Miller Passes Over Northern Arizona

Drew Miller passed for 262 yards and three touchdowns in Montana’s 42-23 victory over Northern Arizona on Saturday night in a Big Sky Conference game.

The Grizzlies (5-1, 4-1 in conference play) remained tied with Portland State for the Big Sky lead.

Montana had 508 total yards as Miller, a junior transfer from Brigham Young, completed 22 of 32 passes and Yohance Humphreys rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns in 25 carries.

Lumberjacks (3-3, 1-2) lost their second consecutive game.

The Grizzlies led, 28-6, at halftime and Northern Arizona (3-3, 1-2) made its only threat when Travis Brown connected with Francis St. Paul on a 92-yard pass play to make it 28-16 with 5:32 remaining in the third quarter.

Jeremy Watkins scored on a 13-yard reverse four minutes later and Montana pulled away.

Humphrey had touchdown runs of six yards in the first quarter and four yards in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies totaled 142 yards rushing while holding the Lumberjacks to 54 yards in 19 tries.

Jimmy Farris caught touchdown passes of 17 and 19 yards and Travis Walker had a five-yard scoring pass from Miller before halftime.

Ty Dondelinger kicked field goals of 47, 35 and 27 yards out for Northern Arizona, with Ronny Jenkins scoring on a 12-yard pass from Brown with 8:50 to play.

Brown completed 29 of 55 passes for 382 yards and has 9,793 passing yards, second on the school’s career list behind Greg Wyatt’s 10,697 set from 1986-89, and 10th on the NCAA Division I-AA list.

Brown’s third-quarter bomb to St. Paul was his 71st career touchdown pass, breaking Wyatt’s school record of 70.

Eastern Washington 45, Idaho State 38--Jesse Chatman rushed for 236 yards and three touchdowns to help the Eagles win at Cheney, Wash.

Idaho State (2-5, 0-5) pulled to within seven points with 2:39 left when Kevin McCarthy hit Nate Harrison on a 39-yard touchdown pass play.

The Bengals recovered the ensuing onside kick and drove to Eastern Washington’s 26-yard line, but McCarthy was sacked on fourth down by Jeff Allen.

McCarthy completed 33 of 51 passes for 477 yards and four touchdowns.

Chatman scored on two 12-yard runs to help the Eagles (4-3, 3-1) build a 28-17 halftime head and scored from three yards to make it 45-31 in the final quarter.

Portland State 49, Montana State 22--Jimmy Blanchard passed for four touchdowns and Charles Dunn rushed for three to help the Vikings win at Portland and stay in a first-place tie with Montana.

Blanchard completed 21 of 30 passes for 348 yards and touchdown of 11 yards to Steve Jakubowski, seven yards to Charles Terry, 23 yards to Orshawa Bryant and 17 yards to Cheo Angel.

Dunn rushed for 185 yards in 30 carries and scored on runs of 13, 46 and two yards.

Dunn ran for two touchdowns and Blanchard passed for two as Portland State (5-2, 4-1) built a 28-3 halftime lead.

Arie Gray of Montana State (3-3, 1-2) scored on a 92-yard kickoff return.

Southern Utah 39, Weber State 7--Quarterback Matt Cannon rushed for 188 yards and four touchdowns in a nonconference game at Ogden, Utah.

Cannon passed for another 146 yards and a 54-yard touchdown to Clay Denton to help the Thunderbirds (4-3) beat the Wildcats for the first time in 12 tries.

Fullback Brook Madsen of Southern Utah rushed for 118 yards in 16 carries and scored on a seven-yard run.

Jason Allen of Weber State (3-4) blocked a field goal and ran 84 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Southern Utah had 542 total yards and held Weber State to 296.