Cats pick off a win at Eastern; Griz sink Vikes

CHENEY, Wash. (AP) — Sean Chambers scored on a 13-yard run for the winning touchdown as No. 4 Montana State defeated No. 15 Eastern Washington 38-35 on Saturday in a Big Sky Conference opening game that had a wild final four minutes.

With the Bobcats (3-1) trailing 35-31, a Chambers pass was picked off by Jaren Banks in the end zone with 3:52 left in the game. On the next play, Sebastian Valdez forced a Micah Smith fumble that was recovered by Ty Okada. It took two Chambers carries for MSU to score.

On fourth-and-14 from the EWU 25, Nolan Ulm caught a long pass from Gunner Talkington but when he landed on the turn, the ball popped loose into Danny Uluilakepa's hands and after a long review the Bobcats ran out the final two minutes. There were no turnovers in the game until the closing minutes. In relief of Tommy Mellott, who was injured late in the first quarter, Chambers ran 26 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns and was 6-of-12 passing for 69 yards with a touchdown. His 5-yard pass to Willie Patterson gave MSU a 24-21 lead and his 2-yard run in the third quarter made it 31-21.

Talkington, who was 17 of 26 for 230 yards, had an 80-yard pass to Freddie Roberson and 8 yards to Ulm in the fourth to put Eastern (1-2) on top 35-31.

Elijah Elliott had 17 caries for 141 yards and a score as the Bobcats picked up 327 yards on the ground.

Smith, who carried 13 times for 114 yards, had scoring runs of 56 and 28 yards in the first quarter for the Eagles.

The Cats return home for a nationally televised game against UC Davis Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Bobcat Stadium.

Griz 53, Portland State 16

MISSOULA (AP) — Robby Hauck returned a short field goal attempt 99 yards on a day that the coach's son became Montana's all-time leading tackler and the second-ranked Grizzlies used a number to big plays to roll to a 53-16 win Homecoming win over Portland State Saturday.

The Vikings reached the Montana 22 in the closing seconds of the first half but the Grizzlies used two timeouts and PSU had a pair of penalties, forcing a 52-yard field goal attempt with five seconds to go.

That's when Hauk tried to catch the ball in the end zone but dropped it, scooping it up at the 1-yard line. He picked up a wall of blockers on the right sideline to give Montana a 39-14 halftime lead.

The Grizzlies (4-0, 1-0 Big Sky Conference) also had a 72-yard punt return from Junior Bergen, a 46-yard field goal by Nico Ramos and a 64-yard rushing touchdown by Xavier Harris in the first half. The defense also had a safety and Hauk's second tackle among his seven tied Dante Olson's school record of 397.

Lucas Johnson went 20 of 26 for 221 yards passing and two touchdowns for the Griz.

The opening kickoff was short and bounced over Bergen's head and was recovered by the Vikings on the 22, leading to a Mataio Talalemotu 8-yard TD run. The Grizzlies quickly answered on PSU's next possession, Bergen redeemed himself, returning a punt up the middle before cutting to the left sideline.

The Grizzlies had 396 yards of offense to 199 for Portland State (0-3, 0-1).

Montana travels to winless Idaho State this Saturday.