HAVRE, Mont. -- The Eastern Oregon University football team rallied from a 27-point halftime deficit to win at Montana State-Northern, 39-36.

The Mountaineers (5-3) (4-3) scored the opening touchdown and led 7-0 early in the first quarter. MSUN then scored 34 unanswered points to lead 34-7 at halftime. Last season, EOU and Northern met in Havre on Halloween, and Eastern rebounded from a scary start to beat the Lights, 37-20. MSUN jumped out to a 20-0 second quarter lead before Eastern Oregon reeled off 37 unanswered points.

“This team has incredible resolve,” Camp said. “I am very excited for this group of players and coaches. They continued to believe in themselves and not the scoreboard. A group of players and coaches going in the same direction, fighting the good fight, is a pretty cool thing to be involved in for student-athletes. I am very proud of my program.”

The Mountaineers outscored Northern 32-2 in the second half to pull off a miraculous 39-36 comeback win. EOU pulled off a similar comeback last month against the Lights in La Grande. Eastern trailed by 12 in the Sept. 18 matchup, before outscoring MSUN, 15-0, in the fourth quarter.

The Lights led 34-7 at halftime behind five touchdown passes from Derek Lear. Lear threw two scores to Matt Stuart, two to Brandon O'Brien and one to Stephen Silva. Northern's defense forced Eastern into six first-half turnovers as well. But the Mountaineers got the last word as Northern's only points in the second half came by way of a safety.

Eastern Oregon's Chris Ware threw three touchdown passes in the final 30 minutes to help overtake the Lights (3-5) (3-5), including a 45-yard game-winner with 2:59 left to play. Ware finished 23 of 38 for 369 yards through the air and 47 on the ground. The junior threw three interceptions in the game.

Kevin Sampson became the fourth player in EOU history to run for 1,000 yards in a single season in the victory. The Seattle native ran 30 times for 103 yards and had two touchdowns.

Kirk Miller caught three touchdown passes, and had seven receptions for 165 yards. The 165 yards in the game is the 8th most in school history. The senior tied two school records, touchdown receptions in a season and total touchdowns in a season. 

Northern's Derek Lear completed 17 of his 34 pass attempts for 295 yards. The freshman threw five touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. The Mountaineers held the Lights to 63 yards on the ground. EOU had 616 total yards of offense in the game.

Matt Gayman and Marc-Avery Airhart each had interceptions for Eastern Oregon, and Howard McDonald recovered a fumble. McDonald led EOU with 11 tackles, eight were solo. Seath Kimball had 3.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss.

Nick Knell made a key 26-yard field goal late in the game for the Mountaineers. Ricky Parkhouse finished with 126 yards punting, including a 79-yard punt.

The win was only the second all-time for the Mountaineers in Havre. Eastern now holds an 8-5 all-time advantage over the Lights, after beating MSUN for the fifth consecutive time. EOU's streak over Northern is the longest over any Frontier Conference opponent.

The Mountaineers welcome Montana Western to La Grande next Saturday. Eastern Oregon has four consecutive wins over the Bulldogs (0-8) (0-9). Game time is set for noon in Community Stadium, with pregame on KCMB 104.7 beginning at 11:45 a.m. PT. There will be a live video stream on EOUSports.com.