Big Sky Roundup: Southern Utah, Weber State share conference title

Jay Green ran for three touchdowns, Patrick Tyler carried in two more and Southern Utah clinched the Big Sky Conference title with a 48-20 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday in Cedar City, Utah.

Green finished with 25 carries for 134 yards and Tyler was 20-of-30 passing for 238 yards with an interception and another 31 yards rushing. Isaiah Diego-Williams also had a rushing TD and Manny Berz kicked two field goals for Southern Utah (9-2, 7-1), which edged Northern Arizona 442-379 in total offense.

The Thunderbirds captured the automatic berth to the FCS playoffs but will share the conference title with Weber State, which finished Saturday with an identical season record but lost to Southern Utah in October.

Northern Arizona (7-4, 6-2) got 246 yards from Case Cookus with 23-for-44 passing, including a 2-yard TD throw to Matthew Kempton late in the fourth quarter. Cory Young had a rushing TD and Griffin Roehler had two field goals.

Weber State 35, Idaho State 7: Stefan Cantwell passed for three touchdowns and ran for one and the Wildcats won a share of the Big Sky Conference championship with a win over the Bengals in Ogden, Utah.

Weber State (9-2, 7-1) gave up the first points of the game when they allowed Idaho State’s Tanner Gueller to complete an 11-yard TD pass to Hagen Graves in the middle of the first quarter. Weber State did all the scoring from there beginning on their next drive which Cantwell capped with his 16-yard TD run.

Cantwell completed 21 of 29 for 262 yards, with three interceptions, and ran 16 times for 75 yards. Kevin Smith added 14 carries for 72 yards and caught three passes for 34 yards and a score. Drew Batchelor caught five passes for 74 yards.

Guellerfinished 14 of 29 for 103 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions for the Bengals (4-7, 2-6).

Weber State outgained Idaho State 476-204.

Sacramento State 52, UC Davis 47: Kevin Thomson threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score in the first half, and the Hornets held off a late Aggies rally for a victory in Sacramento, California.

Thomson had scoring throws of 22, 25 and 53 yards, and his 8-yard TD run just before halftime gave Sacramento State (7-4, 6-2) a 38-14 lead.

Elijah Dotson and Joseph Ajeigbe had short runs into the end zone to stretch Sacramento State’s lead to 52-21.

Justin Williams ran for a 19-yard touchdown, and Keelan Doss added a 42-yard score for UC Davis (5-6, 3-5) to end the third quarter. Tehran Thomas scored from 5-yards out and Jake Maier tossed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Wesley Preece and the Aggies pulled to 52-47 with 3:35 remaining.

The Aggies got the ball back with 3:13 left, but couldn’t convert on fourth-and-6.

Thomson threw for 276 yards. Maier was 31-of-53 passing for 325 yards with two touchdown passes.

Northern Colorado 42, Cal Poly 0: Conor Regan threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns as the Bears raced past the Mustangs in Greeley, Colorado, to close out the season for both teams on Saturday afternoon.

Northern Colorado (3-7, 2-6) had dropped six straight before rolling over Cal Poly.

Northern Colorado got rolling in the second period when Collin Root booted a 33-yard field goal. He kicked a 31-yarder on the next series as the Bears scored on four straight drives to take a 21-0 lead into the break. They added 21 more points in the third and cruised to the win.

Alex Wesley grabbed three passes for 87 yards to put him over 1,000 yards receiving on the season. Frank Stephens had three catches for 81 yards and two scores and Brandon Cartagena rushed for 153 yards.

Jared Mohamed rushed for 100 yards to lead the Mustangs (1-10, 1-7) whose only victory was over winless Portland State.

Montana State 31, Montana 23: Nick LaSane rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown, true freshman Troy Andersen ran for two touchdowns and the Bobcats knocked off the rival Grizzlies in Bozeman to take home the Great Divide Trophy for the second straight year.

MSU (5-6, 5-3) built a 21-10 late in the third quarter when Anderson bolted 19 yards off the right side for a score. His run followed an electric 71-yard touchdown run by LaSane.

The Grizzlies (7-4, 5-3) closed to with 31-23 when Keenan Curran made a circus catch in the end zone of Gresch Jensen’s 32-yard pass. Then Montana drove to the MSU 28, but turned the ball over on downs when true freshman Tyrel Thomas broke up a fourth down pass.

MSU quarterback Chris Murray ran for 99 yards and added a 4-yard for a score to put MSU up 31-16. The Bobcats piled up 322 yards on the ground. Murray was 10 for 15 passing for 98 yards.

Jensen went 30 for 49 for 326 yards. Curran finished with 109 receiving yards, while Jerry Louis-McGee had 95. Jeremy Calhoun had 63 yards rushing on 12 carries and ran for a touchdown.

It was the first back-to-back wins for MSU since the 2002-2003 seasons.

Both teams are likely done for the season. UM was a lock for the FCS playoffs if it had won. At 7-4 they still have outside chance of being selected.