Big Sky football: Southern Utah clinches conference title

Ammon Olson tied a career high with five touchdown passes on Saturday to lead Southern Utah past Northern Arizona 49-41 in Cedar City, Utah, clinching the Big Sky Conference title and securing a berth in the FCS playoffs.

Olson completed 33 of 59 for 430 yards. Mike Sharp had eight receptions for a career-high 169 yards and three touchdown while Jarom Healy rushed for two touchdowns – including a 70-yarder that put Southern Utah (8-3, 7-1 Big Sky) up 49-34 with 1:57 left.

Case Cookus connected with Hunter Burton on a 49-yard desperation pass to close the first half that put Northern Arizona (7-4, 5-3) up 24-14.

Olson hit Sharp for touchdown passes of 70 and 9 yards in the third quarter to put the Thunderbirds up, 35-31, for good.

Cookus finished with 350 yards passing and four touchdowns for Northern Arizona. Corbin Jountti had 113 yards rushing and one score.

Montana 54, Montana State 35: In Bozeman, Montana, Brady Gustafson threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns and the Grizzlies (7-4, 6-2) converted Bobcats’ turnovers into touchdowns on four-straight possessions to defeat its rival for the third straight season.

Jamaal Jones caught two touchdown passes, Ellis Henderson hauled in a 50-yard score following an interception and Montana scored 31 straight points to take a 37-14 lead at halftime in front of 20,507 at Bobcat Stadium.

The Grizzlies won for the 72nd time in 115 meetings in the Brawl of the Wild and enhanced their chance to earn a berth in the FCS playoffs for the 21st time since 1993.

Gustafson completed 23 of 39 passes with an interception and Jones had nine catches for 132 yards and three scores. John Nguyen ran for 134 yards and Jeremy Calhoun rushed for two short touchdowns.

Dakota Prukop was 21 of 39 for 313 yards and three touchdowns, two to Beau Sandland, who caught seven passes for 163 yards for the Bobcats (6-5, 3-5). Montana State finished with a losing record for the first time since 2002.

Northern Colorado 40, Abilene Christian 36: Jacob Knipp threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another score as the Bears (6-5) came back in the fourth quarter to beat the Wildcats (3-8) in Greeley, Colorado.

Trae Riek rushed for 151 yards for one score and grabbed four passes for 90 yards and another touchdown for Northern Colorado.

The Bears were leading 33-28 following a Jamie Falloon 44-yard field goal early in the final quarter. Parker McKenzie led Abilene Christian on an 83-yard drive, capped by a McKenzie to Cedric Gilbert pass from the 10 to retake the lead 36-33. Knipp answered with a 65-yard drive to claim the lead for good when he hit Stephen Miller on a 13-yard scoring strike.

McKenzie had 330 yards passing and two scores and De’Andre Brown rushed for 176 yards for Abilene Christian.

Weber State 35, Idaho State 14: Eric Wilkes ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns, Helam Heimuli caught two touchdown passes and the Wildcats (6-5, 5-3) beat the Bengals (2-9, 1-7) in Ogden, Utah.

Weber State had 306 yards on the ground and held Idaho State to 310 total yards.

The Wildcats scored the first 21 points. Treshawn Garrett had a short touchdown run, Heimuli made had a 4-yard touchdown catch and Wilkes scored on a 32-yard run.

Heimuli added a 20-yard score in the third and Wilkes had a 2-yard touchdown in the fourth.

Jadrian Clark was 12-of-23 passing for 138 yards with two touchdowns for Weber State, which had a winning season for the first time since 2010. Emmanuel Pooler added 130 yards rushing.

Michael Sanders threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns for Idaho State. He had a 14-yard touchdown pass to Josh Cook and found Madison Mangum for an 11-yard score.

North Dakota 45, Cal Poly 21: The Fighting Hawks (7-4, 4-3) did all they could to convince the FCS it belongs in the playoffs, routing the Mustangs (4-7, 3-5) in San Luis Obispo, California.

John Santiago rushed for 117 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s first game as the Fighting Hawks.

Santiago scored on runs of 14, 15 and 5 yards in support of Keaton Studsrud, who completed 17 of 20 passes for 255 yards and two scores.

The Hawks rolled up 474 yards of total offense. They took charge in a 21-point second quarter and went into halftime leading 28-0. North Dakota has won three straight games to give itself and outside shot at a playoff berth.

The FCS playoff field will be announced on Sunday.

Chris Brown had 211 yards passing for Cal Poly, which entered the game averaging 410.7 yards rushing, but managed just 153 against the Fighting Hawks.

UC Davis 35, Sacramento State 21: C.J. Spencer threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another as the Aggies (2-9, 2-6) controlled from the outset to beat the Hornets (2-9, 1-7) in Sacramento, California.

Spencer’s 13-yard run put UC Davis up 7-0 halfway through the first quarter.

In the second, Spencer threw 8- and 3-yard scoring passes to Atlas Smith and Manusamoa Luuga for a 21-0 intermission lead.

Sacramento State battled to cut the lead to 21-14 when Nate Ketteringham threw 7 yards to Shane Harrison, and Tyler Meeter returned a punt blocked by teammate Garrett Steele 43 yards to score.

But Spencer responded to orchestrate a five-play, 95-yard drive in a little more than two minutes. He completed passes of 31, 23, 22 and his 18-yard touchdown pass to Nehemiah Winston made it 28-14, effectively ending the Hornets’ threat.

Ketteringham finished with 296 yards passing and two touchdowns.