FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — At 7,000 feet above sea level, the Walkup Skydome is always a tough place to win. It's even tougher when Northern Arizona quarterback Ty Pennington puts together an all-world performance.
Pennington accounted for six touchdowns — one passing, four rushing and even one receiving — and the No. 13-ranked Lumberjacks knocked off No. 2 Montana 49-44 in a crazy Big Sky Conference game Saturday.
A 35-yard field goal by Jo Silver pulled the Griz within 49-42 with 1:34 remaining, but the ensuing onside kick was recovered by NAU. The Lumberjacks' offense took a safety on its last possession, giving Montana one last chance. But the Grizzlies' last-ditch attempt at lateraling the ball on NAU's safety kickoff didn't work.
The Grizzlies slipped to 5-2 overall and to 3-1 in the Big Sky, with NAU now matching those marks at 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the league.
As part of a wild, back-and-forth affair, NAU's Lindsey Graves returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give the Lumberjacks a 42-32 lead and steal back some momentum they had earlier lost.
Quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat and Montana cut into that deficit with a short touchdown pass to Eli Gillman out of the backfield, making the score 42-39, but Pennington led an 11-play 75-yard drive that took 6:02 off the clock, culminating in Pennington's sixth touchdown of the day, and his fourth on the ground, to make it a 10-point game again with 3:16 left.
Gillman later had another touchdown reception called back on an offensive pass interference penalty, one of several costly flags thrown against Montana.
Early, it seemed as if the game would take on a seesaw nature. On the game's opening drive, Montana's defense stuffed NAU on fourth-and-short near midfield to give the Griz offense solid field position. That led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Gillman and a 7-0 Montana lead.
NAU lost top rusher Quran Gossett to injury midway through the first quarter — not an insignificant loss, putting NAU down its top two rushing options. But Pennington, who took several big hits of his own all day, found tight end Jeter Purdy wide open for a 28-yard touchdown on the next snap to tie the game.
Early in the second quarter, after forcing an NAU turnover, Montana took a 10-7 lead on a 29-yard field goal from Silver.
It was around this time that Pennington's arm started to really heat up. But it was the quarterback's 4-yard TD run that gave the Lumberjacks their first lead at 14-10 with 12:45 left in the second. The Griz had an explosive response though, as Landon Ransom-Goelz had a 70-yard catch-and-run TD on a pass from Ah Yat.
The Jacks then went 80 yards in 12 plays, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Pennington to swing momentum again, but the Griz answered with a 12-play drive of their own, finished by a 1-yard plunge by Gillman. Montana took a 24-21 lead into halftime.
Back and forth they went in the second half. NAU retook the lead, this time on a touchdown catch by Pennington on a throw-back pass from wideout Joey Stout, putting the Lumberjacks ahead 28-24 midway through the third.
Montana incurred a couple costly pass interference penalties on third-down plays, one that helped lead to another short Pennington TD run and a 35-24 advantage.
The Griz went three-and-out, but the defense got a stop when it needed one near the end of the third and forced a punt, ending a run of four straight NAU scoring drives. Montana's offense followed that with an 11-yard touchdown pass to LeKeldrick Bridges on third down and a successful two-point conversion to pull within 35-32.
That set the stage for a tense ending.
QB COMPARISON: It was a matchup of teams with two of the top quarterbacks in the FCS, and Pennington was a star. Pennington finished with 322 passing yards, 52 rushing yards and, yes, 7 receiving yards as part of his virtuoso, six-touchdown day while surviving hit after hit.
Ah Yat was no slouch; he ended with 347 yards and three passing touchdowns while completing 29 of 39 passes. His first interception since Week 1 turned out to be big in the grand scheme of the game.
THE FIGHT FOR MOMENTUM: When Gillman scored to put the Griz up 24-21, there was still 47 seconds left in the first half. NAU moved to near midfield after that, but Tyler King sacked Pennington to end the half.
Montana got the ball to begin the third quarter with a chance to stretch its lead, but Ah Yat was sacked on third down and the Griz had to punt. NAU then retook the lead on Pennington's TD catch — giving the QB scores via passing, running and receiving.
On UM's next drive after that, Shahid Wilson undercut a route and picked off Ah Yat, which was the quarterback's first interception in 222 pass attempts. That helped produce Pennington's third rushing touchdown of the day.
That sequence underscored the topsy-turvy nature of the entire game.
TURNOVER TALE: A big storyline this week was NAU's penchant for defensive takeaways. The Lumberjacks came in with an FCS-best 16 takaeways and were plus-10 in turnover margin. NAU intercepted Ah Yat on Saturday, but the teams were even on the takeaway ledger.
Montana got its takeaway when Chris Johnson II forced a fumble from NAU's Jonathan Coar that Tanner Huff recovered.
ANOTHER RECORD FOR NO. 10: With his diving 1-yard touchdown late in the first half, Gillman set yet another school record with 414 career points scored, putting him ahead of placekicker Dan Carpenter (413 points, 2004-07).
Gillman, who finished with three TDs, had already broken Griz career school records this year for rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns. Gillman now has 70 total TDs for his career, which puts him seven shy of Cooper Kupp's all-time Big Sky record.
WHAT'S NEXT: Montana returns to the friendly confines of Washington-Grizzly Stadium next week for a rivalry game against Idaho and a battle for the Little Brown Stein. The Griz have won five of the six meetings between the teams since the Vandals returned to the FCS and the Big Sky Conference in 2018.
Idaho is 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big Sky after a 38-27 road loss to Weber State on Saturday. On Oct. 2, the Vandals snapped Montana State's 19-game winning streak and knocked the Bobcats from their No. 1 perch with a last-second 35-34 victory at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.
