CEDAR CITY, Utah - Casey Rehrer completed 18 of 26 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns and Zach Connors threw for another 44 yards as the two Southern Utah quarterbacks passed for the fourth-most yards in school history in a 34-0 win over NAIA Montana-Western. Southern Utah evened its record at 4-4 while Montana-Western fell to 5-3 with its second straight loss.

SUU took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards in five plays, scoring on a one-yard Rehrer run with 13:15 to go in the quarter for the Thunderbirds' quickest score of the season. SUU piled up 217 passing yards in the first period when it jumped out to a 21-0 lead and the Thunderbirds cruised the rest of the way to the win. Rehrer threw scoring passes of five yards to Justin Walterschied and 18 yards to Ryan Felipe in the period.

Southern Utah finished with 614 yards of total offense, the sixth-highest total in SUU history, including 336 yards through the air. SUU also had 278 yards rushing, the team's highest rushing total since piling 363 yards vs. Western Illinois, Nov. 16, 2002.

Meanwhile, the SUU defense was limiting the Bulldogs to 20 total yards in the first period and just 45 in the first half. UMW wound up with 133 total yards on the game. Linebacker Marcus Harris led a total team effort with a team-high six tackles, including two sacks and four tackles for losses. Steve Smith and Nick DiPadova each had five tackles for the Thunderbirds, who tallied six sacks, giving them 13 in the last two weeks.

"We came out early and took control of the game, then we were able to give a lot of kids some playing time," SUU Coach Wes Meier said. "We knew this team could cause us some problems if we let them hang in the game, but the defense was able to shut them down early and our offense was able to establish a rythym. It's a good win, it's nice to have a couple [of wins] in a row heading back on the road again next week.

"The offense did a great job tonight but the defense put them in a position for success," he added. "I thought the defense did a great job of shutting them down and giving us decent field position, although their punter did a great job."

Montana-Western had just two drives into Thunderbird territory, one in the third period and one in the fourth, and both drives ended with failed fourth-down conversion attempts.

The win gave SUU back-to-back victories for the first time this season heading into its final road game of the season Saturday at Northern Colorado.