type 2 helicopter, three tenders and two dozers.

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Montana

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

Published

22 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

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Montana

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

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1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.

This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.

The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.

“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:

We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.

Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.

According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.

One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.

At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.

In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.

Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.

ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.

Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.

We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.

The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.

Issues: Immigration

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