DILLON, Montana - A three-rushing touchdown effort by
Hunter Gilbert and two-receiving touchdown effort by
Jake Nadley was not enough as No. 7 College of Idaho dropped a 40-35 decision to host Montana Western on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (4-4, 3-4 Frontier) outgained College of Idaho, 558 to 385, in the win. 402 yards of total offense by Montana Western quarterback Jon Jund completed 26 of 35 passes for 354 yards and four touchdowns in the win. His favorite target on the day was Trey Mounts, who hauled in nine passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns. Teammates Isaiah Thomas caught six passes for 91 yards and a touchdown and the ground game was led by Reese Neville, who ran the ball 13 times for 114 yards in the win. The win snapped a four-game winning streak by College of Idaho against Montana Western – with the last win coming in the 2017 season opener (16-14).
The Yotes (6-1, 6-1 Frontier) were led by its ground game and the effort of Gilbert, who ran the ball 17 times for 142 yards and three rushing touchdowns. The 142 yards are a career-high for the junior from Tigard, Oregon and matched a career-high with three rushing touchdowns. Along with the efforts from Gilbert,
Allamar Alexander had 11 carries for 59 yards in the ground game. Quarterback
Andy Peters completed 12 of 18 passes for 175 yards and two touchdown passes to Nadley, who finished the day with five receptions for 72 yards.
Down 20-14 to start the second half, College of Idaho took its first lead of the afternoon when the Yotes started the final 30 minutes with a 4 play, 51-yard drive that saw Peters connect with Nadley for the second time of the day.
The touchdown sparked a back-and-forth effort between the two teams as they would trade touchdowns back and forth until a 39-yard pass play by Jund to Mounts by the host Bulldogs put Montana Western ahead 40-35 with 11:07 left in the game. College of Idaho started to march down the field for a go-ahead touchdown but it was the Bulldogs' defense, who made the play of the game when they stopped Gilbert on 4
th down with just under nine minutes to go in the game.
Coming off the strong defensive play, Montana Western took nearly seven minutes off the clock but did not add to its lead as
Dorian Hardin intercepted a pass on 4th down. College of Idaho and Peters started to move down the field with 3:14 left to play but the host Bulldogs came away with a sack on 2
nd and 4
th down to seal the victory.
With a one-game lead in the Frontier Conference, College of Idaho will begin the second half of its schedule where they will now face teams for a second time. The first opponent will be Southern Oregon, next Saturday, October 29 at 1 p.m. at Simplot Stadium.
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