Visiting birds of prey stun Bobcats, Grizzlies

BOZEMAN (AP) — Dylan Zylstra blocked a punt early in the fourth quarter that Evan Day recovered for a touchdown, Jordan Tonani returned an interception for another score 59 seconds later and No. 6 Eastern Washington beat No. 2 Montana State 27-24 on Saturday night.

"We were on a safe-punt look and not really looking to rush, but we give the option to take a shot and Dylan (Zylstra) took that shot," Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin said.

Less than a minute and just three plays later, Tonani jumped a route, intercepting DeNarius McGhee's pass and running 21 yards down the sideline for a score that made it 27-17.

"DeNarius (McGhee) is the one the best players I've seen in this conference," Baldwin said of the Montana State quarterback. "We do everything we can to make it difficult for him and eventually, hopefully we can get something."

Montana State (6-1, 3-1 Big Sky) scored with 2:38 to play on a 2-yard pass from McGhee to John Ellis and got the ball back with 1:38 to go, but they turned it over on downs at their own 23 after three straight sacks by the Eastern Washington defense.

The Bobcats took a 10-3 lead at halftime, but McGhee's first pass attempt of the third quarter was intercepted by Ronnie Hamlin and the Eagles got a 39-yard Jimmy Pavel field goal. Eastern Washington (5-1, 4-0) then took advantage of a roughing the kicker penalty, driving 84 yards and scoring on a 33-yard pass from Vernon Adams to Quincy Forte to go up 13-10.

McGhee connected on 12 of 15 passes for 141 yards in the first half, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Lee Perkins to put Montana State up 7-0. Adams was just 5 for 14 for 63 yards in the half, but connected on a 39-yard pass to Greg Herd to get the Eagles in position for a field goal as the first half clock expired to cut Montana State's lead to 10-3.

All told Eastern Washington scored 24 points off various mistakes by the Bobcats.

"This is a great opportunity for our team to look at the small things and figure out that we need to get those things fixed," Montana State defensive end Caleb Schreibeis said.

The Bobcats held Eastern Washington to just 211 total yards and held a 27-13 edge in first downs, but couldn't mount much of an attack on the ground gaining just 70 yards on 52 carries. McGhee finished 28 of 36 for 294 yards, while Adams was just 12 of 29 for 140 yards. Both were intercepted twice.

"When you have the things that happened to us, especially in the fourth quarter, it's tough to re-group that late," Montana State coach Rob Ash said.

The Cats have a bye week before hosting North Dakota on Oct. 27

S. Utah 30, Grizzlies 20

MISSOULA (AP) — It isn't often that a head coach views his punter as the team's secret weapon. But after punter Brock Miller scampered for 22 yards Saturday to set up the game-winning field goal in Southern Utah's 30-20 victory over Montana, Thunderbirds coach Ed Lamb did just that.

"The secret is out now," Lamb said. "Our punter is one of the fastest guys on the team."

Miller's run on a fake punt paved the way for Colton Cook to hit a 38-yard field goal and give Southern Utah a 23-20 lead over the Grizzlies with 2:12 left.

"We were looking for it all game," Lamb said of the fake punt. "They either bring a lot of rush or block a lot of people. We saw that they were trying to block."

Both teams are 3-4, and 2-2 in the Big Sky Conference.

"To lose here at home is very disheartening," said Montana coach Mick Delaney. "One thing that's very obvious is that we cannot finish in the second half."

The Grizzlies jumped out to a 17-13 halftime lead behind a 6-yard pass from Trent McKinney to Clay Pierson, McKinney's 2-yard scoring run and Chris Lider's 43-yard field goal.

The Thunderbirds rebounded in the second half, going ahead 20-17 on a 2-yard run by Brad Sorensen with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

Montana knotted the score at 20 when Lider kicked a 42-yard field goal with 7:58 remaining.

But on fourth-and-2, Miller saw the entire Grizzly defense drop back to block and took off down the left sideline to the Montana 27-yard line.

"We felt if we needed it, it would be there," Lamb said.

After Montana turned the ball over on downs, Myles Crawford-Harris ran the ball 34 yards for a touchdown to seal the victory for the Thunderbirds.

Sorensen completed 30 of 53 passes for 294 yards. He connected on first-half touchdown passes of 7 yards to Fatu Moala and 20 yards to Henna Brown. Sorensen was also sacked seven times by the Montana defense.

"I don't think I will be able to move tomorrow," Sorensen said after the game. "I'm pretty sore right now."

Moala hauled in a game-high 11 catches for 104 yards.

McKinney finished the game 17 of 29 for 194 yards and one touchdown. Montana's Peter Nguyen led all rushers with 91 yards on 15 carries.

Montana, which is under .500 this late in the season for the first time in more than two decades, and is a long-shot for the FCS playoffs, travels to North Dakota this Saturday. 29. UM host Idaho State Oct. 26.

Montana State quarterback DeNarius McGhee (9) breaks a tackle from Eastern Washington linebacker Cody McCarthy during their NCAA college football game, Saturday in Bozeman. Eastern Washington defeated Montana State 27-24.