The Eagles built a 20-3 halftime lead and still led, 20-9, entering the fourth quarter. The momentum swung suddenly, however, on the second play of the final period as Montana's Vince Huntsberger rambled 65 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt.

Just two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Montana was back in business when Justin Brannon recovered a Georgia Southern fumble at the Eagles' 18-yard line. Yo Humphrey culminated the short drive with a two-yard scoring run and then was on the receiving end of John Edwards' two-point conversion pass to push the Grizzlies in front, 23-20, with 11:53 remaining.

Their lead lasted all of 24 seconds. Junior fullback Adrian Peterson took the first-down handoff, slipped off a Montana would-be tackler and ended up with a 57-yard touchdown run for the eventual winning points.

"I knew it was do-or-die time out there," said Peterson. "I just told the guys up front to get me a little crease and I would take it in."

"The darn thing about it is, when we had the lead they ran a veer dive," said Montana head coach Joe Glenn. "We had stopped that all day long.

"All you have to do is miss that thing once. He (Peterson) shook off a glancing tackle and then he's footloose and fancy free in the secondary."

The Eagles' defense then weathered three Montana possessions inside the Georgia Southern 30-yard line. On two occasions, Montana turned the ball over on downs, and Ryan Hadden halted the third drive with an interception in the end zone.

"I thought our secondary and the entire defense played well today and throughout the playoffs," said Georgia Southern head coach Paul Johnson. "To our credit, we had a number of opportunities to quit when things weren't going our way, but we fought and worked our tails off.

"I know we were tired in the fourth quarter, but our guys just wouldn't quit."

Georgia Southern took an intentional safety on a fourth-down play with 15 seconds remaining, rather than risk attempting to punt.

Peterson, who also scored from one yard out with only 33 seconds remaining in the first half, ended the game with 148 yards rushing. It marked his 43rd consecutive game with more than 100 yards rushing, including playoff games.

"He is a tremendous football player and was the difference in the game," said Glenn.

The championship is Georgia Southern's sixth, the most in Division I-AA. The Eagles have defended their title successfully on three occasions.

Both teams finished the season with 13-2 records.

Championship

First quarter

GS -- James McCoy fumble recovery in end zone (Scott Shelton kick) (13:19); GS -- Chris Johnson 49 pass from J. R. Revere (kick failed) (2:57); M -- Chris Snyder 38 field goal (1:07).

Second quarter

GS -- Adrian Peterson 1 run (Shelton kick) (0:33).

Third quarter

M -- Etu Molden 17 pass from John Edwards (kick failed) (3:41).

Fourth quarter

M -- Vince Huntsberger 65 run (kick failed) (14:36); M -- Yo Humphrey 2 run (Humphrey pass from Edwards (11:53); GS -- Peterson 57 run (Shelton kick) (11:29); M -- Team safety (0:15).

Team statistics

Ga. Southern Montana

Attendance -- 17,156.

Individual statistics

Rushing: Ga. Southern -- Peterson 23-148, Mark Myers 3-74, Andre Weathers 3-59, Revere 20-8, Johnson 1-0, McCoy 0-0, Team 1-(minus 12); Montana -- Humphery 26-119, Huntsberger 1-65, Edwards 4-24, Ben Drinkwalter 3-13, Team 1-(minus 3), Drew Miller 1-(minus 7).

Passing: Ga. Southern -- Revere 5-8-0-113; Montana -- Edwards 24-42-1-211, Miller 5-9-1-65, Molden 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Ga. Southern -- Johnson 4-110, Peterson 1-3; Montana -- Jimmy Farris 7-82, Humphrey 7-63, Molden 5-65, Tanner Hancock 5-26, T. J. Oelkers 2-30, Spencer Frederick 2-2, John Fitzgerald 1-8.