Small College Football Roundup | Grizzlies roll over Eagles

CHENEY — Former Washington State quarterback Josh Swogger passed for 259 yards and a touchdown and Jimmie Wilson intercepted three Eastern Washington passes as Montana beat the Eagles 33-17 Saturday.

Reggie Bradshaw rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown for the Grizzlies (4-1, 3-0 Big Sky), who are ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division I-AA.

Montana's Rob Schulte opened the game with a 56-yard kickoff return, and Swogger hit Craig Chambers, a former Washington Husky, with an 11-yard TD pass to open the scoring for the Grizzlies.

After the EWU (1-5, 1-2) offense stalled on its ensuing possession, Tuff Harris took a punt at his own 6-yard line and returned it 94 yards to score to give Montana a 14-0 lead with 9:41 left. Two minutes later, Eagles quarterback Matt Nichols was intercepted by Wilson at the Eagles' 36.

Nichols was intercepted four times, completing 15 of 23 passes for 186 yards.

Swogger finished 13 for 22, and Chambers had four catches for 60 yards.

Nichol's 47-yard touchdown pass to Brynsen Brown pulled EWU to 21-7 with less than four minutes left in the first half. Brett Bergstrom kicked a 39-yard field goal with 40 seconds left to make it 21-10 at halftime.

Brown finished with seven catches for 92 yards.

In the third quarter, Bradshaw scored on a 1-yard plunge with 10:15 left. Dan Carpenter kicked two field goals to increase the lead to 33-10.

Other games

At Western Washington 24,

St. Cloud State 17

Western Washington staged a wild fourth-quarter rally, using a pair of blocked punts to score three touchdowns in the final 5:07 to defeat St. Cloud State in a North Central Conference game.

It was the first NCC victory for the Vikings, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in the NCC. St. Cloud State, which had defeated Western in three previous meetings, fell to 2-4, 0-3.

Steve Davis scored the winning touchdown for Western with 43 seconds left, picking up a punt blocked by Brandon Elliott and running into the end zone from 2 yards out.

Elliott had also blocked a punt on the previous series with 3:09 to go, setting up the tying score, a 1-yard touchdown plunge by running back Calvin McCarty on a fourth-and-one play with 1:36 left.

At South Dakota 10,

Central Washington 7

South Dakota, ranked 14th in Division II, scored the game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds remaining, spoiling an upset bid by Central Washington.

Brooks Little caught a 5-yard pass from backup quarterback Noah Shepard to give the Coyotes (5-1, 3-0 NCC) their first lead of the game. The Wildcats (3-3, 1-3) struggled on offense, totaling zero yards rushing and getting 169 yards passing from quarterback Mike Reilly.

Linfield 42, at Puget Sound 17

Puget Sound quarterback Kavin Williams threw for 221 yards on 13-for-28 passing and added 109 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but the Loggers just couldn't hold off 18th-ranked Linfield at Baker Stadium.

Linfield (2-2, 2-0 Northwest Conference) took a lead it wouldn't relinquish on the first drive of the game, moving 61 yards on five plays to gain the 7-0 advantage over Puget Sound (3-2, 0-2).

Rory Lee totaled just 29 yards rushing for Puget Sound, and Eddie Behringer caught seven catches for 87 yards. Linfield was led offensively by quarterback Trevor Scharer, who completed 18 of 27 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns.

Whitworth 19,

at Pacific Lutheran 7

Kyle Havercroft ran for 126 yards on 30 carries as Whitworth (5-0) won its NWC opener.

The Pirates' offense had the ball for almost 44 of the game's 60 minutes, and it ran 89 plays to just 44 for the Lutes. In addition, PLU (1-4, 1-1) turned the ball over five times, including four interceptions.

Chase Reed led the Lutes with had 48 yards on 12 carries and 38 receiving yards on four catches.

From wire and sports-information reports.