Griz blast Bengals; Cats win in an OT thriller

MISSOULA - Quarterback Dalton Sneed threw for 397 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores to push No. 8 Montana past Idaho State 59-20 Saturday on homecoming at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Sneed, a senior, completed 26 of 41 passes while leading the Grizzlies (5-1, 2-0 Big Sky Conference) back from a 17-0 second-quarter deficit. Marcus Knight scored three rushing touchdowns as Montana took a 24-17 lead by halftime.

Sneed's touchdown passes, covering 25 and 8 yards, went to Samuel Akem and Samori Toure, respectively, in the third quarter. Toure had eight catches for 188 yards, and Akem caught 10 passes for 135.

Sneed added two short scoring runs in the fourth quarter for Montana, ranked No. 8 in the FCS Coaches poll.

"His stat line is pretty fantastic, and his practice this week was pretty fantastic as well," Head Coach Bobby Hauck said of the quarterback. "But he's such a competitive guy that I think he was awfully juiced up and wanted to be perfect in the game and missed some things in the first quarter. But after that, he was money."

Idaho State (2-3, 1-1 in the Big Sky) surged out of the gates, capping a game-opening 98-yard drive with a Ty Flanagan 1-yard TD run at 9:36 of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter Flanagan tore off a 71-yard scoring run to put the Bengals ahead 17-0.

Flanagan had 130 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Sneed then led touchdown drives of 68, 76 and 47 yards in the second quarter, all of them capped by Knight.

The Grizzlies now have a week off, as they return to action on Oct. 19 against Sacramento State on the road.

"I think if you have to assess it, you do it by the record. You put them in front of you, and you either beat them or you don't, so we're happy to be where we are right now," Hauck said. "There is always room to improve, the perfect game has not been played yet, but we're going to keep trying to get it done and we will try again in two weeks."

Bobcats 34, Cal Poly 28

After climbing to No. 6 in the rankings, the Montana State Bobcats narrowly avoiveded being knocked off the ladder theypve been ascending.

Saturday at Cal Poly, the Cats won an overtime thriller over the Mustangs, 34-28.

Travis Jonsen scampered in from 10 yards out to seal the win, after the Mustangs missed a field goal on their first overtime possession. But it was a miss set up by two tackles-for-loss by Bobcat defensive tackle Derek Marks.

"His demeanor belies it," MSU head coach Jeff Choate said.Choate said, "but Derek is such a competitive kid. He rises to big occasions."

After falling behind 7-0 when Cal Poly engineered a 12-minute plus first quarter drive, the Bobcats built a 28-7 lead. A fourth-quarter turnover and shanked punt gave Cal Poly two short scoring drives, then the Mustangs tied the game late to force MSU's first overtime since a 2010 win at Idaho State.

The Bobcats outgained the Mustangs in total offense (376-340). Tucker Rovig threw for 163 yards on 12 of 24 passing, which included an interception and a second quarter touchdown pass to Kevin Kassis. Jonsen had 155 yards of total offense and two rushing touchdowns for MSU. Isaiah Ifanse made a return to the Bobcat backfield and rushed 10 times for 69 yards.

Callahan O'Reilly led Montana State's defense with 16 tackles. He was followed by Michael Jobman (13), Marks (11) and Troy Andersen (10). Marks had a team-high 3 tackles-for-loss while Amandre Williams added two. Jahque Alleyne had an interception for MSU and JoJo Henderson broke up two passes.

Montana State raised its record to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Sky play with the win. The 'Cats host Sacramento State at Bobcat Stadium for Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 12, with kickoff set for 2 p.m.

Note: Havre Daily News sports editor George Ferguson contributed to this story.