Logan Fife throws 5 TD passes; Montana beats Eastern Washington 52-49 in a wild finish to open Big Sky

CHENEY, Wash. (AP) — Logan Fife threw five touchdown passes and Montana held off Eastern Washington 52-49 in a wild finish on Saturday night in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.

Fife’s fifth TD pass, a 2-yarder to tight end Jake Olson, stretched the Montana lead to 52-42 with 2:34 remaining. Eastern Washington answered 10 plays later when Kekoa Visperas connected with Cole Pruett on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 52 seconds left.

Soren McKee’s ensuing onside kick bounced out of bounds. The Eagles had successfully recovered an onside kick earlier in the game.

Montana (4-1, 1-0) scored 21 points in the second half while Eastern Washington (1-4, 0-1) put up 35 points, 28 coming in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies, ranked ninth in the FCS, had 701 yards of offense. Eastern Washington finished with 551.

It was Montana’s first win on Eastern Washington’s red turf, which was installed in 2010. Montana leads the series 31-18-1 and had entered 11-11 in games played at Cheney, 0-6 on the red surface.

Fife finished 30-of-42 passing for 364 yards, hitting Erik Barker for two scores. Junior Bergen had seven catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. Nick Ostmo carried 15 times for 160 yards and a TD. Eli Gillman added 11 rushes for 109 yards that included a 69-yard TD run.

Fife filled in for freshman Keali’i Ah Yat, who left after being shaken up late in the third quarter in the Grizzlies’ 46-35 win over Western Carolina. Ah Yat set the single-game program record for quarterbacks with four touchdowns rushing in the game against the Catamounts and did not dress down against Eastern Washington.

Fife completed 21 of 28 passes for 309 yards in the first half as the Grizzlies racked up 396 yards of offense.

Visperas was 22-of-38 passing for 265 yards with four touchdown passes, three to Efton Chism III who finished with eight catches for 107 yards. Visperas also rushed for 61 yards and two scores for the Eagles.

Montana routed visiting EWU 63-7 in 2022 in the team’s last matchup.