Montana Slips a Tie on Big Sky Title

Yohance Humphery rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns Saturday to lift Montana to a victory over Idaho State, 38-21, at Missoula, Mont., clinching a share of the Big Sky Conference championship.

Montana (8-1, 6-0 conference play), ranked third in NCAA Division I-AA, could move to the top of the national rankings after No. 1 Georgia Southern, No. 2 Delaware and No. 4 Western Illinois lost Saturday.

The Grizzlies built a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter on Humphery’s touchdown runs of one, five and three yards.

Idaho State (4-5, 3-4), which has lost its last four games, got its first touchdown on a 73-yard punt return by DeRonn Finley with 5:30 left in the second quarter.

Etu Molden returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards to give the Grizzlies a 28-7 halftime lead and the Bengals didn’t get closer than 14 points in the second half.

Quarterback Drew Miller of Montana returned after missing two weeks with a sprained throwing shoulder, only to leave the game in the second quarter after injuring his left shoulder.

Miller completed eight of 12 passes for 169 yards.

Portland State 31, Montana State 24--Steve Jakubowski’s second touchdown run, from one yard with seven seconds left, pushed the Vikings to a victory at Bozeman, Mont.

Portland State (7-2, 4-2), ranked 12th in the NCAA Division I-AA, snapped a two-game losing streak and sent the Bobcats (0-9, 0-6) to their 15th consecutive loss.

Montana State tied the score, 24-24, on Nate Cook’s 32-yard field goal with 2:19 remaining.

Charles Dunn of Portland State rushed 30 times for 134 yards and a 12-yard touchdown.

Quarterback Farhaad Azimi, from Moorpark College, scored on runs of five and three yards for Montana State, and threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Elliott.

Eastern Washington 27, Northern Arizona 9--Jesse Chatman rushed for 196 yards and four touchdowns in 28 carries for the Eagles at Cheney, Wash.

Fred Salanoa completed 12 of 26 passes for 159 yards for Eastern Washington (5-5, 4-3).

Northern Arizona’s offense did not scorea touchdown. Ty Dondelinger kicked a 24-yard field goal and Valley Coleman intercepted Salanoa’s pass and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown 21 seconds later to give Northern Arizona (3-6, 2-5) a 9-7 lead in the second quarter.

Chatman scored on a six-yard run just before halftime to put Eastern Washington ahead for good.

Weber State 41, Western New Mexico 10--Cole Cooper passed for two touchdowns and George Patterson rushed for 152 yards and a score for the Wildcats in a nonconference game at Ogden, Utah.

New Mexico (1-9), an NCAA Division II independent, played Weber State (7-3) even until Cooper threw a one-yard touchdown pass to John Jefferson with six seconds remaining in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 17-10 halftime lead.

Weber State took command in the third quarter, when Josh Andrews returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown and Cooper threw a 42-yard scoring pass to Damon Greenberry.

The Wildcats had 403 yards and held Western New Mexico to 226 yards.