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LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University football team tallied 50 points in a 50-46 win over Montana State-Northern Saturday.

The Mountaineers (1-3) (1-2) picked up their first win of the season behind 15 fourth quarter points, while holding Northern scoreless in the final period. Eastern totaled a season-high 442 yards of offense. The Lights gained 378 yards, with 236 coming through the air.

Eastern's Chris Ware threw for 236 yards, and completed 20 of his 33 pass attempts. The junior threw four touchdown passes and two interceptions. Kevin Sampson gained 154 yards on the ground and crossed the goal line once. Justin Udy caught four passes for 69 yards, and Gary Cole had five catches for 60 yards.

Derek Lear connected with Matt Stuart on a 50-yard strike two minutes into the game to give Montana State-Northern an early 7-0 lead. The Mountaineers would respond at the 11:28 mark with a two-yard touchdown pass from Ware to Kirk Miller.

Lear found Brandon O'Brien for a 21-yard touchdown play on the next MSUN possession. A Sampson 10-yard touchdown run would complete the scoring in the first quarter.

Northern would take the lead back four seconds into the second quarter when James Chandless crossed the goal line for a one-yard score. A three-play, 67-yard drive, would even the score just 55 seconds later when Udy caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ware. Stuart found the endzone again at the 6:57 mark of the second quarter with a 25-yard touchdown reception from Lear.

A safety and a 37-yard field goal gave the Lights their largest lead of the game, 33-21, with 4:17 remaining until halftime. Ware ran for a 14-yard touchdown 14 seconds before the end of the first half to make the halftime score, 33-28, Montana State-Northern.

The Lights' Chandless scored on a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line at the 4:36 mark in the third quarter. Cole caught a four-yard touchdown pass a minute later to complete a five-play, 63-yard drive. Jordo Van Voast blocked a Mountaineer punt at the end of the quarter and recovered it in the endzone, giving Northern a 46-35 lead.

Abraham Naway began the EOU fourth quarter shutout with a one-yard touchdown run that was followed by a Jake Burroughs two-point conversion reception from Ware. With the score 46-43 with 11:46 remaining in regulation, Eastern held Northern scoreless, and then took the lead with an eight-yard Ware to Dillon Bedford touchdown connection, with 6:18 left in the game.

Lear finished with 224 yards passing and completed 15 of his 24 attempts. The freshman threw three touchdown passes and was intercepted once. Stephen Silva finished with a team-high 76 yards on the ground, and Stuart caught five passes for 98 yards.

Marc-Avery Airhart and Howard McDonald each had 11 tackles to lead EOU, while K.C. Barrett had 11 for Northern. Casey Varner and Seth Wildung each had an interception for the Lights. The Mountaineers' Max Hannah had an interception and Nick Roberson recovered a fumble.

Eastern Oregon travels to Dillon, Mont. next Saturday to play Montana Western (0-4) (0-3). The Bulldogs fell at home to No. 3 Carroll, 28-2, Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for noon Pacific Time, and will have a live video stream on EOUSports.com and live audio on KCMB 104.7 FM.