Lumberjacks cut down No. 2 Griz, 49-44

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Montana Grizzlies scored big but couldn’t stop Ty Pennington and the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, who took a wild 49-44 victory in Big Sky Conference football Saturday.

 A 100-yard kickoff return by Lindsay Graves, the second this season for the freshman, was critical to NAU’s fourth win over Montana in five meetings. So was the play of Pennington: The senior quarterback threw for 322 yards and one touchdown; ran for 52 yards and four scores; and caught a 7-yard throwback pass from Joey Stout for another TD. 

The catch, at 6:49 of the third quarter, gave the Lumberjacks (5-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big Sky) the lead for good at 28-24.  

The gap grew to 35-24 after Shahid Wilson picked off Keali’i Ah Yat on the Grizzlies’ ensuing possession. Helped by an interference call, NAU drove 45 yards to Pennington’s third rushing touchdown, a 1-yard plunge at the 3:35 mark. 

Montana (5-2, 3-1 in league) came back with an 11-yard TD pass from Ah Yat to Lekeldrick Bridges early in the third quarter. Then the ensuing kickoff knuckled and bounced to Graves a couple yards deep in the end zone; he raced up the right sideline untouched for a 42-32 NAU lead. 

Eli Gillman, who ran for 94 yards and two scores, caught a 2-yard scoring pass on UM’s next drive, but NAU was able to drive 75 yards in 11 plays to answer. Pennington again ran to paydirt from 5 yards out with 3:16 left in the game, making it 49-39. 

Montana saw a TD pass to Gillman called back for an offensive pass interference ahead of Jo Silver’s second field goal, 1:34 left. The Grizzlies got two more points when NAU took a safety rather than punt in the closing seconds; UM was unable to mount any kind of return on the free kick and the game ended. 

NAU didn’t have running back Kenveon Stone for the game, and fellow running back Quran Gossett left injured after five carries. The Jacks, ranked No. 13 by Stats Perform, simply kept the ball in Pennington’s hands, and he spread the ball around to seven receivers. His TD pass went to tight end Jeter Purdy, covering 30 yards for NAU’s first points. 

Ah Yat, who hadn’t been intercepted since his first pass this season, threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns. The Griz, ranked No. 2, piled up 489 yards. The Lumberjacks steered extra coverage at UM’s Brooks Davis, who had three catches for 38 yards; Landon Ramson-Goelz had seven catches for 128 yards and Bridges caught seven balls for 79. 

Gillman’s second TD, which put UM up 24-21 with 47 seconds left in the first half, pushed him past Dan Carpenter to No. 1 on the Grizzlies’ career scoring list. He has 420 points; Carpenter has 413. Gillman’s 70 career TDs sit seven behind Cooper Kupp’s Big Sky record.