CHENEY, Wash. — Logan Fife faked two handoffs, set his feet and fired a deep shot to Junior Bergen for a touchdown. The gutsy play call on fourth-and-1 put No. 8 Montana up 10 points late in the second quarter as it had already erased two deficits on Saturday at Roos Field.

Facing a fourth-and-2 with eight minutes left in the game, the shorthanded Grizzlies gambled again after their 17-point lead over Eastern Washington was cut to three. Xavier Harris ripped off a 40-yard run to lead to a Nick Ostmo touchdown run.

With another fourth-and-2, Montana rolled the dice again up three points and Fife fired a bullet to tight end Jake Olson for a 2-yard TD. That proved to be the game-sealing score in the Grizzlies' 52-49 victory over the Eagles.

They won their Big Sky opener and improved to 4-1 overall while putting up 701 yards of offense. They played without quarterback Keali'i Ah Yat, the starter through the first four games, safety Ryder Meyer, who missed his third straight game, defensive end Noah Kaschmitter, who missed his second straight, and safety Jace Klucewich.

Fife, a transfer from Fresno State, lit it up early with his arm, completing 30 of 42 passes for 364 yards and five touchdowns in his first start. That's the most passing yards by a Griz quarterback since Dalton Sneed threw for 459 against Southeastern Louisiana in the second round of the 2019 playoffs. It'd also the most touchdown passes since Chad Chalich threw seven in 2016.

Montana wide receiver Junior Bergen finished with a career-high 150 yards and one touchdown on eight receptions. That's the most receiving yards by a Griz player since Samori Toure hauled in 303 yards, an FCS playoff record, against Southeastern Louisiana in 2019.

Montana went with the ground game more in the second half. Ostmo rushed for 160 yards and one TD while Eli Gillman ran for 109 yards and one TD. It's the second time in three games UM has two 100-yard rushers after not having done that since 2013.

After going three-and-out, Montana forced Eastern to miss a 40-yard field goal and then hit its own 29-yard kick to go up 3-0 midway through the first quarter. That drive started with a 55-yard catch-and-run from Fife to Bergen, who was brought down by DaJean Wells for a touchdown-saving tackle.

Montana's undisciplined start on defense spilled over to its second drive as the Griz were penalized twice for 16 yards after one for 15 yards on its first drive. The Eagles marched the ball 65 yards on nine plays, finishing with a 2-yard TD run by Kekoa Visperas as the Griz trailed for the first time at 7-3.

UM went to its tight ends on the next drive to move the ball. Fife hit Evan Shafer for a 20-yard gain on third-and-6 and ended the drive with a 29-yard TD pass to Erik Barker to put UM up 10-7 with 2:23 left in the first quarter. That was Barker's second career TD catch and his first since Sept. 11, 2021.

UM couldn't hang onto the lead, relinquishing it on the next possession when Visperas connected with Efton Chism III for a 7-yard TD in man coverage. Two plays earlier, Jared Taylor had subbed in at QB and found Chism for a 23-yard pass on third-and-3 as the drive would go nine plays and 69 yards in 3:02.

The offensive outburst continued as Montana answered on the next drive as Nick Ostmo ripped off a 12-yard run on the second play and ended it with an 8-yard TD run to put Montana up 17-13. Fife hit three passes of 10-plus yards during the drive as UM overcame an illegal man down field penalty.

The Griz stepped up to force a punt for the first time and turned that into a touchdown to go up by two possessions for the first time. Fife has extended the drive with a 7-yard pass to Keelan White on third-and-3 and then found Junior Bergen deep for a 47-yard TD on fourth-and-1 to go up 24-14.

After forcing a punt, Montana put together a two-minute drive to take a 31-14 lead into the half when Fife hit Erik Barker for a 5-yard touchdown. Fife had converted a third-and-5 through the air earlier that drive and ran for a 15-yard gain one play before the Griz went hurry up and scored.

Montana's streak of 21 unanswered points was snapped when quarterback Jared Taylor broke multiple tackles to rush for a 48-yard touchdown on third-and-10 midway through the third quarter. That cut the Griz lead to 31-21, but they answered back right away as Gillman ripped off a 69-yard touchdown put the lead back to 17 points at 38-21.

The Eagles wouldn't go away and cut Montana's lead to 38-28 on a 6-yard TD pass from Visperas to Chism with 13:57 left in the game on a drive that included passes of 24 and 41 yards. They then caught Montana off-guard with an onside kick that recovered and turned into a 7-yard TD run by Visperas to trim the Griz lead to 38-35 with 10:59 remaining.

Montana responded in a major way. Fife found Keelan White for 9 yards on third-and-4. Then on third-and-17, he hit Sawyer Racanelli for 15 yards. The Griz went for it on fourth-and-2 from EWU's 41-yard line, and Xavier Harris ripped off a 40-yard run to the 1-yard line. Nick Ostmo caught a 6-yard TD to make it 45-35 with 5:11 left.

The Eagles gave their own response as Michael Wortham took the kickoff 46 yards and Visperas connected with Chism for a 50-yard TD to trim UM's lead to 45-42 with 4:27 remaining. The Griz responded once again as Nick Ostmo ripped off a 62-yard run to set up the 2-yard TD pass from Fife to Olson to go up 52-42 with 2:34 left.

EWU cut it to 52-49 on a Visperas TD pass. The Griz recovered the onside kick to kneel out the clock.

This story will be updated.