DILLON — Rocky Mountain College scored 34 second-half points on the way to a 41-26 road victory over Frontier Conference rival Montana Western on a cold and damp Saturday at Vigilante Field.
No. 20 Rocky took a 14-13 lead early in the third quarter on a 31-yard touchdown pass from George Tribble to Trae Henry. The Battlin’ Bears added to their advantage when Andrew Simon scored on a two-yard run later in the third.
That was followed by a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown by Rocky’s Brail Lipford to make the score 27-13. (Lipford earlier returned a blocked point-after try for a two-point score in the second quarter.)
Western then scored consecutive TDs, first on a 2-yard run by quarterback Jon Jund and then a 2-yard run by Colten McPhee. But Rocky’s Jack Waddell returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown to again pad the lead.
Later in the fourth, Rocky’s Zaire Wilcox scored on a 50-yard run.
Tribble was again playing place of injured Rocky starting QB Nate Dick.
With the win, Rocky improved to 4-1 while Western dropped to 2-3 (3-3 overall).
Elsewhere in the Frontier …
No. 11 College of Idaho 31, No. 24 Carroll 20
HELENA — No. 11 College of Idaho erased a halftime deficit with four consecutive scores in the second half and went on to beat No. 24 Carroll 31-20 on Saturday at Nelson Stadium.
Trailing 13-7 in the third quarter, Brock Richardson caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Hibbs to help put the Yotes up 14-3. That was the only pass Hibbs completed. C of I followed that with a 22-yard TD run by Allamar Alexander and a 21-13 lead.
The Yotes were ahead 24-13 after a 23-yard field goal by Spencer Fiske early in the fourth, and made it 31-13 on an 11-yard touchdown run by Jon Schofield.
Carroll took a 13-7 lead on a 15-yard TD throw from Jack Prka to Chris Akulschin early in the third, but the Saints didn’t score again until another Prka-to-Alkuschin pass, this time from 12 yards, with 8:04 left in the game. Carroll would get no closer.
With the win, College of Idaho improved to 5-0 while Carroll slipped to 3-2.
No. 21 Montana Tech 73, MSU-Northern 0
BUTTE — Quarterback Blake Thelen threw three touchdown passes and Montana Tech’s defense forced six turnovers Saturday in a 73-0 blowout of MSU-Northern at Alumni Coliseum.
Thelen, again subbing for injured starter Jet Campbell, completed 10 of 14 passes for 256 yards without an interception. He threw touchdowns to Kyle Torgerson, Trevor Hoffman and Wyatt Alexander in the first half.
Kaleb Winteruburn had two of the Orediggers’ six rushing touchdowns. Ethan Renner had a team-high 99 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Tech’s defense scored a touchdown in the first quarter when Northern QB Kaymen Cureton was sacked and Tyler Little recovered the ball in the end zone.
The 21st-ranked Orediggers limited Northern’s offense to 28 total yards and six first downs. The Lights fumbled the ball seven times, losing five of them.
Montana Tech is now 4-1 while MSU-Northern is 0-5.
Southern Oregon 42, Eastern Oregon 14
LA GRANDE, Ore. — Gunner Yates rushed for three touchdowns and caught another, and Blake Asciutto threw for two scores as Southern Oregon defeated Eastern Oregon 42-14.
The win pushed SOU’s record to 2-3 while Eastern Oregon fell to 0-5 (0-6 overall).
EOU scored a defensive touchdown to open the game, as Marve Nyembo returned a fumble 39 yards to the end zone. But Southern Oregon took command as Asciutto found Bryce Goggin with a 43-yard TD pass, and as Yates rushed for touchdowns of 48, 1 and 5 yards.
Asciutto also found Yates for a 1-yard scoring pass.
Eastern Oregon quarterback Tanner Sweek threw for 99 yards and a touchdown to Drew Reyes. Sweek also ran 13 times for 39 yards.
