Big Sky players of the week announced

OGDEN, Utah (AP) - Players from Sacramento State, Idaho State, and Eastern Washington are winners of player-of-the-week honors in Big Sky Conference football.

League officials Monday announced the award on offense went to wide receivers Fred Amey of Sacramento State and Akilah Lacey of Idaho State. Sacramento State defensive end Jacob Houston won the award on defense. The special-teams award went to Eastern Washington returner Eric Kimble, a previous winner of that award.

All were recognized for their performances in games Saturday.

Amey, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior from Union City, Calif., caught eight passes for 158 yards with two touchdowns in Sacramento State's victory over Southern Utah. His second touchdown, a 50-yarder, broke a 17-17 tie and lifted Sacramento State to a 23-17 win.

Amey now has 3,068 career receiving yards and has caught a pass in 33 straight games.

Lacey, a 6-3, 202-pound sophomore from Westminster, Calif., hauled in a career-high nine passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in Idaho State's 49-42 double overtime victory over Northern Colorado. Lacey caught a 13-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left in regulation play, to tie the game. He caught a 9-yard touchdown pass in the second overtime, winning the game for Idaho State.

Houston registered eight solo tackles and one assisted tackle in his first career start for the Hornets. The 6-3, 235-pound junior from Sanger, Calif., had four tackles for losses and tied a Sacramento State single-game record with three sacks.

Sacramento State limited Southern Utah to 248 yards of total offense.

Kimble, a 5-10, 175-pound junior from Tacoma, Wash., returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown in Eastern Washington's 39-8 victory over Central Washington. Kimble's return put the Eagles ahead 22-0 in the first quarter. As a freshman in 2002, he returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown.

Kimble finished with 92 yards on four punt returns. He had 147 all-purpose yards in the game.

Griz and Bobcats drop in recent I-AA poll

By IR Staff

The University of Montana and Montana State football teams both fell several positions in this week's I-AA national football poll after losses on Saturday.

The Grizzlies fell from the top spot to seventh after their 41-29 loss to Sam Houston State in Huntsville Texas. The Griz trailed 20-3 at halftime and 41-10 with 8:47 left in the game.

The Bobcats fell from 14th to 21st after a 27-14 home loss to Cal Poly in Bozeman. Montana State trailed by three points, 17-14, entering the fourth quarter but were outscored 10-0 in the fram. The Bobcats play at Division I-A Colorado State on Saturday and face falling to 1-2 on the year.

Southern Illinois moved into the top spot after a 59-9 win over William Penn.

Hampton and James Madison were new teams voted into the poll this week.

Furman Paladins, Georgia Southern, Delaware and Stephen F. Austin round out the top five.

Tech players named players of the week

BUTTE (AP) - Montana Tech running back Josh Johnson is the Frontier offensive player of the week, while teammate Dan Kleckner won the special teams honor, conference officials said Monday.

Rocky Mountain College free safety Eric Reis was defensive player of the week after returning an interception more than 95 yards for the Bears' only score in Saturday's 13-to-7 loss to Southern Oregon. Reis, a senior from Glendive, also had four solo tackles and 10 assists. Others nominated for defensive honors were Montana-Western's Jereme Hess, Carroll's Matt Thomas and Montana Tech's Nathan Prach.

Johnson, a Frenchtown sophomore, went 128 yards on 21 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Orediggers' 61-0 rout of Montana State-Northern. Other players up for the week's award were Carroll's Ryan Grosulak, Montana-Western's Travis Blome and Rocky Mountain's Clint Franklin.

Montana Tech's Kleckner averaged 58.7 yards on nine kickoffs in Saturday's game, was 8-of-8 on extra point kicks and gave the Orediggers three more points with a field goal. Kleckner is a sophomore from Mead, Wash. Other special teams nominees were Montana-Western's Eric Zahler, Rocky Mountain's Jon Owen and Carroll's Kevin McCutcheon.

Mortensen's strong volleyball week noted

BUTTE (AP) - This week's Frontier volleyball honors go to women from Carroll College, Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College, conference officials said Monday.

Carroll's Lena Mortensen, a Helena senior, is player of the week after making three aces, 31 kills and 16 digs in victories over Montana State-Northern and Great Falls. Mortensen averaged 4.4 kills per game.

Montana Tech's Becky Hancock is setter of the week after 52 assists, 16 digs and five kills against Lewis-Clark State. Hancock, a Livingston senior, scored 74 points in the match.

Rocky Mountain's Jen Buening claimed the newly created liebro of the week honor after contributing four aces and 46 digs in the Bears' victories over Great Falls and Montana State-Northern.

Bengals complete football sweep of Butte

The Helena High JV football team beat Butte High JV's on Saturday 26-7, completing the sweep over the Bulldogs that began on Friday night.

Mac Babcock and Dolan Gilreath scored on one- and five-yard runs respectively for the Bengals. Logan Nordahl had a 24-yard interception return for a touchdown, and Dillon Johnson hauled in an 11-yard scoring pass from Mac Babcock.

The Bengals' defense forced seven Butte turnovers. Colin Martin had three interceptions and Logan Nordahl added two to lead the squad. Maki Nakagawa and Curtis Quigley recovered fumbles in the game.

The team hosts Kalispell Oct. 2 at Helena High.