Swogger breaks out for Montana

Josh Swogger passed for 221 yards and three touchdowns and Brady Green and Reggie Bradshaw ran for two scores each Saturday in Montana’s 59-14 win over Sacramento State in Missoula.

Montana (2-1, 1-0 Big Sky), ranked fifth in NCAA Division I-AA, is now 12-0 all time against the Hornets (0-3, 0-1), who fell just 17-10 to No. 3 Cal Poly a week ago.

Montana had 413 yards in total offense to 220 for Sac State. The Grizzlies blocked two punts.

Bradshaw scored first-quarter touchdowns of 6 and 1 yards to give Montana a 14-0 lead.

Sacramento State pulled within 14-7 on a 9-yard TD run by Torrall Baker with 13:13 left in the half.

Brady Green scored on a 3-yard run and Dan Carpenter kicked a 30-yard field goal as the Grizzlies took a 24-7 halftime lead.

Green scored on a 15-yard run with 12:21 left in the third to put Montana up 31-7.

Then Swogger, a Washington State transfer who missed Montana’s game two weeks ago with an injury to his left pinky finger, went to work.

He threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Bagley and a 14-yarder to Washington transfer Craig Chambers, giving the Grizzlies a 45-7 lead with 3:45 left in the third.

Jason Barnes caught a 60-yard TD pass from Marcel Marquez with 14:07 left in the fourth quarter for Sac State.

Swogger then hit Eric Allen on a 19-yard scoring pass. Andrew Schmidt capped Montana’s scoring with a 3-yard run with 5:20 remaining.

Swogger completed 14 of 18 passes and was intercepted once.

Marquez, in his first start for the Hornets, completed 11 of 20 passes for 126 yards. Barnes caught four passes for 104 yards.

Northern Arizona 33, Idaho State 27: At Pocatello, Idaho, Senior Jason Murrietta passed for 301 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Lumberjacks (2-2, 1-0) to a victory over the Bengals (1-3, 0-1) in a conference opener.

The Lumberjacks took control of the game in the third quarter, intercepting Matt Gutierrez on ISU’s first two second-half drives. Murrietta found Kenny Mahone for a touchdown pass after each takeaway and NAU opened up a 33-20 lead.

The Bengals scored with 4:41 left to cut the Lumberjacks’ lead to 33-27, but that was as close as they would get.

Western Illinois 42, Northern Colorado 28: At Greeley, Colo., Bears’ punter Rafael Mendoza returned to his team less than two weeks after being stabbed in his kicking leg, and booted four punts, including a 58-yarder, in a losing effort to the Leathernecks (3-1).

Herb Donaldson rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns and Thomas Marco caught two of Steve LaFalce’s three touchdown passes in the Leathernecks’ victory. LaFalce, who completed 14 of 21 for 214 yards with no interceptions, also had a touchdown toss to Javid Milton.

Andrew Wilson ran for three touchdowns and Dominic Breazeale added another for the Bears (1-3), who upset Texas State 14-13 last week.

Portland State 20, Weber State 10: At Ogden, Utah, Tremayne Kirkland caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from third-string quarterback Rob Freeman in the third quarter to help the Vikings defeat the Wildcats.

The Vikings (3-1) won, despite losing two quarterbacks to injuries. First-stringer Sawyer Smith is expected to play the next game.

The Wildcats (1-3) pulled within 17-10 on a field goal by Conor Foley in the third quarter. But Ian Pizarro threw an interception on the Wildcats’ next possession and was replaced by Shawn Woods in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings managed just 161 yards of total offense. They scored their first touchdown after a fumble recovery at their own 20-yard-line. Kelena Ho’okano ran 3 yards for the score.