PORTLAND — Kieran McDonagh threw a halfback pass for a touchdown for Portland State, Southern Utah couldn’t connect on a go-ahead two-point conversion, and the Vikings beat the Big Sky Conference-leading Thunderbirds 24-23 on Saturday night.
McDonagh, a Skyview High grad, took a handoff from quarterback Alex Kuresa and ran to the middle of the line. He then stopped, and jumped to throw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Thompson on the first play of the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 24-17 lead.
Ammon Olsen threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mike Sharp to pull the Thunderbirds to 24-23 with 1:18 left. On the ensuing conversion, Olsen threw a low strike to a wide-open Steven Wroblewski in the middle of the end zone, but Wroblewski couldn’t hang on while falling.
Portland State recovered the ensuing onside kick to help seal it.
Kuresa threw two touchdown passes, and Olsen threw three but had three interceptions.
