Coeur d’Alene’s Chad Chalich leads Montana to victory

Chad Chalich found Chase Naccarato with a 3-yard touchdown pass with 4:05 remaining and Montana held off Northern Arizona 23-14 in the Big Sky Conference opener for both schools Saturday in Missoula.

Chalich, a 2012 graduate of Coeur d’Alene High School, was 29 of 45 for 276 yards passing.

The Grizzlies (2-2, 1-0) took a 16-0 lead at halftime on the strength of three Daniel Sullivan field goals – two from 27 yards and one from 25.

Northern Arizona (2-2, 0-1) rallied behind a pair of Case Cookus-to-Emmanuel Butler touchdown passes – a 57-yard strike followed by a 34-yard connection less than a minute later.

North Dakota 31, UC Davis 24: John Santiago ran for 152 yards with two touchdowns to help North Dakota (3-1, 1-0) to a win over the Aggies (0-4, 0-1) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Montana State 45, Cal Poly 28: Dakota Prukop threw for 399 yards and three touchdowns and Chad Newell ran for three scores as the Bobcats (2-1, 1-0) dropped the Mustangs (1-3, 0-1) in Bozeman, Montana.

Weber State 38, Northern Colorado 17: Eric Wilkes ran for 122 yards to help the Wildcats (2-2, 1-0) beat the Bears (2-2, 0-2) in Greeley, Colorado.

Portland State 31, Western Oregon 0: Alex Kuresa threw for 127 yards, ran for 55 and scored once to lead the Vikings (3-1) past the Wolves (1-3) in Portland.

UNLV 80, Idaho State 8: Blake Decker threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as the Rebels (1-3) routed the Bengals (1-3) in Las Vegas.

Southern Utah 55, Brevard 7: Ammon Olsen threw three touchdown passes, Malik Brown ran for two as the Thunderbirds (2-2) beat the Tornados (0-4) in Cedar City, Utah.

Associated Press