DILLON — Michael Palandri filled the stat sheet in Montana Western's regular-season finale Saturday.
The senior quarterback passed for 423 yards and eight touchdowns as the Bulldogs blitzed Arizona Christian 66-14 at Bulldog Stadium. Western finishes its season with a 7-3 overall record and 4-2 mark in the Frontier Conference's West Division and now awaits its playoff fate.
Palandri was his typically efficient self Saturday, completing 19 of 24 passes and throwing TDs to seven different players. Eli Nourse had 154 receiving yards and a TD on seven catches; Seth Shook had 117 yards and two scores on three catches; and Jakob Humphrey, Jonathan Kirkley, Mason Rasmussen, Matthew Heer and Aidan Lammers each had one touchdown catch.
Lammers added a touchdown on the ground as Western rolled up 649 yards of offense — 497 passing and 152 rushing. The Bulldogs averaged 11.2 yards per play compared to just 4 yards per play for the Firestorm.
The game was tied at 7-7 after the teams traded touchdowns in the first five minutes, but Western scored the next 59 points. The Bulldogs led 27-7 after one, 42-7 at halftime and 63-7 after three.
Palandri's eight touchdown passes are a single-game record at Western, breaking the record of seven TD passes he set last season against Arizona Christian.
