DILLON — Montana Western built a three-touchdown lead on the way to a 27-20 Frontier Conference victory over Rocky Mountain College on Saturday.
The No. 19-ranked Bulldogs went up 27-6 midway through the fourth quarter when Pete Gibson scored on a 61-yard run.
The Battlin’ Bears’ streak of not scoring a touchdown reached nine quarters before receiver Joseph Dwyer caught two TD passes, the last of which came with 1:55 remaining to make it a one-score game.
Western quarterback Michael Palandri threw for 159 yards and a touchdown to Eli Nourse, a 13-yarder that gave the Bulldogs a 10-6 lead with 3:37 before halftime. Western added to the lead on a 6-yard TD run by Jake Humphrey with 25 seconds left before halftime.
Graedyn Buell started at QB for Rocky, throwing two TDs to Dwyer to go along with an interception. Buell threw for 311 yards on 26-of-39 passing but the Bears were limited to 45 rushing yards.
Gibson finished with 128 yards on the ground for Wester. Humphrey added 73 yards while Palandri had 44 rushing yards.
Rocky’s Austin Drake and Western’s John Mears matched each other with two made field goals apiece.
The Bulldogs improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Frontier. Rocky is now 3-4 and 1-4 in the conference.
Elsewhere in the Frontier …
No. 7 Carroll 14, Eastern Oregon 6
LA GRANDE, Ore. — Shut out for three quarters, Carroll College scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome Eastern Oregon 14-6 in a defensive struggle.
Quarterback Jack Prka found the end zone with a 1-yard run to give the Saints a 7-6 lead with 11:18 left, and Carroll later scored on defense, when Forrest Suero recovered a fumble in the end zone with 8:39 remaining to avoid an upset on the road.
Neither team could muster much offense. EOU held Prka 46 yards on six completions. Duncan Kraft was the Saints’ top yard-gainer with 88 on the ground. Carroll ended with 213 total yards.
Mountaineers QB Quincy Glasper threw for 244 yards but was unable to direct a touchdown drive. EOU was held to just 15 rushing yards. Easton Durham, Hunter Peck and Jacob Sweatland had sacks for Carroll. Durham’s sack forced the fumble that Suero recovered in the end zone.
Carroll kept its unbeaten record intact, and is now 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Frontier. Eastern Oregon fell to 2-5 and to 2-3 in the league. The Saints will host the College of Idaho next week in what figures to be a top-10 matchup.
No. 10 College of Idaho 59, MSU-Northern 0
CALDWELL, Idaho — Andy Peters threw four touchdown passes and rushed for another in the College of Idaho’s 59-0 blowout of Montana State-Nothern.
Peters threw for 246 yards and connected with Jon Schofield on two TD passes. Schofield had five catches for 135 yards. Alex Nixon and Caden Cobb also caught touchdown throws form Peters.
Ed Berglund and Caden Young had rushing touchdowns for the 10th-ranked Yotes, who improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the league.
Northern, now 1-5 overall and 0-4 in the Frontier, were limited to just 17 yards of total offense and four first downs.
Southern Oregon 49, Arizona Christian 7
ASHLAND, Ore. — Blake Asciutto’s big day led Southern Oregon to a 49-7 victory over Arizona Christian.
Asciutto threw two touchdown passes, ran for another and also caught a 3-yard TD pass from Ben Rash on the last play of the second quarter. Asciutto finished with 264 passing yards.
Avery McCauig rushed for 94 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns for the Raiders, who improved to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Frontier.
Arizona Christian, now 2-5 overall and 1-4 in the league, got its lone score on a 20-yard run by Johnny Herrera in the third quarter.
