Montana 19, Appalachian St. 16
MISSOULA, Mont. — Former BYU quarterback Drew Miller threw for 271 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Farris in overtime, to lift top-ranked Montana to a 19-16 victory over Appalachian State in an NCAA Division I-AA semifinal game.
Mark Wright — who kicked a 27-yard field goal with no time left in regulation to tie it at 13 — gave Appalachian State (10-4) its only lead on a 36-yard field goal on the Mountaineers' first possession in overtime.
Montana (13-1) meets Georgia Southern (12-2) in the national championship game next Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Montana led 13-3 after a 2-yard touchdown run by Yohance Humphery with 10:49 remaining.
Appalachian State, seeded 13th, quickly answered with a 40-yard scoring pass from Joe Burchette to Troy Albea to pull to 13-10 with 8:28 remaining.
The Mountaineers had one last shot to tie the game, with Burchette driving the team to Montana's 8 after a 38-yard pass to Albea with 40 seconds remaining.
Montana's Matt Steinau broke up Burchette's first pass, Tony Brown tackled Albea for a 2-yard loss on second down and Burchette spiked the ball on third down to stop the clock with two seconds to play.
Wright's field goal sent the game into overtime.
Montana led 6-0 at halftime on field goals of 20 and 22 yards by Chris Snyder.
Wright kicked an 18-yard field goal to pull the Mountaineers to 6-3 in the third quarter.
Burchette completed 23 of 49 passes for 318 yards, including 11 passes for 177 yards to Albea.
Farris caught seven passes for 110 yards to lead Montana.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 27, DELAWARE 18: In Newark, Del., Adrian Peterson ran for 198 yards and a touchdown and Georgia Southern blocked two field goals in a 27-18 Division I-AA semifinal victory over Delaware Saturday.
Andre Weathers added 122 yards and a score for the Eagles (12-2), who earned a chance to defend their national title despite losing a season-high four fumbles.
Matt Nagy passed for 189 yards for the Blue Hens (12-2), who failed to capitalize on three of the turnovers, all in Georgia Southern territory.
Delaware pulled to 21-18 on Butter Pressey's second touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run, and Nagy's 2-point conversion pass to Greg Penecale with 2:34 to play in the third quarter.
Georgia Southern answered with Scott Shelton's 22-yard field goal with 9:49 to play, making it 24-18.
Craig Cummings set up the score with a 44-yard punt return.
The Hens got the ball in at the Georgia Southern 24 midway through the fourth quarter when Darrell Edmonds sacked J.R. Revere, forcing a fumble that Mike Cecere recovered. Delaware got as for as the 14, but lost 5 yards on a false start penalty, and Scott Collins missed a 38-yard field goal.
Andre Weathers followed with a 58-yard run to set up Scott Shelton's game-clinching 28-yard field goal.
Delaware missed three chances to score in the second quarter after the Eagles had taken a 14-10 lead on Weathers' 5-yard run with 1:10 left in the first quarter.
Delaware moved to the Georgia Southern 15 on its next possession, but Jason Neese blocked Collins' 32-yard field goal attempt.
Georgia Southern capitalized when Peterson scored from the 7, making it 21-10 with 7:07 left in the half.
Anthony Williams muffed a punt, giving Delaware the ball at the Georgia Southern 29, but Nagy threw an interception in the end zone.
Revere fumbled on Georgia Southern's next play. The Blue Hens moved to the 5 but Carlton Oglesby blocked Collins' 22-yard field goal.