Montana State Makes Sure High-Flying Eagles Take Dive

Montana State scored two touchdowns in a span of 46 seconds early in the fourth quarter Saturday, including a 23-yard interception return by Jeff Alexander, to rally for a 17-7 upset of Eastern Washington at Bozeman, Mont.

Eastern Washington (4-1, 2-1 in the conference) won the six previous games against Montana State.

The Eagles, ranked 20th in NCAA Division I-AA, took a 7-0 halftime lead on a two-yard run by Rex Prescott, who rushed 20 times for 71 yards.

Montana State (3-1, 2-0) got to within 7-3 on Geoff Groshelle’s 35-yard field goal with 11:51 left in the third quarter after Eastern Washington’s Maurice Perigo muffed a punt and Noel Kulbeck recovered.

The Bobcats took a 10-7 lead on two-yard touchdown pass from Rob Compson to Terence Crump with 14:01 left in the game.

Eastern Washington quarterback Harry Leons went out with a concussion and Alexander picked off the second pass thrown by backup Griffin Garske and took it for the game-breaking touchdown.

Compson completed 15 of 27 passes for 192 yards, while Leons was 11 of 19 for 173 yards.

Wyoming 28, Montana 13--J.P. Williams returned an interception for a touchdown and Brian Lee picked off three passes for the Cowboys in a nonconference game at Laramie, Wyo.

The Cowboys (4-2) forced five turnovers and had eight sacks while limiting Montana (3-1) to 209 yards, including 14 on 28 rushes.

Williams put the Cowboys on top for good 3 1/2 minutes into the game with an 11-yard return.

Lee’s three interceptions gave him 16 for his career, two more than the school record set by Paul Wallace from 1989 through 1992.

Jeremy Silcox connected with Brooks Derenoncourt on an 80-yard pass play to give the Cowboys a 21-0 lead 23 seconds into the second quarter.

Marques Brigham, who gained 72 yards on 21 carries, ran one yard for Wyoming’s final touchdown with 57 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Grizzlies, who scored on Jake Dennehy’s 27-yard interception return in the second quarter, got its only offensive touchdown on a 30-yard pass play from Darren Rowell to Josh Branen with 9:48 left in the third quarter.

Cal State Sacramento 23, Idaho State 19--Lamont Webb recovered a fumble by teammate Charles Roberts and ran two yards for a touchdown with 8:14 left in the game at Sacramento to give the Hornets their first victory of the season.

Roberts fumbled at the end of a 39-yard completion from A.J. Bernhardt, who completed 24 of 39 passes for 305 yards and a nine-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Taylor that gave Sacramento (1-3, 1-1) a 13-9 halftime lead.

Idaho State (0-4, 0-2) took a 19-16 lead on a 27-yard field goal by James Ferrell in the third quarter.

Weber State 36, Northern Arizona 23--Steve Buck passed for a career-high 436 yards and two touchdowns, and Scott Shields kicked five field goals for the Wildcats at Ogden, Utah.

Buck completed 28 of 43 passes for Weber State (3-2, 2-0), which moved the Wildcats into a tie with Montana State for first place.

Shields kicked field goals of 23, 42, 31, 27 and 42 yards.

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Standings

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Conference Overall School W L W L PF PA Montana St. 2 0 3 1 81 62 Montana 1 0 3 1 124 62 E. Washington 2 1 4 1 174 63 Weber St. 1 1 3 2 116 127 N. Arizona 1 1 3 2 162 106 CSSacramento 1 1 1 3 75 131 Portland St. 1 2 1 4 68 181 CS Northridge 0 1 2 3 178 132 Idaho St. 0 2 0 4 39 121

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Saturday

Portland State 26, Northridge 13

Montana State 17, Eastern Washington 7

Northern Arizona at Weber State

Idaho State at CS Sacramento

Wyoming 28, Montana 13 (nonconference)

Next Saturday

Weber State at Northridge

Montana State at Northern Arizona

CS Sacramento at Eastern Washington

Montana at Idaho State

St. Mary’s at Portland State (nonconference)