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Montana Western upsets No. 14 Rocky Mountain College in a thriller

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DILLON — Montana Western’s Jon Jund scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown with just 32 seconds to play to lift the Bulldogs over No. 14 Rocky Mountain College 24-21 Saturday in Dillon.

Trailling 21-17 with three minutes to play, Jund led the Bulldogs an an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by his game-winning score.

Western grabbed the first lead of the game when Mark Kharchenko hit a 51-yard field goal midway through the second quarter. Garrett Turner then picked off Bears’ quarterback Jack Bakken and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown, putting the Bulldogs up 10-0.

But Bakken and Rocky struck back quickly after halftime. Bakken found Max Gray twice in the third quarter — from 4 yards and 56 yards — giving Rocky their first lead of the game at 14-10. Jund scored his first of two rushing touchdowns from 7 yards out on fourth and goal at the end of the third quarter.

Rocky retook the lead with a long drive capped by Bakken’s third touchdown pass of the day, a 32-yard strike to Gray. Jund was intercepted by JJ Taele, but Western’s defense forced a three-and-out to set up the Bulldogs’ final possession.

On the game-winning drive, Western faced fourth and eight in Rocky territory when Jund came up with a clutch completion to extend the drive. Rocky’s last-second Hail Mary attempt fell to the turf incomplete.

Montana Western improves to 3-0 (3-0 Frontier) and Rocky drops to 2-2 (1-2). Western travels to Eastern Oregon next week while Rocky will visit College of Idaho.