Big Sky football roundup: Sacramento State rallies to stun Northern Arizona

Pierre Williams recovered an onside kick that led to his to his game-winning touchdown reception with 23 seconds left – the Hornets’ second score in the final 1:38 – and Sacramento State beat Northern Arizona 38-34 on Saturday in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Jake Dunniway threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Gable before Devon Medeiros booted an onside kick over NAU’s front line of defenders that Williams was able to snare at the Hornets 49-yard line. Five plays later Dunniway found Williams alone on the left side and he dove onto the pylon.

The Lumberjacks (4-6, 2-4 Big Sky) used a 73-yard pass play from Case Cookus to Stacy Chukwumezie, a 54-yard field goal by Luis Aguilar and Joe Logan’s 63-yard run in the final quarter to take a 34-24 lead. Logan finished with 210 yards rushing on 24 carries and three TDs.

Dunniway threw for 384 yards, four touchdowns and an interception for the FCS eighth-ranked Hornets (7-3, 5-1). Two of the TD passes went to Marshel Martin.

Montana State 45, Northern Colorado 14: Troy Andersen threw for a touchdown and ran for another, Callahan O’Reilly had a 73-yard touchdown run and the Bobcats (7-3, 4-2) pounded the Bears (2-7, 2-3) in Greeley, Colorado.

O’Reilly’s burst up the middle early in the third quarter, his only carry of the game, to put an exclamation mark on the Bobcats’ running game, which piled up 452 yards. Three quarterbacks combined to go 14 of 21 for 113 yards for Montana State.

Northern Colorado tied the game at 7 on a 10-yard interception return by Brooks Talkington late in the first quarter, but the Bobcats scored the next 42 points.

Tucker Rovig, victimized by the pick six, completed a 75-yard drive with an 8-yard TD pass to Derryk Snell. After a field goal, Andersen, who capped MSU’s opening possession with a 2-yard pass to Jason Scrempos, ended a short drive with an 11-yard run and a 24-7 halftime lead.

Montana State opened the second half with a 1-yard TD run by Logan Jones, set up by his 57-yard run. O’Reilly’s score came next and Lane Sumner had a 16-yard touchdown in early in the fourth.

Weber State 30, North Dakota 27: Jake Constantine scored on a 12-yard keeper with 2:49 left, Trey Tuttle kicked a 32-yarder with 31 seconds left, and the Wildcats (8-2) rallied to beat Fighting Hawks (5-4) in Ogden, Utah.

Constantine’s 12-yard TD run tied it at 27, capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive for the Wildcats, ranked third in the FCS Coaches Poll. The Fighting Hawks’ Brock Boltmann fumbled the ensuing kickoff return, and Weber State’s Aaron Sessions recovered at the North Dakota 7. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the Wildcats back to the 22.

The Fighting Hawks (5-4) scored 13 straight points to lead 27-20 on Brady Leach’s 34-yard field goal with 7:01 left in the game.

Constantine was 17 of 23 for 230 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and ran five times for 43 yards and a TD.

UC Davis 45, Portland State 28: Jake Maier threw four touchdown passes, Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. had a career-best 242 yards rushing and two TDs, and the Aggies (5-5, 3-3) beat the Vikings (5-6, 3-4) in Portland.

Maier was 27-of-38 passing for 383 yards with one interception and Gilliam had a career-high 29 carries. Freshman Lance Babb II had 10 receptions for 168 yards and three touchdowns – all season highs – and Khris Vaughn added five catches for 121 yards and a score for UC Davis.

Maier connected with Vaughn for a 58-yard touchdown to make it 38-28 midway through the fourth quarter and Gilliam’s 19-yard scoring run with 54 seconds left capped the scoring.