Ah Yat Lifts Montana Into Semis

Small colleges

Brian Ah Yat passed for 404 yards and two touchdowns and Brian Gales ran for two more scores Saturday as Montana advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA semifinals with a 44-14 victory over East Tennessee State.

Defending national champion Montana (13-0) scored 30 straight points after ETSU (10-3) tied the score at 7 on a 15-yard pass from Greg Ryan to Anthony Stringfield with 3:10 left in the first quarter.

In other I-AA quarterfinals, Marshall hammered Furman 54-0, Troy State topped Murray State 31-3 and Northern Iowa defeated William & Mary 38-35.

In Missoula, Gales ran for touchdowns of 2 and 3 yards, Joe Douglass caught a 34-yard TD pass from Ah Yat, Andy Larson kicked a 34-yard field goal and Josh Branen scored from 1 yard out as Montana took a 37-7 lead early in the third quarter.

Ah Yat played just two series in the second half before coach Mick Dennehy put in the backups.

Douglass finished with 10 catches for 164 yards, while Mike Erhardt had seven catches for 121 yards.

Ryan completed 29 of 51 passes for 313 yards for Southern Conference runner-up East Tennessee State.

Montana won despite five turnovers.

Tyson Taylor had two interceptions for ETSU, while Justin Hazel had two pickoffs for Montana.

Montana 44, E. Tennessee St. 14

E. Tennessee St. 7 0 0 7 - 14

Montana 14 17 6 7 - 44

Mont-Paffhausen 19 pass from Ah Yat (Larson kick)

ETSUStringfield 15 pass from Ryan (Chapman kick)

Mont-Gales 2 run (Larson kick)

Mont-Gales 3 run (Larson kick)

Mont-Douglass 34 pass from Ah Yat (Larson kick)

Mont-FG Larson 34

Mont-Branen 1 run (kick failed)

ETSUJohnson 8 pass frm Ryan (Chapman kick)

Mont-Watkins 24 pass from Rowell (Larson kick)

A-15,025.

ETSU Mont First downs 25 32 Rushes-yards 24-47 34-129 Passing 354 467 Return Yards 7 64 Comp-Att-Int 35-64-2 33-44-3 Punts 8-44.5 4-33.1 Fumbles-Lost 3-0 4-2 Penalties-Yards 8-61 5-30 Time of Possession 29:35 30:25 Individual statistics

RUSHINGETSU Walker 15-59, Woods 2-14, Ryan 2-(-14). Montana, Sanders 11-70, Gales 8-42, Branen 7-18.

PASSINGETSU, Ryan 29-51-2-313, Chadwell 6-13-0-41. Montana Ah Yat 28-34-1-404, Rowell 5-10-2-63.

RECEIVINGETSU Johnson 7-92, Stringfield 11-86, Satterfield 8-78. Montana, Douglass 10-164, Erhardt 7-121, Neil 6-63, Paffhausen 3-40, Watkins 1-24.

NAIA Division I championship

Linebacker Mark Patterson tackled Chris Turner in the end zone for a safety with 4:17 remaining, and Southwestern Oklahoma defeated Montana Tech 33-31 Saturday in Weatherford, Okla., to win the NAIA Division I title.

The Bulldogs won the title in a season marred by the Oct. 28 traffic death of team captain and wide receiver Alvin Milton.

Keith Kizzie rushed for 100 yards on 24 carries to lead Southwestern Oklahoma (9-3).

Montana Tech finished 7-5.

NAIA Division II quarterfinals

In Bellingham, Wade Gebers’ 23-yard field goal with 1:45 left gave Western Washington a 13-12 victory over Willamette in an NAIA Division II quarterfinal.

The Vikings (10-1), ranked sixth nationally, will play No. 1 Findlay of Ohio next Saturday in the semifinals. The site is to be announced.

No. 7 Willamette (9-2) had a 12-10 lead and the ball late in the fourth quarter. But with 3:05 to play, Mark Spencer stripped Chuck Pinkerton of the football and Isaac Blum recovered it for Western Washington.

The Vikings moved 50 yards in nine plays to set up Gebers’ game-winning kick.