Football Roundup - Oct. 14
Idaho State won a Big Sky Conference game for the first time in two years, while Cal Poly and Eastern Washington remained perfect in league play on Saturday in football action.
Idaho State snapped a 17-game conference losing streak with a 40-26 home win over Northern Colorado. The Bengals are 3-3, their best mark after six games since 2005.
Cal Poly moved to 2-0 in conference with a 47-0 win over Weber State, the Mustangs’ first shutout since 2006. Sixth-ranked Eastern Washington also improved to 2-0 with a 35-14 road win over North Dakota.
No. 11 Montana handed UC Davis its first league loss, downing the Aggies 42-7. No. 19 Northern Arizona rallied for a 39-38 win over Sacramento State to move to 2-1 in league. Sacramento State was looking for its first 3-0 start in conference play.
Southern Utah’s defense came up big in a 17-7 victory over Portland State. The Thunderbirds moved to 2-1 in conference play and 5-2 overall.
Northern Arizona 39, Sacramento State 38: Chase Cartwright came off the bench to ignite Northern Arizona’s offense as the Lumberjacks rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit.
Northern Arizona led 14-3 late in the second quarter, but Sacramento State exploded for 38 points in about 13 minutes of game action to take a 38-21 lead.
Cartwright completed 16-of-19 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns. His third TD pass with 10:09 remaining in the third quarter to R.J. Rickert cut Sacramento State’s lead to 38-33.
Zach Bauman, who rushed for 196 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns, scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 25-yard run with 9:23 to play.
Sacramento State QB Garrett Safron rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown. He threw a touchdown pass to DeAndre Carter, who leads the league with 11.
Idaho State 40, Northern Colorado 26: Justin Arias threw for 375 yards and four touchdowns as Idaho State won its first Big Sky game in two years.
Arias threw three TD passes to Luke Austin, who caught eight passes for 173 yards.
Xavier Finney carried the ball 37 times for a career-high 146 yards and a touchdown. Finney became the first Idaho State player to rush for at least 100 yards in a game since the 2009 season.
Idaho State had lost 17 straight Big Sky games dating back to a 50-20 win over Northern Colorado on Sept. 17, 2011.
Seth Lobato threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. Jace Davis had six catches for 188 yards with a touchdown for the Bears.
Southern Utah 17, Portland State 7: Tyree Mills intercepted two passes, including one he return to the Portland State 1-yard line in the fourth quarter to lead Southern Utah to a home conference win.
Mills intercepted a Collin Ramirez pass with roughly seven minutes to play, returning to the 1-yard line. Quarterback Aaron Cantu scored on a short run three plays later.
Portland State committed five turnovers and was held to a season-low seven points and 313 yards of offense.
Southern Utah managed just 183 total yards of offense. SUU’s first touchdown – a 5-yard TD pass from Cantu to Fatu Moala, came following a Portland State turnover.
Matt Holley had a team-high 14 tackles, including two for loss for the Thunderbirds. James Cowser had seven tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and two QB hurries.
Eastern Washington 35, North Dakota 14: Vernon Adams threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a conference road win.
EWU linebacker Ronnie Hamlin, a Buck Buchanan Award candidate, returned an interception 77 yards for a touchdown to halt a potential-game tying drive late in the third quarter.
Mario Brown and Quincy Forte each scored a rushing touchdown for the Eagles. Ashton Clark had seven catches for 117 yards.
Joe Mollberg threw for 355 yards in the loss. Kenny Golladay had nine catches for 125 yards for UND, which committed four turnovers. EWU held UND to 51 rushing yards.
Montana 42, UC Davis 7: Jordan Canada rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns to lead Montana to the victory.
UM QB Jordan Johnson threwTD passes of 30 and21 yards in the first half as UM built a 21-0 halftime lead.
Montana’s defense held UC Davis to 237 yards of offense. It was UCDavis’ first league loss.
Cal Poly 47, Weber State 0: Dano Graves threw TD passes and rushed for a team-high 116 yards in his first start at quarterback as Cal Poly blanked Weber State
Graves, the third different QB to start this season for Cal Poly, completed 13 of 16 passes. Kristaan Ivory rushed for 100 yards on 18 carries. He had two touchdown runs and scored on reception.
Cal Poly amassed 580 yards of total offense, and held Weber State to 173.